Varsity Inspired Photoshoot

Last weekend, my amazing team and I embarked on a trip to Central Park at the crack of dawn in below freezing temperatures to capture the final shots for our Styling for Visual Presentation class. We'd finally made it to the last group project of the semester and were given the opportunity to shoot on location, something I was so excited to do. You can't beat natural light!

The aim of this project was to take a garment, in our case the cheerleader jumper (or 'sweater') featured below, and choose a location inspired by the outfit. Immediately we knew we wanted to capture the typical American varsity feel, and where better to do it than on the chain fences and bleachers of a ball park. These particular fields we found in Central Park. We were initially reluctant to use this famous location as we didn't want our shoot to look at all touristy or too 'green'; we wanted to achieve a moodier shot and I think we managed it!

We used the same model from our previous project and also collaborated with a photographer for the first time ever. We could not have achieved shots like these without both of them! This shoot was a great insight in to styling and location scouting for fashion editorials, and we are so happy with the outcome. 

We met at 7am which meant when we were leaving our rooms the sun hadn't even risen and the temperatures were literally freezing cold. Personally, my toes felt like they were about to drop off, so I can't even imagine how Andrea managed to rock some of the skimpy outfits. She was absolutely amazing; you wouldn't even know we were in the depths of winter in New York from the outcome. We celebrated the wrap of our photoshoot with a trip to Levain bakery on the Upper West Side to try their famous cookies - delicious!

Check out the rest of the shots below.

Aderyn x 

Photo Credit: Ellen Marszalkowski 

Maman Tribeca

This little cafe came to the rescue today after my weeks long hunt for granola. After visiting multiple places that claimed to stock my favourite breakfast meal, and being told they were out of stock on a countless number of occasions, the fact that I couldn't find any granola anywhere in New York City became a bit of a running joke. I'd often wake up early specifically to get to places before they switched between their breakfast and lunch menus in the hope that I'd get some, but of course that didn't happen.

Today, I was about to hit an (overly-dramataic) breaking point. We sat down in a cafe that claimed to serve breakfast until 4pm, but were then told by the waiter that they weren't serving anything off the breakfast menu at all. Aside from an $18 burger that I really didn't fancy, I didn't like anything on the menu, and in my frustrated granola-deprived state, I opted to leave the cafe as I couldn't face watching my friends eat with an empty stomach. I quickly paced to another one of the same cafe's locations, sure that they would be offering breakfast, but approached the building the find a sign on the door saying they were closed for the day. I could not believe my luck.

After a quick Google search of the best granola in NYC, I decided to head to a small cafe chain called Maman. I had been to their Soho location before for a quick coffee stop with my friends, but the menu at Soho was very limited so I didn't hold my hopes too high for the Tribeca location I was heading to. 

As soon as I walked in I cut right to the chase. I wasn't about to sit down and be told they weren't serving breakfast again, so before the poor waiter even had a chance to seat me, I asked if they still had the granola. The waiter must have thought I was so weird with the way I reacted to him telling me they did have it, or maybe he found it strangely endearing. Let's hope for the latter.

You'll all be glad to know that within 10 minutes I was sat down, granola and yoghurt in front of me and a glass of grapefruit juice in my hand. If you wanted to read about this cute little cafe spot then this is the bit you probably wish you could've cut to...

The interior of this place is absolutely delightful and the staff are so friendly! The menu was pretty extensive, offering lots of gluten-free and vegetarian friendly options within their all-day brunch. At the front was a seating area for those coming in for a quick coffee and slice of cake, and at the back was a quieter room offering full table service if you fancy sitting around and taking in the beautiful interior a little more. I was a little nervous having never dined on my own before (unless you count fast food restaurants) but it was lovely to have a bit of peace and quiet when New York can be so hectic. Had I known I'd be dining on my own that day I would've brought a book as it's not often I get the chance to read completely undistracted. Maybe this will become a regular occurrence for me - we'll see!

This is definitely one of the prettiest coffee shops/cafes you'll ever visit, so it's definitely worth popping in to one of their locations if you're ever in the downtown area. You can find a Maman in Soho, Tribeca and Greenpoint in Brooklyn. 

Aderyn x

Runway of Dreams

On Monday I attended my usual Faces and Places class, where every week a guest speaker comes in to talk to us about what role they play in the fashion industry and how they got there. I've listened to a lot of great stories from these people over my time at FIT, but none more inspiring than Mindy Scheier, founder of Runway of Dreams.

Runway of Dreams started out as a non-profit organisation in 2013, educating fashion brands on the importance of creating adaptive clothing that allows less abled people to get in and out of what they wear much more easily. Fashion designer and founder of Runway of Dreams, Meg Scheier, first noticed the need for this type of clothing when her son, Oliver, who was born with Rigid Spine Muscular Dystrophy came home from school saying that all his friends would be wearing jeans to school the next day and he wanted to join in. Scheier, who couldn't face telling her son that he wouldn't be able to wear them, instead decided to adapt a pair that he already owned, making them easier for him to get in and out of himself. 

This gave Scheier the idea to look in to the types of adaptations that could be made to clothes in order to help those who struggle to dress themselves. Adaptations such as opening up the ankle on tight jeans to make them easier to get on, replacing buttons with magnets for those that might struggle with tough buttons, and adding an additional openings on the back of tops to make it easier for carers to dress children were all incorporated in to her plan.

Scheier spent a whole year just researching the issue before approaching brands. She spoke to disabled children and their families to find out what the main issues were that they were facing and how best to resolve them. Scheier didn't want to create her own line as giving these people just one brand to shop from only further enhanced the exclusions they face. Instead, she went to the big names in the fashion industry to get them to collaborate with her to create a line of stylish and adaptive clothing that these kids would actually want to wear. Runway of Dreams has already collaborated with Tommy Hilfiger to create a range of children's clothing and are currently working on an adults range.

One of the things that touched me the most was when Meg was discussing the issues with patenting her idea. Explaining that it was difficult and expensive to do, she went on to say that she didn't particularly care if people did copy her idea because all she wanted was to make adaptive clothing the norm. It really showed Megs passion for the cause. For some it may be a business move, but Megs end goal is to get every brand to create an adaptive range (just like most brands these days have a plus size or petite range) and if that meant people stealing her idea then so be it. 

I definitely didn't expect going in to the talk that I'd come out so inspired. Not only was Runway of Dreams such an amazing cause, but Meg herself was an amazing speaker who really caught the attention of the entire room. It just goes to show that fashion can actually make a real impact on people's lives. 

Aderyn x

Photo Credit: Tommy Hilfiger