A couple weeks ago now I headed to Brisbane’s Courier Mail for Sunday’s sustainable style feature and a bit of an interview. Bianca, Colman’s daughter from Greenfest, was totally cool and helped out on the set. Australia has the beginnings of some great sustainable fashion labels including Bird Textile (have a bunch of Rachel’s stuff - wait till you see the video of her shop in Sydney!), Sosume (has a wide-selection of buttery soft, papery thin tees that just hug the body);  Gorman’s organic cotton collection; Cylk (terrific silky dresses); Pure Pod (cute print tees); and a number of others.

Check out the feature here and some behind-the-scenes below.

 

And of course the newspaper editorials!

I shot this editorial back in November in Tennessee and man it was cold (look it my goosebumps though my smile belies how fricking freezing I was!) You may remember from my video clips from The Model Diaries here. 

So in the spirit of Tennessee and to keep The Model Diaries coming  (I’m so backlogged!!!!), here’s one of the latest compilations. I know, I know, I’ve been spending a fair amount of time down south, but I haven’t converted to corn bread and grits yet, so I’m still safe. 

Anyway, this was a shoot I did on 17 Nov 08 for the new magazine, Positively Green. The publisher asked if I wanted to stay in a hotel or her barn converted into a little house. Hello?!?! Barn converted into house, please. Had a total blast at the shoot, met up with Jeff Garner from Prophetik, and despite the chilly weather -the whole team made me feel so welcome and comfortable. Stay tuned too, because J.G. and I will be throwing a kick-ass party for his new line and my Style, Naturally book launch in London over at Beach Blanket Babylon. Speaking of that, I have clips from when we were there scouting out locations, but man, we just can’t keep up with this video stuff! More later…. xoxo, Summer Rayne Oakes

I’ve gotten some queries wondering where the updates from The Model Diaries have been hiding. To be perfectly honest with you, we’ve been recording (seven more in queue to be exact), but have a bottleneck in the post-production end of things, which I am anxiously looking to sort out. A new intern hire or two will surely help alleviate the glut of creative backlog. But I promise they will be coming (tentative plan: Jan 09) and we have some cool features from a rainforest shoot to the Elephant Art party to clothes designed by kids saving the rainforest. See past episodes:  The Model Diaries.

Hey knit-wits (those of us who heart a little knitwear in our lives). You may remember some of these photos from the Sexiest Sweaters post. Thought I’d share the rest with you. I know, I know–you’re supposed to pick the BEST photo from the bunch for each look, but we loved a lot of them, so figured why be stingy?

Abdul and I took a day out to do a little one-two-shoot. We shot in a space on 5th Avenue (ironically in the same building the Payless design studio is in). In fact, I’ve realized that a ton of my clients are right in that area of 5th Avenue and 21st Streets, but I digress….I just brought along some of my gear and If it’s one thing that I love to do in photo shoots, it’s shaking off the old guard who still thinks sustainable style hasn’t graduated Jesus sandals and hemp-gear. So I’m going to holler out to all the conscious clotheshorses who know what’s up in the world.

 

So without further adieu, here are some of the sweaterlicious images we shot together. Let me know what you think! And yea, some of these got swept up by some magazines, so if you see them posted here again, you’re not suffering from deja vu.

I love this sweater! The sleeves get into everything and you surely can’t fit it under any normal jacket (who likes normal anyway????) but just take a look at it! Gorg! Gorg! Gorg! It’s by my friends Terri and Sandy (cool mother-daugther design duo) out of Virginia and Brooklyn. The line is called Carasan. I got a number of sweaters like this (so stay tuned for more). And I love layers, so I just layered on some organic cotton gray shirts by Chicago-based designers Lara Miller (whom I wrote a recommendation letter for Ecco Domani [Sustainable] fashion awards. Fingers crossed for her!!!]. She’s got cool gear that you can flip and wear different ways. The locket is made by nomadic tribespeople of Niger in collaboration with Parisian designer, Aude Durou from Ombre Claire. Tights by American Apparel (of course) and veggie-tanned boots by Pjux out of Spain that I picked up over at Ekovaruhuset over on Ludlow.

