To follow up on this week’s earlier post about the podcast I did with Strong, Sexy & Stylish, I’m coming off a full week of photo shoots. Shoots always require a lot of detail wrangling—the who, what, where, when, why; the pulling of clothing and props; the setting of the scene; the creatives who will all work together to create the reality of an editor or art director’s vision. Sometimes it feels held together with duct tape and a prayer. But shoots are so thrilling when it all comes together in the right way. And I’m fortunate to work with people who really know how to make things happen that way. (At right is me with our creative director, Rob Johnson, as we evaluate photography during a recent shoot at Sidecar Studios.)
There’s one other thing we didn’t get to cover in the podcast that I wanted to share with all of you, and that’s the idea that when we present something to you in my style section or on the blog, the idea isn’t always to literally go out and replicate the outfit, look, or item that you see in the magazine—although, of course, that is a lovely compliment and we encourage it! But for me, the idea is to show you possibility. Inspiration. A guide to where to get it.
Maybe you just loved the idea of wearing navy blue in a new way. Maybe you saw something that wasn’t your style, but pushed you to consider adding another color, pattern, or silhouette to your closet, or even just another shop to stop in with your girlfriends after your weekly brunch. And sometimes, style editors aren’t suggesting anything practical. Sometimes, it is an escape to a pretty place—an aesthetic vacation—in the midst of a hectic, harried life filled with very real things, like natural disasters and a sickness in the family. And I’m grateful for that, too.
At its best, my job is a way to both provide you with a pretty little escape, and a way to feel good about yourself every day when you face your closet, your mirror, and, of course, the world. It makes all those little details worth it.
