New York Fashion Week SS 2013...Backstage at Tory Burch

Backstage at Tory Burch Spring/Summer 2013, NYC, Tuesday 11th September 2012.

On a sunny Autumn morning in NYC, Tory Burch presented her SS2013 collection....and it was breathtakingly beautiful. Anyone who has read my blog for awhile will know I love photographing girls with a slight hippie/boho vibe....give me undone hair, a stack of ethnic jewellery collected on far-flung travels, colours which would make a courting bowerbird happy, pretty make-up and I am in photographic heaven. So when I saw the new collection and wonderful hair (thick, messy fishtail braids by the genius Eugene Souleiman) and barely-there make-up ("brows filled in and brushed; Runway Rose {pinkish cream from MAC palette} across eyelid and inner corners of eye; curl lashes; must have brown {greyish cream from MAC palette) through crease and brushed under lower lashes.blend; tiny bit of talking tan on lips if needed, lip balm otherwise" ) I was so happy that the lovely Tory Burch team had invited me to photograph backstage again. Wheat-prints, high, block-heeled tasselled loafers, a turquoise, coral and gold embellished blouse, a tasselled-hooded kaftan (lazy beach days anyone?), tie-dye shorts, skirt and dress, stacks of rings on each of the model's hands (handmade by women in Ghana), an ombre jacket, stripes paired with prints, evening dresses worn with easy-to-wear Moroccan slippers.... I loved it all.

New York Fashion Week SS 2012...Backstage at Tory Burch

Tory Burch, Backstage, Tuesday September 13, 2011.

Head on over to Grazia.it today to check out the full article.

Photographing models after the shows is always fun but being backstage and seeing them transformed with beautiful make-up, hair, amazing clothes and styling is just plain magical. It is almost as if once they step (or are pulled and prodded!) into their first looks the girls transform into character.... all thoughts of exhaustion and stress are banished and replaced by nervous excitement* and adrenaline as they wait their turn to walk down the runway.

Despite beginning her label in 2004, this was Tory's first runway show and I am so happy that the team invited me** to capture a little part of the backstage action. Rather selfishly I guess, I like doing this type of photography (documentary?)*** for brands that I would wear myself or who have an aesthetic that I find inspiring. And in the case of Tory Burch, I loved every. single. delicious. piece that they sent down the runway. It was truly captivating. I wanted to run off (with Arizona, Lindsey, Codie, Ruby and Jourdan et al. in tow) to the south of France to shoot each piece by the seaside :)

*with probably a small amount of terror depending on how high/slippery/ridiculous the shoes are. Thankfully all the shoes at Tory Burch were beautiful and utterly wearable: fringed golf loafers/espadrilles and sweet little pointed flats tied with bows.

**Actually I think I invited myself along!

***Clearly the backstage photographers have nothing to fear (I don't think blurry artistically soft?! photos are quite the thing people are looking for!) but it was lovely to do something a bit different. Next week on Grazia.it look out for backstage at Margaret Howell in London.