A Story for Harper’s Bazaar

Laurel Pantin Wedding Cinemagraph Harpers Bazaar

Tomorrow in Austin, Texas, my friend and editorial director of The Coveteur, Laurel Pantin is getting married. Everyone has their wedding dress story of finding “the one”, but working in fashion makes choosing that one perfect dress insanely difficult…. so that’s why Laurel bought somewhere around seven options! To play off her indecisiveness Harper’s Bazaar asked us to put together a fun fashion editorial covering a myriad of bridal personalities from traditional wedding gowns to designer Fall 2016 collections and every hairstyle in between….

To see the full story visit Harper’s Bazaar!

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Monique Lhuillier Bridal

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Before the tintype shoot, I had to see what I was getting myself into…I knew I wouldn’t be able to look at flat photographs of these amazingly intricate gowns and visualize the dreamlike story I was trying to build in my mind. Having photographed many past Monique Lhuillier ready-to-wear shows, they were wonderful enough to give me all access to their recent bridal collection show just a few weeks ago. Before this, I had never experienced “Bridal Week”. But as we all know, I do love a gown moment…and these gowns represent the most personal, intimate gown moment we might each have. It was honestly a little torturous – I kept wanting to get married all over again, in this dress, or that dress! But the satisfaction of getting to create images with these beautiful pieces was thrilling in itself.

So what are the differences between shooting NYFW and shooting a bridal show? Well, the girls do tend to smile more – they feel beautiful – and if  you’re watching you’ll see a handful of them spinning around just like we used to do when we were children dreaming of walking down the aisle in something as magical as one of these dresses

Read below to see what the designer Monique Lhuillier had to say about the collection ~

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Who is the Monique Lhuillier bride?

“I think the Monique Lhuillier customer is confident, she loves fashion, she wants to feel special in her clothes, and she appreciates the beautiful fabrics and the craftsmanship that I put in my work, and she also wants to feel sexy on that day. Even if it’s a traditional event, I think she still wants that personality to shine through.”

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Soft Romantic Beauty with Butter London

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It was a full studio of artists for this romantic shoot! From our tintype specialist Giles Clement to the excellent hairstyling of Joseph DiMaggio and our beautiful redheaded makeup artist Morgan Gates, with her kit full of Butter London, it was clear that beauty was going to be made. Here we offer you a sneak peek at some behind the scenes images, plus the how-to on our muse’s soft & dewy look and naturally nude nails…

Butter London is a company with something for everyone, their motto is no rules – inspired by Great Britain’s rock and rollers (check out the British slang names and cheeky definitions of each product!) they’re all about having fun with your look! Their fall collection launched with bold, bright colors, while their spring collection is more toned down and neutral.

One thing I love is how many of Butter London’s products are multi-use: blushes can also be used as lipsticks, cream eyeshadows can be highlighters – because they know the Butter London girl is on the go…and aren’t we all?

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Soft and dreamy makeup…

Morgan suggests prepping the skin with Burt’s Bees Rosewater Toner, as a way to freshen and wake up your skin.

Moisturize the skin all over with Embryolisse Lait Creme Concentre – it used to only be available overseas, but it’s now sold in the US! Morgan says it’s among her top products because it hydrates so well and makeup wears really nicely on top of it. Gently smooth on Lucas’s Papaw Ointment on any dry spots around the nose or on the lips. Finally, use Butter London Hydrating Balm to get extra moisture.

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Smooth Makeup For Ever HD Foundation all over the face to perfect and smooth the skin. Anywhere you need extra coverage – under eyes, to cover any redness or dark spots – use Tarte’s Maracuja Creaseless Concealer. This creates a really smooth, natural feel instead of one color all over!

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Blend a little bit of Naughty Biscuit Cheeky Cream Blush to define the cheekbones without getting excessively colorful.

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On the lid, use Twigged Wink Eye Pencil, drawing close to the lash line and then using a small smudging brush to blend quickly (be careful, it dries fast!) blending quickly up to the lid. This creates a gradient up into the crease – and Morgan recommends Twigged because it brings out wonderful tones in everyone’s eyes!

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Fashion & Tintype

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What is a dream? The American dream? The dream of stardom, of fame and fortune? Dreams of love? The dream marriage? We all have a dream, be it big or small, and I think actually we have more of these dreams in common than we realize.

Take our beautiful model – here she is, her 2nd day in New York. Young, beautiful, & wanting to make a better life for herself. She came here without family, sleeping in a friend’s apartment on the Upper East Side, so small they share a bed at night.

I was thinking about these stunning, intricate Monique Lhuillier bridal gowns which are individually a dream themselves. To have a gown of such care and design is a dream I’ve dreamed many times. The purpose of these treasures are to dress the body of brides. I remember being a bride, how full of dreams I was…wanting the night to float in the heavens as this perfect memory of love.

We shot some of my favorite pieces from the recent Spring/Summer 2015 Monique Lhuillier collection on tintype, a photographic process from the 1860s which creates a direct positive of the image on a thin sheet of iron holding the photographic emulsion, here at our studio in collaboration with our new friend and tintype photographer Giles Clement, who we met down in Texas this past spring. I chose to capture this young beautiful girl with all her dreams before her in these stunning romance-laced gowns on this 150 year old photographic process because I wanted it to look like a dream, what each of these subjects represent to me. Photography is so many things, surveys such an array of purposes from science and technology, art and commerce, to capturing historic and everyday events. Photography can also be a way to see into a fantasy, to create a world that only exists in your mind… and isn’t that the definition of dreams?

Special thanks to Giles Clement who spent the day with us creating these one of a kind pieces of art together; I cherish these photographs- a dream come true. 

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Check out our Facebook to see the full-size tintypes!

Modeled by Michaela of Decorum Models // Tintype Specialist Giles Clement // Makeup by Morgan Gates // Nails by Phylicia Henry // Hairstyling by Joseph DiMaggio // Dresses by Monique Lhuillier // Shot at Ann Street Studio

 

Monique Lhuillier

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Monique Lhuillier always takes us on a enchanting, feminine adventure, but this season had a darker feel…like a forbidden romantic tryst at midnight; meeting a modern, glamorous woman in the alleyways of Paris…and you know how I love love in Paris

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