Portrait of a Lady

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Doing a beauty video for Elle and Clarins had me thinking a lot about French beauty. In particular, how effortless and tasteful they are when it comes to skincare and how you makeup your face for the world to see. Every time I am in Paris I feel so inspired about the celebrated form of beauty French women have. To me, they are the most beautiful women in the world which I like to think goes beyond lucky genetics and has something to do with yummy french beauty products.

Kelly and I wanted to do a shoot for her sister Erin Framel on her birthday to mark this time in her life and celebrate all our collaborations. Many people go into behind the scenes to make a photo-shoot happen and Erin has produced, styled, and even modeled in many of our editorials and commercial shoots as a way to say thanks. With French beauty and one of my favorite fashion photography books, Woman in the Mirror, as inspiration we capture Erin in this timeless moment.

We let Elle & Clarins on set to see how we work and play together and here are the final images from this day of beauty….

Cover images~ Pamella Roland Gown || As29 Earrings

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The Romantic world of Michelle Hébert

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Recently I was at an Everlane dinner with my friend Caroline {pictured here} to launch their new very cute boatneck shirts. Caroline and I were talking about our next shoot together and that we should do something totally different from the Everlane campaign photos she’s all over the web in.

I’ve been photographing her for years now, there is just something about her face I love. Plus she is an amazing jewelry designer, an all around great human being, and a really fun time.  At that same time my friend Bess, who is an incredible floral designer {she does the Vanity Fair Oscar Party!} was coming in from L.A. and wanted to collaborate on something like our previous shoots. She recently met this L.A. based fashion designer Michelle Hébert and sent me some images of her dresses which I found insanely dark and romantic. So Bess brought the gowns and flowers, Caroline brought her beautiful face, makeup artist Eddie Hernandez used all rose scented Chantecaille products and together we brought the gowns to life.

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Once the pieces were on the body we could really see the creativity of the designs. What’s crazy is that this designer is 24 and self taught! Obviously one day she will be winning Oscars for costume design or working for one of her favorite fashion houses such as Alexander McQueen.  I had to know more about this girl out in L.A. hand sewing fantasies in her parents garage so I interviewed her to see what is in her mind that makes these moments.

Describe the idea behind this flower, lace and tulle designed dress:

Michelle Hébert: One of my early pieces and a design created to pay homage to the late Alexander McQueen. It almost felt collaborative as I set out to use symbols we both admired such as flowers, but to take that and design something that was my own. Materials: Lace, Flower Appliqués, Chiffon, Beads, and Tulle. 

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Chanel Haute Couture

I had never photographed couture before, but I had dreamed about it for years, ever since my first meeting with CHANEL. To see, to touch, to photograph something so special, so one of a kind, would become one of my greatest honors. I think every great photographer has their first “couture story”…the pieces are so rare that couture comes with quite a bit of fuss.

Coming straight from the runway in Paris, the fall 2014 Chanel Haute Couture collection visited New York for two days. I could have the pieces from 7pm to midnight at our studio which took three guys and two guards to carry up. The garments lived up to all my ideas of what haute couture is: immaculate quality, so intricate you could get lost in the details…fascinating aspects to the construction, just layers upon layers of depth and design. It is, quite simply, wearing art. Photographs will never capture the way the beauty feels in person, it’s like seeing a photo of a Botticelli painting online and standing in front of one in Florence. It brought tears to my eyes.

So what is haute couture?…

Haute couture, meaning “high fashion”, can be traced back as early as the 1700s at the court of Marie Antoinette, but the father of haute couture was Charles Frederick Worth, the man who changed the public perception of dressmakers from laborers to artists. At his atelier, he would create a living portfolio, a display of his work on models from which clients could choose a piece for themselves.

From this foundation, many couture fashion houses were born – so many that the term “haute couture” is actually defined and protected by a committee in the French government who have certain criteria in order for a fashion house to meet the haute couture standard. At the beginning of the twentieth century, there were well over a hundred houses considered haute couture, now there are only around a dozen.

Chanel is one of those legendary haute couture houses. Beginning in the 1920s, Coco Chanel revolutionized the fashion scene by ignoring typical fashion standards – creating a false bust and hips, using corsets to narrow the waist – in favor of fashion that allowed for women’s comfort while creating a new kind of polished style. As Coco continued to design until her death in 1971, Chanel became well known for creating fluid, effortless pieces that oozed glamour and sophistication. Today, under the vision of Karl Lagerfeld, Chanel continues to set the bar for the haute couture side of the fashion industry… to say the least.

So here we are, on an early autumn night at our studio, the windows are open with the distant sounds of New York city flowing in as stylist Kelly Framel is dressing our model, actress & artist India Salvor Menuez and I am standing on set ready to go to another world- one in which only Chanel can take me.

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Clothing & High Jewelry by Chanel Couture // Modeled by India Salvor Menuez // Styled by Kelly Framel //  Makeup by Christine Cherbonnier // Hair by Joseph DiMaggio // Manicure by Angel Williams //  Concrete Mural by Mr Perswall for Wallpaperdirect

All things CHANEL here

Meet Jasmine Poulton

JasminePoulton__02Yesterday we played out one of my personal fantasies of glamour and fashion high atop the city skyline in a Mandarin Oriental suite with our British Wilhelmina model Jasmine Poulton. We were talking about dreams, the way so  many come to New York to find them or fulfill them. I asked Jasmine about her own life, what brought her to our city, a place where it seems everyone is from somewhere, and how she ended up on this beautiful fall day in front of my lens…

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New York is a city of dreams…my New York dream is….

