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Skate Effect

June 26, 2013, 5:35 am
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As I mentioned yesterday this weekend inspired me like crazy to a point that I had way to much boiling inside of me to sleep for more than 3 hours after getting home at 9:30 am. I was feeling not a care in the world; confidence radiating and passion flaming. Like I was standing on top of the world and no one could ever reach high enough to try and bring me down. So upon waking up I quickly threw on this outfit that I got from a look book I shot the weekend before for Miami Style Mafia's new boutique (photos soon) that has been making me feel sexier and more confident than ever.  I was extremely influenced by my experience on Go Skate Day and thus chose this location for that reason. The urban setting, railings, stark contrast and linear composition all reminded me of what I had seen. Though I'm obviously not looking grungy or beat up like skateboarders do it was that "I don't give a fuck" attitude that I had in mind. It's a new walk of life for me that is incredibly intriguing and something I hope to get to spend more time around. For now I will at least have my memories that will continue to be expressed through my art and style in my own Ashley kind of way.

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Photographs

June 28, 2013, 6:45 am
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Guess what? Today is the big day of my very first gallery exhibition!!!!! I am kind of freaking out right now but in all good ways, I promise. I will be sure to do a post here on the blog about it next week but if you want to see it happening in the moment be sure to follow me on instagram and twitter. In the mean time I wanted to share some inspiration that I have currently been gorging myself over.  


Several weekends ago I haphazardly came into the possession of this incredible book entitled Photographs printed by PHILLIPS de Pury & Company. It is a random assortment of fashion photographs, fine art, landscape and photojournalism and I have not been able to stop flipping through it over and over again. As a fine art student I think it is extremely important to look at a wide variety of art, not just what your specific niche happens to be. It allows you to expand your perception and find inspiration in places that you may have never expected. Today I thought I would share some of my current inspiration with you all via a handful four handfuls of pages from this incredible book. If you can find it for yourself I highly recommend you bring it into your own life. 

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Summertime Boredom

July 1, 2013, 5:43 am
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I am still waiting to get some photos back to share with you all from my show on Friday but for now I can share that it was abso-fucking-lutely amazing! Thank you to everyone that came out and supported me, it truly touched my heart deeper than I can ever express with words. Now for some photos that are a week old but still extremely relevant.

 There may not be a catchy song about it but I'm sure more of us have experienced summertime boredom more often than summertime sadness. I like to keep myself busy all the time and when I say that do not undermine me. I am seriously busy ALL. THE. TIME. So when I find myself with a day of absolutely nothing to do boredom feels deathly. Thankfully I have a camera to entertain me in my boredom, but only to a certain extent. This is an expression of what I do in my summertime boredom: random shit with my jewelry, mindlessly flipping through photography books, playing with my hair, staring out the window and blankly at computer screens, and laying pitifully on my bed as I do absolutely nothing about my boredom. That's a lazy Libra for you people. 

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The Industry Is Dead

July 2, 2013, 8:11 am
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To open this post I first want to say that I think every single person should take an hour and a half out of their day to watch this incredible and inspiring documentary Press Pause Play on the effect of the digital revolution on the art world. Even if you're not an artist is a very intriguing insight on what is happening today in every industry. 



Now to get down to the nitty gritty stuff. What do I mean when I say the industry is dead? By working on a blog format I am creating work that exists solely on the internet and that is a radical thing that no other generation has gotten a chance to experience. The internet and blogs and increase in reasonably priced technology has democratized the industries by allowing anyone with something to say the opportunity to say it. Now this can be an incredible thing. No longer do you have to have money or know the right people or live in the right city to be successful in the art world or fashion world or music world or what have you, as long as you have access to a computer or a cell phone with a camera and a wi-fi connection you can be creating work just as impressive and inspiring as someone with all the right connections and all the best equipment. For better or worse this is revolutionary. 


This is a pivotal moment in history. This. Right now. The fact that anyone can be anything they want to. The fact that you don't just have to be the film maker or the photographer. You can also be the model or the editor or the writer or stylist or musician or all of them. We are not marginalized into one thing anymore, there is a blended model happening where anyone can do anything and be anything and that's not to say its better or worse but that it's different. A different perspective. A more alchemic process is happening with a grassroots mentality. A do-it-yourself philosophy. That you can make it happen if you want to. But here's the thing: there are talented people and there are not talented people and that's the hard truth because most people aren't talented. 


