Beekman Place, Pt. V

photos by Tom b.

- 50s cotton dress
- 30s wool coat
- AA tights
- Topshop heels

And here we are at the end.  The end of this series.  The end of the year.   It has been a good one, full of fun adventures;  a trip to California, my first attempt at a vegetable garden, trips to Alabama and New York, my first try at styling a photoshoot, finally (I think) being happy with the way my Etsy photos look, a snow covered Halloween and so much more.  I'm looking forward to lots of new adventures in the upcoming year.  Bring it on 2012!  Happy New Year! Thank you so, so much for visiting me here!

Beekman Place, Pt. IV

photos by Tom b.

- 30s blouse
- 50s cashmere skirt
- H&M tights
- Fletcher for Lyell heels

Beekman Place, Pt. III

photos by Tom b.

- 60s wool shorts
- H&M sweater
- 60s leather boots
- vintage wool beret

When presented with the opportunity to do a photoshoot in the Beekman Place building, I was faced with the inevitable question... what to wear?!  I knew whatever I took with me, I was going to have to carry it several blocks through the city as we walked our way to the building so that limited what I was going to take.  I thought about coming up with some sort of theme or specific inspiration but in the end, just went with outfits that I thought I would normally wear and that represented my own personal style.  Each one incorporates pieces of vintage from my own closet with modern pieces in ways that I would wear them in everyday life.   

Beekman Place, Pt. II

photos by Tom b. 

- vintage Navy sailor pants
- Fletcher for Lyell sweater
- 70s leather boots
- vintage wool beret

A few fun facts about Beekman Place:

• It was built in 1882 and used to be known as Temple Court. 
• It is one of the earliest surviving fire-proof buildings built in New York City. 
• It was the third building in the city to have an elevator installed (they still work and we rode in them!). 
• You can see the Woolworth Building, built in 1913, through the atrium skylights. 
• It has been sitting abandoned in the middle of the city for more than a decade. 
• The building is rumored to be sold to Andre Balazs and being renovated into a luxury hotel.  

Beekman Place, Pt. I

photos by Tom b.

- 30s wool coat
- ASOS dress
- Rachel Comey boots
- H&M tights
- vintage belt

Merry Christmas everyone!  I know it's a bit belated but it's better late than never, right? Or at this point, I guess I should go ahead and say Happy Boxing Day!  I hope everyone had a lovely holiday spent with friends and family.  We had a very quiet weekend, mostly spent at home watching football (Tom) and old movies (me) and eating treats.  Last night I cooked a Christmas dinner of vegan Field Roast, Brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes that were grown on my parents' farm.  Yum!  

So... I've successfully avoided doing any outfit posts for the entire month of December and I have to admit I did enjoy the break.  I'm sure I'll get back into the routine after the beginning of the year, but for now I'm still reveling in not taking any photos.  Instead, I thought I would wrap up the end of the year featuring the photographs Tom took during one of our favorite projects of the year; our trip to Beekman Place in NYC.  If you looked through the flip book when I posted it, you've seen some but not all of these shots.  Each day this week, I'll spotlight a different set of photos from the project here on the blog. I hope you enjoy!

Modern Vintage 2011

Here is the final product of our recent trip to NYC. I'm currently traveling so I'm going to keep this post short on words since it's heavy on photos. And speaking of photos, this post wouldn't be complete without a huge thank you to my partner in crime, Tom, for taking all of these photos, for humoring me when I want to do ONE MORE outfit and for designing the entire flip book.

If this thing works the way it's supposed to, you should be able to flip through the photos here on the blog, or click on the photos to view them larger. You can even download it if you want!

Photography: SJV x ADG

For today's photography spotlight I'd like to indulge in a little shameless self promotion, if you don't mind. Here are the results of my very first styling project, a collaboration with Amber Danese Grandfield and Sarah. You may remember from this post that when I was planning the shoot I was watching a lot of Boardwalk Empire so I had the 20s heavily on my mind, but at the same time a lot of 70s inspired spring lookbooks were coming out so I think some of that got thrown into the mix as well.

I think my favorite piece from the set is that black semi-sheer skirt which I found a thrift store the day before shoot! I layered it over my Fletcher for Lyell tap shorts and it looked amazing on Sarah. It's one of those outfits that I love to put together but doubt that I'd be brave enough to wear out in public. If you'd like, you can see more of the photos here.

Spring Photos

More often than not I awake early on Sunday mornings to Tom's shadowy figure quietly slipping out the door, camera bag slung over his shoulder, as he wanders off to photograph some long forgotten home or abandoned factory (his explorations are well documented here). This week was no exception. In my sleepy haze I rarely realize exactly where he's off to until he returns to tell me about the morning's adventure. When he returned this Sunday he instantly told me that he knew I would love the house he had just photographed. When he showed me a few of the shots I could barely contain my excitement; peeling paint, pretty wallpaper, beautiful windows with light pouring in. I'd been mulling over the idea of doing some sort of spring editorial style shoot for the blog and knew this would be just the place.

I grabbed some clothes and shoes (all things I've been wanting to wear if only the weather would cooperate) and we headed out the door. Unfortunately the weather wasn't cooperating and I was pretty much freezing the whole time! But the house is scheduled for demolition and we knew we'd better grab the chance to photograph it before it's all razed. I could see my breath in the house and if you look at these shots full sized you can see all the goose bumps on my legs! Despite the cold, we had a lot of fun exploring each room. The wallpaper in the house was mind-blowingly perfect! It's so sad to know it will all be gone soon.

I braved the cold for as long as I could and we ended up with lots of photos. I'm trying to figure out exactly what I want to do with all of them. I think Tom is going to help me make a little lookbook where you can flip the pages but since we've never done that before we're going to have to figure it out. Until then, here's a little sampling of what we ended up with.

Behind the Scenes, Pt. 2

Yesterday was a bit of a whirlwind so I didn't have time to share many details of the weekend shoot. Thankfully today promises to be a little less hectic so I thought I'd take a moment before the crazy sets in to share a bit more about the day. It all started several months ago when Amber contacted me to see if I'd be interested in styling a shoot for her. I jumped at the opportunity since it was an idea I'd had in the back of my mind.

When she asked me what I thought for a concept for the shoot, I was in the midst of watching Boardwalk Empire and knew I wanted to do something inspired by the characters on that show. Of course, as the months passed and the weather warmed up the concept evolved a bit. It ended up being 20s-carnival-with-a-touch-of-70s-Stevie-Nicks.

On the day of the shoot, the weather was fairly cooperative with lots of sunshine, a light breeze and temperatures that kept Sarah from completely freezing. She was such a trooper! I was cozy in my sweater and she braved the weather in sheer chiffon and sleeveless dresses. Oh, and she had the coolest silvery blue ombre hair (how does one even do that!). It looked amazing with all of the clothes.

Amber, who was wearing the prettiest white lace blouse that her mother had worn on her wedding day, took hundreds of photos of the five outfits I styled. Everything looked amazing on Sarah and I can't wait to see all of the photos! As soon as I get my hands on them, I'll be sure to share them with you. Hopefully this was the first of many shoots I'll style!

Behind the Scenes

This weekend marked the arrival of an event I've been anticipating for months... my first attempt at styling a photoshoot! My partners in crime for the day were Amber, the photographer, and Sarah, the model. It was tons of fun and I can't wait to see how all the photos turn out. I only have a moment today to share a few behind the scenes photos with you, but I'll be back tomorrow with more details and more behind the scenes shots!