Our May Cover Story is shot and should be up soon  This one came down to the wire!  I mean, the wire!  Brandon and I were getting looks together the morning of the shoot with a start time of 9am.  Thanks to the talented crew and the amazing location, all went off without a hitch and the story is beautiful.  This shoot we had a couple of inspirations…this great jewelry ad from Tous.  Oooo la la!

and this FANTASTIC dress from Les Prairies de Paris….

That dress lead us to the gorgeous Rose…..and Voila!  Karl’s take of Rose + Tous ad…..

Thank you Karl!! Cover-Story-Rose would not be Cover-Story-Rose without you!!

The talented crew...photographer extraordinaire, hair stylist extraordinaire and stylist extraordinaire. This is one of my favorite shots....on the white couch :)

OK, threw this one in. Me, behing-the-scenes the day before in our studio for another shoot. Studio shoots are a little nutty in our small space....clothes, makeup, a good handful of people and even sometimes a dog!

Many thanks to our friends, Lisa & Joel.  Their home (aka…amazing location) was absolutely perfect for this shoot.  Here are just a few detail shots of the location…..

4' metal wall hanging

a pair of ceiling lights in the living area

ceiling above the kitchen & dining area

We shot our upcoming cover story (party dressing!!!) at the Raffaello.  I was completely taken by this gorgeously sexy hotel and once again, completely taken by our fair city….this time 18 floors up.  The Rafaello sits perfectly in the heart of the Gold Coast neighborhood and all around was just a treat for the eye.

a peek at North Ave Beach

something bout those fire escapes...just love them

the famous John Hancock

ahhhh.....gorgeous

great old vintage buildings like this one are sprinkled all over the city

a couple of behind-the-scene shots....Amelia & Karl

Amelia & Karl

and....Amelia & Karl :)

many, many, many thanks to Jared Galbut and the Rafaello Hotel, Mr Karl Rothenberger, the beautiful Amelia Pool.  AND last but not least (we could never do it w/o you), Katie & Kelcey!!

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.

A while back we posted about an upcoming shoot with Karl Rothenberger. Well, we shot with him and all we can say is, WE WANT MORE! Here’s a little behind-the-scenes action to get you ready for our next cover story. We shot at the gorgeous Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool behind Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo. It was such an amazing location and we couldn’t have possibly asked for a more beautiful day. 

Our fabulous interns, Tessa and Amanda.

The amazing Amanda rode this bike all over town for us (in some serious wedges!) on the off-chance that it would make its way into the story.

And a little taste of the finished product…