Our September Cover Story just went live on the site and Arlene and I cannot get over it! We wanted to shoot with our item shot model, Holly. You’ve heard us talk about her before. We absolutely adore her and think she is a fantastic model and have wanted to give her something meatier to do. Then Arlene found this shot in Crash…

…and an idea was born. We knew that we wanted to work in black and white and we also knew we had the opportunity to work with Karl Rothenberger again. The only problem is that all the clothes we had planned to use weren’t available! Such is the nature of trying to run this crazy website. As we have grown accustomed to doing, we rolled with it. We left the studio on Monday afternoon after a full day of shooting item shots with little to no idea what we were going to do the next day. Hair, make-up and Holly were scheduled to be here at 8am and Arlene and I were praying for creativity and inspiration. 

Somehow, it actually all came together and the result is even better than we ever could’ve imagined. The hair was a BEAST (over 400 bobby pins!!!), but turned out perfect. And the make-up was just exactly what we had envisioned. And Holly and Karl? Well, it was a match made in Heaven. The 2 of them just fed off of each other and worked together brilliantly. During the shoot, as Karl was thinking of how to mix things up, he said to us, “Do you guys happen to know any illustrators?” That’s all he had to say. Arlene immediately got online and emailed the lovely Joanna of Badaude and Joanna took our idea to a whole new level.

We love a good collaboration and this one was maybe the very best yet! Hope you all enjoy it as much as we do! To see the story in its entirety, click here.

A big THANK YOU to all involved!!! XOXOX! A and B.

Hard to believe…September already??  For us, Sept’s inspiration started months ago…with fabulous hair, our model Holly and 1960’s London captured in black & white.  Only our favorites for fall

images, Numero Magazine & Biba

I fell in love with up-and-coming model Rachel Ballinger from our Opening Ceremony lookbooks. She has the most amazing vibe — just downtown and cool — and has the capacity to rock absolutely any article of clothing. I feel like I am always showing her to the models we work with as an inspiration, but nobody else seems to get it the way Rachel does. Keep your eye on this girl because she is definitely going places!

Some more shots from the Sophomore Spring 09 lookbook…

and from the FW08 and SS09 Opening Ceremony lookbooks…

We really, really love good fashion shot on a really, really good model. Never underestimate the power of a really good model paired with a really good photographer. Magic.

I was surfing the other day looking for inspiration and came across this editorial from Vogue Italia, Nov 2008, shot by Steven Meisel. It has a very distinct Grey Gardens feel to it and seriously feels like the set of a glamorous old movie. Now that’s what I call art…

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!  I really have to point out, before it’s missed…. the Sonia Rykiel necklace and the heart-stopping white (trimmed in gold!!) trouser by Blumarine.. WOW

Chanel Iman from Lula Magazine

We had the true pleasure of working with Ford model, Michelle Hicks last week.  This beauty is the beauty we love…playful, confident, effortless.  We are so happy that she’s our featured model for Feb09.