Style Trial with Flaire

This post should be subtitled: Where Has CC Been?  I know – I’m an absentee blogger, but in my defense, I’ve been BUSY!

In the last two months, I’ve:

• been dealing with the tail end of a family crisis
• been trying to have a (super adorable, I’m sure) BABY!
• been trying to get my foot in the door with styling professionally

As far as the latter goes, I truly dropped the blog-ball on it.  For four weeks, from September to October, I participated in the First Annual (hopefully!) Milwaukee Style Trial!  I initally thought I’d be blogging my way through the competition, in which aspiring fashion stylists worked to coordinate a photo shoot and a runway show each week, culminating in a 15-look final show during “Milwaukee Fashion Weekend.”  The prizes included three additional styling oportunities (with M Magazine! and the Aveda Institute! and Flaire boutique!), along with cash and a few other perks.  I was thrilled at having been invited to participate, and looking forward to building my own portfolio in such a fun way; I knew I’d be stressed, but thought the blog would be the perfect outlet to hash out my thoughts,

In reality…the FUN was more theoretic though.  Working full time , putting a look (or three!) together between receiving the assignment late Saturday and doing the photoshoot Wednesday, and being present for hair and makeup made for an extremely packed week.  A couple of the stores were not located near the others, and since all were smaller boutiques, some had funky hours – eek!

Having not ever been deemed “Guilty” of a Fashion Sin, here are my looks for each week’s themes (all photos by Dan Zaitz Photography, courtesy of Flaire):

Week 1:  SUDDEN IMPACT!

I approached the challenge initially by knowing I wanted to play with prints ‘a la Prada Resort ’09 – YUM!

- But since I was limited in my pickings from the participating stores, from whence we were allowed to pull two pieces from each, for each look, I really had to be innovative in my pairings.  Although the theme was SUDDEN IMPACT!, I thought about things that would impact a fashion-forward girl upon first glance, rather than playing it safe and doing something totally overt.  More Sudden Impact than SUDDEN IMPACT!   The breakdown of my look:

• Mixed prints – add a textural element to the look that deepens it rather than depending on solids to pull everything together.  By using a mostly neutral palette, we’re making a bold statement with depending on color (SILVER!) to make the statement for us.
• Leather jacket – shrunken and on-trend.  I loved that such a tough piece was the grounding element of the look.
• Accessories – embellished hoops and a delicate bracelet helped keep it from looking costumey (BIKER!).  I adored this purse and still may buy it for myself; it’s on-trend (metalic! quilting!), designer-esque, and ultimately did it job, by making the look more high-end.  My own shoes finished off the look, but I would really have prefered something a little more avant garde in shape, or really ramped it up with a contrasting color
• Hair/Makeup – SO UNSATISFIED!  My inspiration for the makeup was really clean, glowy skin, doe eyes, and exagerated bubble gum pink lips (glossier and a little more pink than Drew’s here).  Here’s the shiny hair inspiration as well:

At any rate, I squeaked by after being torn apart for being too safe, and being advised to really go editorial henceforth!  On a positive note, the judges loved how flawless the proportions were (thankyouverymuch!).

Week 2:  Earth, Wind, and Fire – and male models!

What a DOOZY!  The week started with only three stores even offering guys’ clothes, but luckily one more was added – whew!  That means a total of eight pieces could be pulled, but luckily, the models could wear their own shoes.  Opting not to get pulled in too many different directions trying to fit earth, wind and fire together (and end up looking homeless and mismatched), I took my inspiration from my model.  Tommy was totally Abercromie-esque, with great blue eyes-I knew I’d have to dirty up his preppy baby-facedness, so we took the wind and made it mean, tornado-force wind, stirring up the earth and even including some lightening (fire! – also, will I ever grow out of hearing that word in Beavis’s voice??).  My look:

• Scarves – used to create a rotational sensation; I’d envisioned a light, shear one trailing behind him as he walked, but couldn’t find anything that worked.  They photographed more tightly packed (they weren’t!) than as editorial as I would have prefered.
• Outfit – the tee was great – fun, young, hip and I was pretty happy with the casual, wearable fit on the jeans (they were the smallest size I could find, so I didn’t have many options).  The jacket wasn’t a perfect fit, but the model didn’t know his size and I didn’t egt to fit him until the day of the shoot, so I had to guess on it.
• Hair/Makeup –  Another dissatifying one The makeup was meant to darken his eyes in a stark manner and his baby cheeks were supposed to have been contoured for a stronger chin/jaw, but it ended up photographing almost as blush and “done” eyes, which counteracted the harsh masculinity I was going for.

Overall, I liked it.  It looked pretty great on the runway, I thought, but I got thrashed on fit, which honestly I wasn’t able to address.  I was deemed NOT GUILTY and invited to stay another week!

Whew – I’ll be back tomorrow – PROMISE – with the conclusion of the Style Trial.  To view my competition, hop on over to Flaire’s Blog!