Hi you guys! It's been...
Well let's just say that I cut my hair twice and shaved my legs 30 times since the last time, right?
(Yeah 30, I'm italian, so what?)
Ok, so here's the interview with my friend Constance, wearing some outfits right from her amazing closet.
As if her closet wasn't amazing enough, she told me she has left most of her bags and dresses in Germany, at her mother's.
I'm seriously considering renting a german mother with a closet full of MiuMiu myself. Anyway.
The reason why I haven't updated my blog lately is because I got an editorial for a French magazine, and this means a lot of work: finding locations, models, makeup & hair, defining the style with my inseparable Lorraine and then of course shooting.
After the shooting comes the part I dread,
the editing (aka "the part in which your favorite pictures just don't look good together").
And then comes Photoshop, The Almighty.
A picture of my left emisphere - irreversibly damaged, courtesy of Adobe
Hell yeah, I passed the last two weeks in front of my Mac - holding firmly my graphic pen, listening to some trash euro pop and oldies - hoping to see the light.
Classic nerd stuff.
I'm not finished with the retouching yet, thus I haven't seen the light yet.
My complexion is starting to look greenish but I'm pretty sure I can't be synthethysing chlorophyll.
But you guys, you can go out, walk your dog, collect his crap, eat an icecream and do all the things you can't do when you're PhotoWashing your brain away so just please, do me a favor.
Next time someone says "Oh no problem! It can be easily fixed with Photoshop!", do reply on my behalf:
"Uh-uh! SHE will retouch it with Photoshop! "it" doesn't retouch a thing! And no, it ain't easy".
Thank you for clearing that up.
love,
marina hermanovna
ps.
Wanna see my editorial pics? I know! I know! I cannot show you the pics because the magazine comes out in October - till then, just words and maybe a few backstage shots!
;)
- Constance Astbury -
Fashion Designer
Interview & pics by Marina Hermanovna
(Yes, I only interview hot & talented people. I hope you don't mind)
Reminder: click onto my pics to enlarge them
('cause I'm worth it!)
I’m a fashion designer/ stylist/ painter/ creative thinker born in west Berlin. I actually live in L.A.
2. When/how did you decide fashion was your business?
When I got my first italian Vogue, at the age of 13.
3. Favorite designers?
I admire designers who follow the less the market rules – just like Martin Margiela and Miuccia Prada.
boots: Jil Sander
trench: vintage
4. Last purchase, future purchase?
Egyptian gauze wrap-skirt found on a long weekend in the desert of Palm Springs. I only think of the present…
5. If your style was a city/a movie/a dish what would it be?
It would certainly be « La dolce vita » by Federico Fellini.
6. Name a style trend you could never follow or understand.
None ?
7. If your house took fire and you had 30 seconds to pack before escaping, what would you take?
My vintage Playboy sunglasses!
8. What do you build your style around?
My mood determines my style. Mostly.
9. I could live my life in….
Bikinis and havaianas flip flops from Brazil.
©MARA
dress: Givenchy
shoes: vintage Stella Mc Cartney
10. Name three items or trends you’ll never be caught wearing.
Never say never…
11. Some girls buy too may shoes, others are bagaholics. I know one who has 100 bras. What’s your fashion bulimia ?
Boots! I just can’t get me enough boots…
12. Tell me the three colors, three fabrics and the three brands you wear more often.
Black, Lila and Off White / Right now it's Givenchy, Balenciaga and Prada.
13. My youth fashion faux pas I’m not ashamed to reveal.
None !
14. The best fashion advice I was given.
Just follow your instinct.
15. Personal style icon.
Bianca Jagger.
16. Tell me the name of someone famous whose style is overrated and one whose style is underrated.
I have to be political correct and keep those secrets unpublished.
17. Name a young designer off the chain.
Students in college.
18. When you’re designing you find inspiration in...
People and all medias.
19. Tell me a funny fashion anecdote so we can laugh a little.
Once I had to cut a dress like 3 seconds before the show and then pinn it back together faster than light, and just pretend everything was made on purpose…
dress: Prada
shoes: vintage Marni
20. Fashion advice you want to give men.
Follow what suits your personality.
21. Miniskirt past 40, what are your feelings?
If you have the body and you know how to rock it, go for it.
22. How do you do your makeup; what about yout hair, how do you wear it/take care of it?
I love Shiseido's makeup. As for hair, I use products from Hawaii to keep it smooth.
23. My all time favorite beauty products and fragrances.
YSL nail polish and Odeur 54.
24. Cheap & chic : your feelings towards vintage and thrift shops.
Love ‘em ! One of my inspiration meccas.
25. H&M or Zara ?
No no no, I’d rather find something more original at thrift stores.
