Behind the scenes of MESA Designer Wear shoot

Posted on Tuesday, 11.10.2009 05:40 PM

Tags: designer, couture, styling, photography, models, make up

So finally we were able to shoot for Mae Aguinaldo's clothes last Saturday.  I was really anxious to get this done, especially after having it postponed the first time around.  It's not just styling for the clothes that I have to worry about, but coordinating with all collaborators including models as well as booking the studio.  Thanks to that untimely storm, we had to reschedule to November 7 instead of the original October 31 (even the studio, The Living Room, didn't have electricity that day).  Turns out, that was hardly the end of my problems.

I still had my styling class to worry about on said date, and I really didn't want to miss that particular one.  We were supposed to be styling for Shangri-La Mall's holiday collection fashion show.  Thankfully, I was able to finish my assignment quite early (I styled Escada Sport! Wooo!), so by 1 pm, I met with everyone else and headed to the studio.

I was also a bit nervous about the make-up.  Originally, it was supposed to be done by my talented cousin, Rae Venturanza, but she was unavailable when we rescheduled.  Frantic, I enlisted the help of my most kikay friends namely Leia Gutierrez and Fetz Serdena. I've relied on Leia in the past for emergency make-up in photoshoots, but Fetz was a first timer.  I'm glad I trusted these guys, though!  I planned on doing the make-up myself (and I was crash coursing on YouTube every night), but there were just too many things for me to do already.  I requested a green smokey eye for our model Mariel Nkanta to be done by Fetz (she practiced as much as I did but I'm sure she was more successful. Read her blog entry about it!), and purple smokey eye for Sarah Galaroza done by Leia.  Make-up we used were just a mishmash of all our kits so it was a variety of brands, really (Revlon, L'oreal, Ellana, Careline, Shu Uemura, Urban Decay etc).

I had them use my Urban Decay potion primer! Should be writing a review on that soon.

Leia putting on Sarah's make-up, purple smokey eyeshadow

Usually, I'd also help out in art direction.  I had already prepared the mood board for make-up, styling and art direction, but this time, I was just too busy on the day of the shoot itself.  So I just did the best I could--I threw my input every now and then but mostly left the direction to Ego.  I'd say he's getting the hang of it, really!  He's doing great for someone who just recently forayed into fashion photography (under my coercion).

Work it, Ego!

Ego and Miel ham it up for the camera

Observing the shoot. Model, make-up artists and stylist looks on.

All in all, it was an improvement from our last shoot, I think.  It's hard being a stylist without people to help you, though.  Thankfully, Leia and Fetz were helping me out with the clothes and fittng them on the models.  I'd have gone crazy if it weren't for their help.  And I thought I was already pretty organized with my stuff, but when it came to wearing the accessories and taking them off repeatedly, I still ended up dumping everything in my jewelry box.  To this day I still haven't sorted them out.

Me, rummaging through my bag. Before starting, I was still wearing accessories and shoes. Shooting the last set, I was sans bracelets and necklace. I was also shoeless.  Haha. You'll see where my 4.5 heels ended up in my next entry.

Hah! Miel only looks tall because of that skinny bod, but we're not that far in height! Also, I was wearing the aforementioned 4.5 heels.

Behind the scenes footage was taken by Neil Cuestas, who introduced me to Sarah Galaroza. I didn't meet her personally until this shoot. Actually, most of the people in this team didn't know each other--just me. Fetz was a blockmate of mine in DLSU (my first course); Leia was my classmate in CSB (my second course!) and eventual roomie; Neil used to be my teammate in my old job; Mariel is my sister's student (so this is also the first time I worked with her, although I've met her before). Ego is also an old officemate who turned out to be my boyfriend's cousin, so we're pretty much stuck with each other no matter what, haha!

Our chow care of Monster Pizza

The lights are all set. I dare you to tell me you wouldn't take advantage of it, too!

The lovely Sarah Galaroza. Purple smokey eyes and nude lips.

Tags: designer, couture, styling, photography, models, make up

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