Abdul and I vamped it up in that gritty, dirty, naughty, dark film noir style that we all love. All you need: Cold, dark staircase: Check! - Black stockings: Check! - Sexy undergarments: Check! An extra long sleeved black sweater: Check! Dark eye makeup: Check! - and Just out of Bed hair: Double check!

I picked up the Ooo-la-la Frenchie-French silk bra over at Sleep in The Burg (I LOVE that shop! Best knickers in the hood); Italian-knit undies by Zimmerli, which I picked up after doing one of their runway shows a little while back (are they even still around??); black tights by American Apparel; and a bamboo knit EXTRA-EXTRA long sleeve sweater with front clasp by my favorite sweaternista - Lara Miller. And I don’t know if you still care about this stuff, but all of Lara’s clothes are made in Chicago! Holla!

Quite possibly my most favorite sweater of the DECADE! How can you not love the yoda-style cowl neck-turned hoodie. And the coolest thing? You can flip the sweater over upside-down style and wear it as a sweater dress, but I totally prefer the way I wear it here. I also love the color. Brown has gone from drab to fab over the seasons! Lara knit this out of recycled cotton, so no virgin materials were used in the making of this yum-yum-chocolate-chip, honey-dip gotta get me a scoop sweater. Kinda reminds me of the cocoon-couture pieces by Ding Yong Spring 09, yes/no? Oh yah, and those recycled quilt/veggie tanned boots? I just resoled those suckers and they are by none other than Terra Plana. You can get yourself a pair over at 260 Elizabeth Street, but wearers be warned: No two pairs look the same. Let’s give it up for individuality!

Such a sweater puppy. We went a little soft, sensual and sweet with these shots. Paired a bone-colored FLIP sweater by Lara Miller with some ubercute ruffled knickers and bralette set made out of organic cotton by UK-based designer Jenny McPherson over at Enamore.

Shot where the palm shadows play. I think Abdul captured the light and shadow expertly here. Basically all I did was roll around in my Italian-knit knickers.

This was actually the first look we shot and one of my faves for the day. I lust over the purple red silk dress I got over at Pinky Otto. Pair it with a pair of kitten heels, and meeoooow! You can’t really see, but the sleevless part of the dress dips really low. You can see it here on my way to the Glamour magazine casting as captured in The Model Diaries back on the 28th of August. (By the way, I did get casted, so look out for in this March or April in their 70 Women of Green issue). Anyway, paired it this time with a gris sweater by Lara Miller and draped shiny baubles by Ombre Claire over the whole look. Young, fresh yet sophisticated.

We went a little goth-child on this shoot. I think it looks mad cool with the cold sunlight coming in from behind. The photo flares and the water towers really do give it a special feeling. This is a bamboo/organic cotton-knit “tribal marking” dress gifted to me by the girls over at Beau Soleil after wearing their dress in Lucky magazine. And guess what, it’s on sale here! Knee-highs I got over at American Apparel and the vegan-heels (so cute aren’t they?) are by Charmone Shoes. The silver bling is my favorite piece (I wear it all the time!) from Ombre Claire.

Phew! Well that was A LOT! Next time I’ll try not to put so many images, but like I said earlier, we really like a whole bunch from this series, so hopefully you enjoyed too.

 

 

The Model Diaries - autobiographical, photojournalistic accounts from the field.

05 Sept 08. I have to head off to the office and my agency to have a meeting with a client who is hiring me as a spokesperson and strategist for their sustainable fashion programs. The contract isn’t signed yet, but you’ll find out in a couple weeks who it is! It’s nice to have some low-key meetings; yesterday I spent the entire day driving around JFK. Allan’s products (adschwarz.com) arrived from Mozambique and clearing Customs is an all-day extravaganza.

Talk soon,
Summer Rayne Oakes
(This is the second in a series of entries available at www.summerrayneoakes.com)