26. What’s the worst/best part of your job ?
When styles come out differently then you expected but in a surprisingly bad way…
And the best part is when everybody goes 'AHHHH' 'ooohhhhhh' 'amazing’ and any other word from the “joy vocabulary” - and all sorts of happy expressions on different faces. That speaks for itself.
Posts
25 comments:
How cool your doing an editorial! For what magazine? I can't wait to see the pictures.
Btw, I can't buy the geekglasses, because they are too big for me, the optician said, and my parents agreed, and then they didn't wanted to buy them anymore.. Pff, irritating, but still, if they pay it, I have almost nothing to say. Finding a glass is exhausting, because I really don't have a glassface. haha. Maybe i'll just keep these.
Sorry I bored you with this.
The magazine's name is "Enjoy" and it is only available in France.
However, as soon as it goes out I'll post the pictures.
Well of course if your optician said so you'd better stick with your glasses...
but if you don't think you have a "glasses face", why don't you wear contacts?
..btw young brilliant girls never bore me !
xoxo
marina hermanovna
hello again! so happy to read your second encounters entry. its great, i love the pictures and the interview. i showed my art teacher your blog and he said they looked like they were straight out of vogue :) anyway, i hope you are doing well!
much love,
jackie.
hi jackie !
thank you for showing my pictures to your art teacher - what he said is just priceless...
>:O
Art and the history of art were my favorite classes in high school and college (together with literature!).
Although I grduated in Mass Media Studies, they exceptionnally let my write my thesis about art photography;
I compared the work of the two masters of male nude (Mapplethorpe and von Gloeden), and then of course I extended the comparison to the ellenic tradition and the roman copies of the ellenic statues.
Now I'm takin my own pictures and I guess my neoclassical love is starting to show... Hurray!
No, I'd better say: Eureka!
What I love more about art is that to me art is the very difference between man and the animals (and that's the same reason why laughing is so important to me), so it must come from our divine half.
love,
marina hermanovna
Link exchange for sure! I love those pictures and you've got a great blog! You live in Paris? Oh my. I'm SO jealous.. are you from there?
Oh no I'm from Milan - Italy!
I had to move to Paris for my job...
xoxo
m.
Hi there!
Thanks for stopping by my blog the last few days and commenting! I love long comments. And thanks for adding my link as well, I will add yours to mine as well.
This interview was nice and I would die to be in the shoes of this girl that has tons of fabulous clothes!
What a cool interview, and what an interesting, beautiful lady! I love that she swears off no trend -- you never know!
i cant wait to see more photos!!
i just recently found your blog, and i have to say, i truly enjoy it :]
thank you darling!
I'm currently retouching the pictures of the next interview...
I think in less than one week you'll get to see them.
This time it's a model.
xoxo
marina hermanovna
dear Gaia,
thank you for adding me to your link list and for your compliments.
I won't be politically correct and just tell you the truth about being a stranger in Paris:
it sucks big time.
Paris is a beautiful city but parisians are not friendly people and it is very difficult to make friends.
Whenever I meet a stranger (german, swedish, south americans etc...) we all end up complaining about this: how different they make us feel - and not in a good way.
The odds of making friends here in France depend also on:
- you being single ( it'seasier to meet people if you are a single, whereas nobody cares if you are already taken)
- you looking good but not too much (girls being a bunch of catty bitches - not all of them but there sure are quite a few)
- you drinking and smoking a lot (if you just don't smoke you might have an hard time with everyone chain-smoking here in Paris. Not it's forbidden n bars and clubs but of course it's not at private parties and it really becomes an issue when 25 persons are smoking a packet each in 2 hours in 30 square metes - and they won't let you open the window "because it's f**kin freezing!".)
So you've been warned !
However you can easily make international friends, and you can count me as one - just contact me on Facebook!
;)
I hope my rant was useful,
love,
marina hermanovna
Hi Gaia,
sure you can answer these questions - I'll take a look at your answers as soon as you post your interview.
16 y.o.?!
OMG you are so young I didn't realize this... you can call me auntie Marina I guess!
:P
You should definitely come over and take a look with your friends before you move to Paris.
Thanks for the add!
love,
marina hermanovna
Hi darling,
I just wanted to say I 'gave' you a diamond. More details on my blog.
Kisses, Claudia
<:O
Oh me on my !!!
Diamonds are a girl's best friend !!!
whoa, these pictures are gorgeous!
She really exudes charisma , with an intense, wild serenity !!! I especially like the "Black § White" portrait and the second picture, with the stylish cocktail "Timeless Trench"(worn next to the skin bare , it deeply sounds like a delightful mystery !!!)/"Fetish-issimes" Boots : Haughty casualness . . .
A Bientôt, Antoine
Les photos sont vraiment superbes et toutes trés originales, j'aime bcp ton style.
she is tremendously chic.
i love polaroid fashion
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