Leaving every other weekend.

When I model I….

 Act.

The reason I moved to New York is…

To be free.

I am most inspired by…

 Nature, music, love, a mind’s endless ideas.

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Fashion is…

More than what’s current.

Women are…

One of nature’s greatest beauties & powers.

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Mandarin Oriental Dreams

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High atop Manhattan’s skyline, overlooking Central Park and the Hudson River sits the proud Mandarin Oriental, glittering in the golden setting sun of an early autumn day. I love New York this time of year, I love the fantasy of glamour, a world where fashion, culture, business and design all collide into spectacular moments. When I was young and I dreamed of New York it was always like this – overlooking that powerful skyline that still mesmerizes me, in diamonds and designer gowns. Here, model and artist Jasmine Poulton brings my dreams to life in the Mandarin Oriental’s Oriental Suite in Donna Karan‘s very special 30th anniversary fall 2014 collection (remember when I took you backstage) and Chopard diamonds from the high jewelry collection

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Lady Argyle

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Lady Argyle, the matriarch of the House, possesses the kind of confident elegance only one of experience may possess…it gives her the ability to glide instead of walk, and glow as vibrantly as the royally violet jewels that cast a spell on those who glance her way. She waits on the terrace for her Lord Byron, sipping champagne, lost in the memories of so many summers ago. She knows the emotions the young ones will be looking for tonight, but at this moment she’s happy living in her memories, or at least, being the gracious host she is, that might be just what she wants us to believe.

No matter what #ChopardSecrets may be whispered across these halls, rest assured…Lady Argyle knows them all…

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 In the Manor & on the Terrace, Lady Argyle wears Chopard’s Imperiale Ring, Pendant and Watch // Zac Posen Gown

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Lady Argyle played by Elodie // Shot on location at Old Westbury Gardens by Ann Street Studio // Styled by Kelly Framel // Props by Zio & Sons // Makeup by Ashlee Glazer // Hair by Justin Woods // Manicurist Katie Hughes for Butter London // All watches and high jewelry provided by Chopard

Top 20 Met Gala Moments

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Oh what a night! Here are my favorite red carpet arrivals from my Instagram takeover for  the Met Museum. It was gowns galore, celebrities, designers and muses, musicians at their best and anything / everything I could capture all from an iPhone 5s… isn’t technology wonderful? Here is what I saw, some of my favorite outtakes and intimate moments…life is glittery and magical when you are attending the one and only Met Gala…

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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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Tadashi Shoji

New York designer Tadashi Shoji fall winter 2014 collection shown at NYFW.

Together we roam through the enchanted halls of a moonlit Moorish palace…

Tadashi Shoji is well known for his gowns which seem to flatter women of all ages, shapes and sizes (making him quite the popular fixture on the red carpet). We even had the chance to shoot one of his glorious pieces last year, so I could not wait to see what he would send down the runway this season which brought to mind gorgeous desert palaces, brightly colored mosaics, and romantic moonlit nights. I felt as though I were miles away on a brand new adventure as I watched the models drift by in the luxuriously embroidered creations of Mr. Tadashi Shoji…

New York designer Tadashi Shoji fall winter 2014 collection shown at NYFW. New York designer Tadashi Shoji fall winter 2014 collection shown at NYFW. New York designer Tadashi Shoji fall winter 2014 collection shown at NYFW.

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Some Kind of Romance

Evening gowns floated down the runway as if they had just emerged from an eighteenth-century painting…and in a way, they did. Francisco de Goya’s painting, “Portrait of Maria Teresa Vallabriga on Horseback” helped inspire the combination of structure and softness that appeared through the entire Marchesa collection.

With awards season just around the corner, it’s clear this kind of romance will make a return to the red carpet…

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Wearing Zac Posen

If you know me then you know I live for a gown moment. I always say~ my dream is to shoot beautiful women in beautiful gowns in beautiful places. Every now and then I get to be one of these fantasies and I had the privilege to wear the green Zac Posen gown recently to Bergdorf Goodman’s 111th anniversary celebration at the Plaza Hotel! What a night! Kelly and I brought the gowns back to the studio the next day to capture our evening attire on set to remember the moment forever… thank you, Zac, for all your glory.

Styling: Kelly Framel / Hair: Bethany Brill / Makeup: Porsche Cooper for FLIRT! Cosmetics / Location: Ann Street Studio

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OscarPRGirl is not only setting an industry standard in etiquette but she is one of those women with a certain je ne sais quoi… and she has the most amazing walk I have ever seen.

This dress from Oscar’s resort show was my favorite piece, I call it the “if Marilyn were alive” dress.

Thank you Erika for your kind words and unwavering support, you are so good to me. xo

oscarprgirl:

once upon a time I met Jamie Beck. Last September she took this picture of me at FNO from outside of our boutique on Madison avenue. There is just something about her photos, you know? For me it’s like they make me hold my breath for just a second. At our Resort show last month, Jamie graciously agreed to take pictures. Here, the first I will post & most definitely not the last. Jamie, we love you, & thank you.