The democratization downside is that not everyone is an artist and the serious minded artists get lost in the ocean of mediocrity that is being produced. We can not become comfortable with mediocrity. We may be on the verge of cacophony because there is a crisis of democratized culture. Right now we are experiencing a back lash to the elitists that run the industries. That make it so exclusive that it's almost impossible for someone that may have the talent but without the right connections to be successful. But we must make sure that by destroying the old world, the industry that we have been following and believing in for the past +50 years is not replaced with an ocean of garbage. We must move beyond "I am the modern person using modern technology" and creating sub par and sterile work. You can not say "Oh, I don't have to get this perfectly right now because I can fix it in photo shop or alter the sound later". This mentality leads us into an end result of bullshit and nothing-ness. We must maintain that vulnerability, beauty and humanity that you see in a film photograph or hear in a Billie Holiday song because that is where the true art lies. Not in it's perfection but in it's imperfection. 


Right now the artistic industry is very diverse and difficult to define and it may stay that way forever and that may be exactly what we need. We are not sound bytes. You need to take the time to listen and understand otherwise it will all just sound strange and confusing. We can not be categorized and that makes people uncomfortable. That flips the industry on its head. The artist today doesn't need representation because they can represent themselves. The industry can not exist without the artist and that gives us all the power. Nothing can be sold or marketed or created without the artist and with the advent and radical use of the world wide web we can be our own managers if we want to be. 

The industry doesn't have to exist anymore, at least not in the way that it has. We don't have to marginalize ourselves because everything is at our fingertips. We are artists in more than just one medium and we don't have to put a label on it if we don't want to. We can embrace this democratization and escape within the experience, discover within the experience, be within the experience. 10 years from now I don't want to look back and be disappointed with what we did with this incredible opportunity. I want to look back and be over joyed that we embraced it and allowed new, different, vulnerable and beautiful work be created by people that before may have never had the opportunity to create it without this technology. I want to look back and see how we cultivated a new idea of the artist that is not pigeonholed into one category. Now is going to be a wistful nostalgia so let's make it worth looking back on. The old industry is dead and we as the artists have the power to redefine it. 

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Goddess Gear

July 3, 2013, 5:37 am
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After yesterday's post discussing how we are embarking on a period where the artist does not have to be marginalized into just one field of work I thought that this look book I helped create for my friend Pascale Theard several weeks ago would be appropriate to share. 

I was asked if I would conceptualize and photograph an editorial series of images for her body jewelry line Goddess Gear. The original plan was to hire a separate model but after much discussion and deliberation we decided that my look was more what she was going for than any one else we were able to find and in turn I became the model as well. Although we shot a completely different look for the first piece of body jewelry it was really the second sultry Black Dahlia series that I wanted to share here. The hair stylist really blew us away when he began to spray my hair down hard core with dry shampoo and then proceed to layer baby powder on top of it, ultimately making me want to officially dye my hair white. It also brought an entirely new essence of dark whimsy and other worldliness that we were aiming for. As for the photos I want to share a disclaimer that I did not take these photos. In fact Orestes, the hair/mua clicked the button and I went back and forth helping creatively direct them while also modeling. Take that as you may. However I did do all of the post production editing that you see below but it was truly a team collaboration. Without Pascale on set making sure the jewelry and clothing was sitting where it should, Orestes making sure the hair and makeup was as it should be and myself modeling and making sure the photos were coming out how I had imagined none of this could have been possible. Now that's enough chit chat or today, let's get to the pictures already.

Creative Director: Ashley Garner 
Jewelry Designer: Pascale Theard
Hair/MUA: Orestes de la Paz

To see more of Pascale's work you can visit her website here. 
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FIU Style Sightings

July 5, 2013, 6:33 am
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It's been a few weeks since I have had an FIU Style Sightings feature and it's not that there aren't amazingly stylish people lurking campus but simply that I have been so busy that I have not taken the time to document them. For this I apologize not only to you my readers but to my FIU Style Sightings. