Today was my fashion shoot for Harper's Bazaar, Part II. I had a feeling this was going to be a fun shoot, but boy, I really didn't think firemen would be involved.
Call Time: 9:00 am
Location: Studio on 24th Street in NY.
Weather: An intense, humid, so thick you could cut it with a knife heat. Fun.
The Shoot: A fall/winter fashion story. Complete with the most amazing boots, thick belts, super warm thick wool, fur and every other heavy material you could think of for sweaters and coats. Hats. Gloves. The full on head to toe haute couture glamour. I swear one of the top designer coats was $50,000. Insane. The poor models were dying.... literally sweating to death. I swear, at times like this, I'm sooo happy I'm not a model. Literally, the clothing was soaking wet when it came time to change. Yikes.
But the funniest part? Shooting on a super busy New York street, with people walking by. The shots were of the models just walking down the street. Turning, walking, posing. But the people walking by didn't know there was a photo shoot going on. The LOOKS they were giving the models was hysterical. We literally started laughing out loud at the sight of it. Then once they saw the photographer further down the street, they was like, 'Oh. I get it..' Best part? A tourist bus full Japanese teenage girls parked a few ways back. They saw, cell phones got whipped out and another instant photo shoot happened. Of us. Shooting a photo shoot. We felt like such superstars.. ah, the glamour, the excitement, the... oh forget it. The HEAT! A major beauty, and our female model of the duo, stood 6'4" in super mega heels... Literally jaw dropping.
Hours later, back to the studio to finish the last half of the shots inside. Finally. Relief. We work, we eat, we shoot. Then all of a sudden, major, mega New York thunderstorm hits with lightening, thunder and pounding rain. Like you wouldn't believe.
20 minutes later? The studio is literally flooding. Major puddles are piling up all over the studio floor amongst backdrops, camera equipment, power packs. clothes and more and we're throwing anything we can to grab the water. Trash bags, cups, pots, anything. Wow! Don't they build the buildings a little better in N.Y.? Turns out, there's a pool on the rooftop of the 6 story building. We're on the 6th floor. The pool is flooding over. Into our studio. We were completely stunned. And not only that, when the photographer went up to see what was going on, there was a guy, swimming in the pool. I kid you not.
5 minutes later? Major banging on the door. We open up to find 7 fully loaded up firemen, complete with hatchets and picks and fireman gear pouring in. Yikes! We all thought the place was being evicted, and the wardrobe stylist was all.. 'there's no WAY I'm leaving the clothing!!" We all stood there staring at them in shock. They looked around. Looked at the flooded floor, and told us we're fine, just be careful. What? Aren't we about to be electricuted or something? And they all walk out. We literally stood there speechless, with mouths hanging open. After we stood there, staring at each other, it was back to the shoot!!! We're such pros I tell ya! Finally, at 9:30 pm, it was a wrap. What a day.
What an 'amazing, fabulous, crazy, gonna tell my grandkids one day', kinda day.
Psst......
Okay, fall makeup preview? Major matte skin, kinda grayish-brown lips (I made this look good), grayish shadow in the crease, tons of mascara look. Fall makeup preview part II. Major dark blue red matte lips, done 80's style with a more straight lip line to the mouth. Stunning.