Just in time for Halloween, we asked our favorite little creative powerhouse pixie, Erika Dufour, to do what she does best — let her imagination run wild. That’s really the best direction you can give Erika. She always comes up with something that is way better than anything we could’ve thought of on our own. And this story is certainly no exception.

So I proudly present to you, Erika’s Maskquerade:

See the story BIGGER; Shop the story.

{photography, styling and creative direction by Erika Dufour for TwentyThirtyForty}

I know, I know, we go on and on about Erika Dufour, but she’s awesome and we just can’t help ourselves.

The latest story she shot for us is something I’ve personally wanted to do for a while now — kind of a rock/grunge/punk thing. I’ve always thought that there is something really beautiful about the the industrial and rundown parts of our city. Not everything is perfect and there is something very real and honest about that. Luckily, Erika sees the same thing.

Well you can’t properly bring a vision to life without a truly exceptional model, and we found one in the AMAZING Kel from Factor Women Chicago. She totally embraced the challenge and just went CRAZY! She really used her surroundings (and was not at all intimidated by the occasional condom or empty liquor bottle she encountered). She happily climbed to the roof of an abandoned building, jumped around on a random mattress, rolled around on the ground, and beat the living daylights out of a chain link fence. Honestly, she was so inspiring to watch.

So without further adieu, I give you today’s Girls Friday: Erika and Kel.

Awesome hair and make-up by Chrisondra Boyd of Ford Artists

There is so much more, so please check out the story in its entirety here.

{photography by Erika Dufour, styled by Brandon Frein and Arlene Matthews, hair and make-up by Chrisondra Boyd of Ford Artists, model: Kel of Factor Women}

Happy Friday {evening}!!  What better way to end a gorgeous week than with some shopping  Our pop-up boutique is open for biz tomorrow at Revision Home, 2132 W Fulton St….lots of amazing finds for you & your home.  We did a little damage ourselves :] We picked up another dress form {our first one from Revision Home!} and an awesome pony hair stool for the studio and {on no, there’s more} Brandon, Katie {of Revision Home} & I are all picking up one of Erika Dufour’s geisha prints :]  So come on out!  Plus, we’d love to see you!

Also popping up tomorrow is The Vintage Bazaar in the artsy Pilsen area…22,000 square feet of the best vintage finds in the city.

and lastly, if you can’t make it to either {or not a local}…there’s always the world wide web :)…check out our new Obsessed With.  Obsessed With..Dream Collective by Kathryn Bentley.  Jewelry we just love to layer, layer, layer.  Happy shopping and happy weekend!!

We talk about Erika Dufour quite a bit, I know. She’s a genius, we love her. What’re you gonna do?

But what you may not know is that, aside from being your basic run-of-the-mill amazing fashion photographer and badass, Erika actually plays a badass on TV. Well, not on TV, but in a video game anyway. She is a professional motion capture model for a game I’m not supposed to mention. Suffice it to say, it’s a big one. Anyway, it should come as no surprise, really. I mean, the girl is professionally trained in dance and Martial Arts and God knows what else. And she’s clearly a little bit insane, which is what we love about her the most.

The very first time we shot with Erika at her studio she pulled out this honest-to-goodness sword and started whipping it around like it was paper. Ever since that moment (just after a truly proper and genteel lunch break), I’ve been meaning to catch her on video doing some of her amazing sword-wielding. Well I finally got it. Let me warn you in advance — I’m no filmmaker. But seriously, Erika’s crazy talent and daredevil-ness really need no embellishment. So without further adieu, I give you…

Erika Dufour and her sword.

And this sword-wielding occurred after a fashion shoot (not to mention a brilliant spur-of-the-moment set design).

Badass and fashion-y. Just the way we like it.

Our latest cover story is live. Be warned, this one’s a little crazy. We’ve mentioned this before, but the supremely talented Erika Dufour is a little bit kooky. She has a thing for medical devices and this all started with some crazy over-the-door head harness-thingy. Arlene and I decided, what the hell? Let’s just go for it. So go for it we did. Hope you enjoy it!

shot on location at the beautiful home of Vicki Stauber; photography by Erika Dufour, hair and make-up by Sharon Casey, model Sam B. from Factor; styled by us with assistance from Vicki

Yesterday was another amazing shoot with the most talented Erika Dufour (& company!).  We love working with Erika because she has so many great ideas she’d love to explore…like this latest collaboration, medical devices & fashion & beauty.  OK!  We’re in!  Here are a couple of the “stars” of the story….

the foot brace...

Erika testing out the head thinga-majiggy that hangs...which, I guess, off a door

wow, what a team....Kristyna & Erika

Vicki helped us out immensely with the beautiful location & some styling ....here she is styling my favorite look of the shoot with one of her own pieces.

here's a sneak peak of the look above....LOVE the dress from Gary Graham's new diffusion line, Anagram (that will definitely be another post )

always such a pleasure working with Erika & Sharon (hair & mu artist extraordinaire)....thank you guys!!

and thank you Vicki!!

Shoes!  And lots of great jewelry by Sway.  Brandon & I faced our fears and shot an accessory shoot yesterday…luckily, we collaborated with (one of the best) Ms Erika Dufour and Revision Home.  Guru photographer + amazing backdrop for accessories = pretty damn good editorial!   Unexpected luxe for the holidays….

Gorgeous! Bravo Erika! Bravo Katie! Bravo Kimberly! and BRAVO Sharon!!

Thank you Erika! You are amazing!!

Rachel Comey Shoes at The Shop.

Loeffler Randall Sloane Ankle Strap pump at The Shop.

more behind-the-scenes on Facebook

A big thanks to our friends over at Erika Dufour Photography for introducing us to Red Shift…BTW ladies, thank you for the lovely lovely meeting!  Look at this leather vest…..ooohh, this would be incredible with any of the pretty white Gary Graham dresses (or shorts from Rachel Comey or seersucker trousers from Vanessa Bruno!) we bought for S11.

with my striped tee & Rachel Comey shorts...oooooo, San Rafael here I come!

More to love about Red Shift…designer, Kristin Mariani Frieman, is a local Chicagoan & a graduate of The School of The Art Institute of Chicago.  She created Red Shift in 2000…you go girl!

check out Red Shift tees on flickr

We recently worked with a new photographer — the lovely and talented Erika Dufour. I’m not going to lie to you, we were scared. We’ve been working with Karl Rothenberger for a long time now and the 3 of us definitely have our groove down. We love and adore Karl, we love and adore his work and we love and adore working with him, BUT he lives in New York. This means that we’ve had to try and find someone local. Not an easy task, mind you.

Well, we are pleased to announce that the shoot with Erika went off without a hitch. Super-fun all-female (and a little canine) energy filled Erika’s studio that day, and the final result is more than we could have hoped for. We’re very happy and very proud. So happy and proud, in fact, that we’re posting it here. Hope you love it as much as we do =)

photography by Erika Dufour, hair and make-up by Sharon Casey, styling by us, featuring the fabulous Michelle Hicks of Ford Models.

Shop for the looks here.

I live on the North side of Chicago in a lovely little neighborhood that has no name — for locals, it’s not Ravenswood, it’s not Lincoln Square, it’s not North Center, but it’s kinda all of them. My particular block/corner is very familiar and small-town-ey. It’s probably because there is a Starbuck’s about a half a block from my front door. And I’ve met many interesting and really lovely people at my neighborhood Starbuck’s.

One of the many lovely and interesting people I’ve met is a woman named Linda. After a number of chats over late-morning weekend lattes, Linda made a couple of suggestions to me. One was to get Malcolm Gladwell’s Tipping Point, which I promptly downloaded onto my Kindle. The other suggestion was to check out a local photographer by the name of Erika Dufour. Well all I have to say is that my neighborhood Starbuck’s has yet to let me down.

Erika’s work often has a very physical element to it. She is a trained ballet dancer and also studies a form of Chinese Martial Arts called Wushu. Her interest in the way the body moves and the shapes that it can make are evident in her work and are undoubtedly part of what draws me to her. That and her ability to be super-girly (see those gorgeous beauty shots above!) As I’ve mentioned here many times, I am a very big lover of all things dance and I’ve been absolutely dying to do a studio shoot with a dancer — maybe Erika is the girl I’ve been looking for! 

all images lovingly borrowed from ErikaDufour.com