I DO FLY THINGS: HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year!! 2013 is starting off right! I styled a fabulous photoshoot, I consulted wardrobe for a local short film, aaaand I finally shot the pilot episode for my fashion web series!! I have been busy trying to keep up with everything and manage my son, family and my new special Friend : )

Photoshoot: Light Years to Mars

I knew I wanted to shoot with a model named Martika, who had walked runway in my student show three years ago, but I wanted to tailor a shoot around her specifically. She's a brown skin chick who rocks her candy apple red hair as faithfully as I bump with my purple and she is fierce! I had been planning this sort of sci-fi/rock inspired shoot in my head for the longest and I knew I wanted Stephanie of Kiss of Death Xclusives (Kiss of Death Xclusives) to shoot it because her style is so dark and edgy. One day I randomly ran into Jade, another one of my models who had walked in the same show and everything just clicked.

I used a makeup artist named Keishla for the very first time and was very impressed with her work and professionalism! The inspiration behind the shoot really came from an insanely crazy John Waters (whom I stan for) movie called Pink Flamingos. Please don't watch that movie. Ever.. I watched cartoons and cute kitten videos for almost a month straight afterwards, trying to erase the often filthy, obscene and absolutely disgusting images from my brain due to several scenes in this "campy" film. Yeah it ain't for the weak stomached at all, but the costumes (as in most of Waters's films) were awesome, so I lifted a few dramatic color and shape ideas directly from the risque movie.

Scene from Pink Flamingos: say Hi to Mrs. Marbles and her manservant.

Yaaasss!! for the diamond studded cat eye glasses!

Babs and Cotton giving all sorts of trashy glam...

Martika @ the fitting with her flame red hair.

Keishla painting Jade's face

Jade looking very angelic.

Makeup inspiration.

Some of the accessories used in the shoot.

Me adding the finishing touches to Jade's hair.

Martika just had so much attitude!

One of my fave photos of the night.

Martika and Jade worked really well together.

I mixed and matched pieces from D.Hayes and Anton Z's previous spring and fall collections and they worked well on both of the models. I used some of their own pieces as well as my jewelry and a few of my shoes and other accessories. The models played off each other and I was sooo pleased with the results! To see all the edited photos from the shoot go here: Light Years to Mars.

Costume Design
A costume designer is responsible for creating the look of a character, in movies or t.v. They start at the pre-production stage and help develop the look and style the entire cast including extras. There are so many clothes to order (sometimes multiples of the same item) lots of shopping, fittings, corrections and things to be done before filming begins and it's a very long process. And even then everything can be vetoed if the fit or look isn't right for the leads, or if the director hates just one thing, or if the script changes-(which it does-alot). A few summers ago when Cleveland was the fabulous Nouveau Hollywood, I snagged a position as a costume intern on a film called Boot Tracks starring Stephen Dorff (Tomorrow You're Gone they changed the name and the film is still not out yet) and Michelle Monaghan. It was the coolest experience! I worked directly under Carol Beadle, who designed the costumes for the movie The Runaways and had recently styled Katy Perry and Kanye West for Perry's E.T video.

I found out about the job while working at the vintage store Suite Lorain. I helped the producer's assistant find a few outfits and she told me about the film coming to town and that I should send in my resume. Hell yeah I did! Days later I remember dropping off my very first article as a freelancer at the Cleveland Plain Dealer building on Superior Ave. when I got the phone call from Carol asking if I could meet her for a quick interview.

It was the hottest day ever and I had on short shorts, a transparent tribal print tank with a purple leopard bra peeking through, long thick, purple and black Janet Jackson box braids and a pair of killer wedges that made me look every bit of the 6 feet tall fashion monster that I was. Definitely not the type of interview outfit they approved of in fashion school, but I told her I could be at her hotel in thirty minutes.

I knocked on the door and it swung open to reveal a woman with dark hair wearing only a tank and underwear (and to think I was worried about my attire lol). She greeted me with, "I can't find my fuckin pants" and I knew we were going to hit it off just fine. When she did manage to find her trousers (which ahem- were by Proenza Schouler) we talked about EVERYTHING: vintage fashion, 90's boy bands and groups like the Kills and the Raconteurs, Moschino's fall line, trade and international fashion magazines, Kate Moss and all her greatness, old movies and books, photographers, Degrassi, (she's from Canada) the commercialism of fashion and of course personal style. I was in her room for hours before I realized I had to go pick my son up and had not actually interviewed for the job at hand until she asked me if I could come back tomorrow morning at 9 am with Starbucks and a notebook.

Does a bear shit in the woods and wipe his ass with a fluffy white rabbit? Hell yeah I could and I figured that was how the rest of the internship would go- me fetching coffee and taking notes for the next three weeks and believe it or not, I was ok with that, just for the experience alone. Boy was I wrong! Carol literally took me under her wing- I went from being an unpaid intern to a paid personal assistant for the whole the rest of the time filming went on and learned everything under the sun about costume designing.

I am forever grateful to Carol, because not only did she allow me to do the fun things like shop, stay on set and put together boards, she also took the time to explain things like research and organization, orders, invoices, contracts and receipts, cash outs and other things I'd never heard of. My love of shopping everywhere around my city and knowing layouts of all the major malls, boutiques and vintage stores across my area finally paid off and I shopped til I literally dropped, I crunched numbers and had lots of input. I had a few garments that I chose appear on screen for the main characters and I now even have an IMDB credit. It was something that I would never forget...

I appeared as an extra in the movie with a few other "colorful" characters.

In the wardrobe trailer... those pants-don't judge lol.

"A Gracious Tip"
I met director Stephon J a few years ago when I answered an ad he had on NEOhiopal, looking for actors to star in a music video he was directing for a local singer. I convinced him that he needed a wardrobe person to make his video look "stylistically fresh" even though I had no idea what I was doing lol. I definitely made things up as I went a long, but since then I've done a few more things in the costume department and was excited when I discovered an ad for his film, "A Gracious Tip"- a short film about a sophisticated black couple dining in an upscale restaurant when they encounter a rude waiter

On a film with a smaller budget actors are usually responsible for their own wardrobe/costume and as a consultant I tell them what to bring as far as clothing, shoes and accessories and we take it from there. You have to read the script to get a feel for the characters and settings to figure out what to tell everyone and know what looks right on camera. This setting took place in a nice, swanky restaurant and Stephon wanted a black and white color scheme for the costumes. Since it was a small crew I was also able to fill in different positions like prop stylist where I arranged the food and set the tables, and I filmed a little behind the scenes footage with a big heavy fancy camera which was really cool.

When I walked on set, I found that I had worked with a few people on different projects already. The assistant director's wife and I work together (same department!) at my non glam 9-5 and one of his former partners had attended my student show years ago. The lead actor I happened to recognize from a few summers back when he starred alongside my son in a commercial for the Lebron James' foundation (fun times lol) and one of the actresses and I both got used last summer on the ill fated 1940s movie that never even existed (read about that here: Retro Movie and here: The Shade!). It just proved to me how small the fashion, film and art industry is here in Cleveland and you never know who you will eventually work with so be nice to everybody!

I'm excited to see the final product but in the meantime- please like our Facebook page:A Gracious Tip.

We used frozen T.V. dinners as food props.

Ughh everything was so cold and wet do you see the lettuce!?

On location at the Glidden House Restaurant.

The look of the evening was black and white.

Ya girl, holding the heavy ass camera lol.

Me guarding craft services with my life!

The Art of Style
I have been wanting to shoot a fashion web series for the longest time, but then remembered how camera shy I was and put the idea on hold indefinitely. But one day I was searching for something on YouTube for plus size women and found nothing worth devoting my six minutes to. So I decided to take matters into my own hands and began developing my show. I began research by first learning how to shoot video with my cute little digital camera, I went out and purchased a fancy tripod and I watched tons of clips on fashion and style videos and then I set out to film my own damn show.

Yeah, I had no idea what I was doing. Apparently you can't write, direct, film, edit, style and host a show using a cute digital camera and a tripod. I mean you can but... it looked crazy when I did it. So I went back to the drawing board and talked to every one I knew trying to see who could at least edit my project for me for um- free.99 and there were absolutely no takers.

I met with different videographers who all mainly spent me and I was beside myself with frustration when my good friend and videographer Jasmine, (director of Maternal Pride) stepped in. Why didn't I ask her at first? Because you don't ask Stephen Spielburg to shoot your YouTube webseries. Unless you have like a million dollars and a few packs of M&Ms to offer (which sadly I have access to neither).

But Jasmine graciously decided to help me out and after a few production meetings we filmed the pilot episode of the show which I titled "The Art of Style: Real Women Wear Real Things" with blogger Erin Thomas, of Zero-Style. The show will cater to real size women, (8 and up) and their style issues, along with interviews, news, tips and other things related to the average size woman. I will be the first to admit that I am horrible! Thank goodness I can laugh at myself now, but sheesh I kept messing up and saying the wrong things over and over again and my voice is super annoying smdh. But I got through it and I learned what not to do and wear for the next time (no reading off a script, no low cut dresses!) and can't wait to see the final product for that as well.

Jasmine and I at our production meeting @Starbucks. #Like a boss.

On set of "The Art of Style" with Erin T.

To promote the show I came up with the idea to have this epic shoot using random ladies that I scouted via Facebook and some that I met randomly around the city. It was going to be great! I had the talented photographer Natasha Herbert (check her work out here: Natasha Herbert Photography) behind the camera, the H.T.Z. Styling team and makeup artist Keishla A doing hair and makeup, a jewelry sponsor, eight of the most diverse group of women you ever wanted to see, and the location was going to be at the downtown library- aka my second office. Well the morning of the shoot it snowed here in Cleveland and did not stop until late in the afternoon so I had no choice but to call off the shoot. I was pissed but could not pout. I rescheduled it for this another weekend but of course it was difficult getting so many people on the same schedule again so I lost a lot of participants. It worked out lovely though and I ended up using the homegirl Antinieic, a high school friend, Candra, and blogger, Erin. The ladies brought their own wardrobes and I mixed and matched their pieces and was very pleased with the results. I captured some behind the scenes images and shot a little video: