One of my favorite modeling “gigs” in New-York is working with photography students. Every once in a while I’ll be lucky enough to stand in front of a borrowed lens, held by just the right pair of hands, clicking away in a rhythmic pace of creation…
These were taken by Mario Delgado, a young photographer that’s been snapping away since 2007, originally from the Dominican Republic. Needless to say, many more collaborations to come!
First days of school are always a mix of excitement and a dash of anxiety from what soon will be my everyday ruthless routine… {Modeling and being a full-time student can be a harsh boundary testing game sometimes…}
Nevertheless, that expectation of the verdict is something that turns my morning coffee into a guessing game; will I or will I not win the professor jackpot this time around? To be quite honest, I was very fortunate a few times, studying from educators that were worthy of the title, people I truly admired and will probably always carry in my satchel of memories.
However , sometimes you not only dodge the prize but lose your pants! Aka last semester cruel turn of events- of slow, excruciating, and mostly unreasonable study of course… And those among you, that shared that unpleasant ”joy-ride” with me, know who’s the blame- no need to name names, Karma will do the magic…
So for now, I’m leaving you with your fingers tightly crossed, hoping this semester would be one of the best so far! And in the meantime, for your amusement I dug out those Soviet – souvenirs from both mine and my brother’s first day of school back in Russia.
I love how festive it was, how dressed up my parents are (and how cool my brother’s school bag!), and us girls with the white aprons and the school-girl uniforms… (Just for the record, I was very sick that day, that’s why I look so utterly unhappy…)
Take a nap in the bushes???
Photo by Koutney Roy
Simply in love with the red fur and how effortless and alluring she looks, it almost makes sense…
I bet most of you heard that New York City is in an official emergency state because of Irene’s Hurricane “triple threat”. The MTA system has stopped its entire operation across all of Manhattan and the bourous, and this morning when I pulled up a cab to get up-town (seeking shelter/doing my way to an uber chic slumber party!) the taxi driver informed me of an emergency rate, meaning the ride cost me triple than it usually would…
Yesterday I was pretty nonchalant giggling my way through the longest line I have ever seen just to get in to the grocery store, watching with fascination people piling up potato-chips and all sorts of edibles that hardly fall in any category of being nutritious ( I bought all the usuals, adding two extra granola bars- just in case). But when I woke up this morning, and was asked whether I’m evacuating, I figured I should at least browse through the news on this whole Irene fiasco. Shortly enough, as in half an hour later, I was out of the door with most of my food supply and 3 DVD’s, without eating breakfast (extremely unusual in my world) and NO mascara (that’s when you know there’s a real emergency going on…).
And now, hopefully in a safe enough zone surrounded by dear friends and delicious aromas sneaking from the kitchen I feel ready for the storm. I hope it passes by New York as peacefully as it can and that soon enough I’ll be returning home and finding it exactly the way I left it.
In the meantime, I’ll be playing cards (losing hopelessly) and waiting for Irene…
No ,you’re not seeing double… If you remember that post, you’ll know I’m that kind of girl. If I see something I love (I mean, does it get any better than super-comfy yet super-chic summer dress???) I see no reason why I shouldn’t get two! Once I’ve sent my mom (while already being in the U.S) to the store in Israel to get me another pair of jeans, it was the third pair of the same exact cut. I realized their fit is perfect and I might as well get them in deep blue too! (I was already in possession of the fuchsia and pale blue…).
Sometimes, finding those exact pieces that make us feel great no matter how rough of a morning we had, is hard. And when I do, I feel no shame to empty out the store!
Photos by Charles Clickens
Pardon my lack of postage in the past few days, but I was attending some business in Montreal, Canada. And because of the nature of this trip (extremely short) I’ve decided to pack light, with no computers attached.
Montreal, and all its alleged ‘European’ glory have failed to impress me, but then again, it might had something to do with the fact I was on Canadian soil for less than 12 hours. My room in the hotel had one undeniable advantage- a big bed with two of the softest pillows I’ve slept on in a while, encased in fresh white linnenes…{Oh, and the kind curly clerk that “donated” me some of his toothpaste after I foolishly forgot to pack mine…}.
But with no doubt, the best part of the trip (as a complete opposite to what I have expected) was the lovely train ride. Of course, like everyone else that had ever planed to travel by rail to this destination, I’ve heard that the way to Montreal is beautiful, but I have never imagined how powerful and enchanting all that green might just be…
Also, there’s something very calming in traveling by land. After staring out of the window for almost 12 hours (in each direction) and resting my eyes on what seemed to be endless lakes, surrounded by endless lush pine trees and the occasional green-drenched swamp, I felt as though, my “urban-fever” has been washed away by green therapy… You really only realize how little of nature we get to see while living in the city after seeing so much.
I hardly think that a few photos will deliver the same effect but I hope you enjoy my attempt to show you just a little of “all that green”…
School, and all madness involved, starts all over again.
I have to say, that on one hand I’m kind off looking forward to the early mornings, to the coffee that somehow tastes just a tiny bit better so early in the day, to all the new things that I’ll soon discover, to all those pages drenched in color and fantasy, to the excitement of finding THE perfect fabric and seeing it comes to life in my own hands… But most of all I look forward to those rare moments in the semester in which I really feel that all of this, is worth it. And by this, I mean all the missing hours of sleep, all the LONG stretches of time spent hunching over a sewing machine or a computer, all come down to this last moment (mostly after all is done) when you sense that bit of achievement.
It always seems to me, that balancing school and work is a very serious business, of hard-core survival. Knowing how to identify what’s important, what’s absolutely crucial and what is that thing that you can get by without actually doing… All that while maintaining a “healthy-glow” and more importantly “healthy- Psyche”…
Every time, that a new semester begins, although I endlessly appreciate the fact that I can acquire proper education in the first place, I wish I could have a tiny bit more choice as far as the content goes… And now, I’ll behave and spare you the detailed descriptions of how deeply I dislike everything that has to do with Science, Mathematics and all things that involve me battling a sudden urge of removing myself from a class spitting fire (which of course, I never get to do, ’cause “you got to play nice”…) And how I wish I could tailor a schedule that would be 100% interesting OR beneficial to my existence…
And on this note, alow me to share something by far more fascinating – HANDBAGS of course!
Here are my picks from Teen-Vogue’s ‘Ultimate Back-to-School Bag Guide‘, (images via TeenVogue.com).
And I just happen to buy the red one (in the center) from Urban Outfitters a few days ago!!!
Backstage at the Vintage-Lookbook shoot
Many of you have asked me about the Vintage-Lookbook, inquiring whether I made the clothes, designed them or was it just a modeling job. So I guess I “owe” you all an explanation…
The lookbook was a collaboration I did with a very talented young photographer (Emily Engelhardt) that I met through the School of Visual Arts, here in NYC. It was around the time I started realizing that vintage might become something more than just a wardrobe preference. I was considering working as a Vintage buyer for an online company, and wanted to create something that will represent my esthetics in Vintage. So I took a few items, from my private -ever changing- vintage collection, styled 14 different looks (Which I hope you like!), called up the best hair and make-up team I know and ‘Voila’!
For the time being I can’t share too much as for my position as the vintage buyer of that specific company, but what I can tell you is that more vintage CHIC A LA’ RUSSE is coming your way soon!
Once again, a huge thank you to Emily, Sara, Jenny, Bari {and of course, Bari’s friend that took those back-stage snap shots!} for taking part in this production!
If you haven’t yet- click here- to browse through…
This is the first post of many more to come about my dearest and closest friends- that also happen to be ridiculously talented…
I met Eldad on a smoky, dark setting of a bar. I was one of the “beer-serving-eye-candy” girls and he was one of the regulars. Our paths rarely crossed, he would get his liquid supply from the bar and I would sway through the tables, handing out flirty smiles and shots of whiskey… Back in the day, he was this tall and handsome (still handsome), dread-locked guy (minus the dreadlocks…), that I have never really spoke to, until, a mutual friend introduced us, mentioning Eldad is a photographer, and a very good one indeed. I was already modeling at the time, but strangely enough our first collaboration was for a completely noncommercial purpose, it was a gift, for a boyfriend that has just moved to the other side of the planet (also known as Australia).
Looking back on our first shoot together, the entire “operation” was kind of obscure. The make up artist bailed on us last-minute (which we had to establish by her absence on set…) and for my 1″ long coif, a hair-stylist was never invited, it was just the two of us, a whole lot of equipment and one leather sofa, casually standing alone at one of the corners of that huge studio… No assistants, no “beauty-army”, four hands and one single lens.
I really don’t know why exactly, but since we did- first talk- I simply knew I can trust Eldad, and so I did, never looking back. Since that shoot in downtown Tel-Aviv, in a stretch of 6 years ,we’ve collaborated on countless projects, growing together, learning as we go and changing hats along the way… At our final collaboration before my move to the States, we were shooting on location ,and a pretty awesome one too! It was a deserted old building, and the entire team had to squeeze through a hole in the wall to get in, the generator didn’t fit, so we left it outside… We were exchanging secret glances with each other, thinking of how long of a way we did, since that first time… This shoot was one of three we did for my design portfolio. This time I wasn’t the model anymore, it was the second time in my life I had actually hired someone (the lovely Aelia Shusterman, that I happen to “discover” in the grocery-store! No less…) so I can oversee the process from “the outside” of the set…
The images below were never published before… I hope you find them as alluring as I do…
See the rest of the shots from this day here…
Now that I live in NYC and Eldad is in Tel-Aviv, we don’t get to work together as much as we’d like, but I have a strong feeling that our journey together is far from being over, and hopefully soon enough I’ll be posting away more images produced by one of the most dedicated and talented photographers I’ve encountered.
To explore more of Eldad’s work, go here. (Let’s see if you can recognize me in our earlier collaborations!)
In case you haven’t noticed yet, I’m quite fond of black. In pressed times and busy days when you need to be out of the house in a record my usual “go-to” wardrobe choice is all black.
With the exception of the skirt (which is from H&M) this entire outfit is Vintage…!
Photos by Eric Scott
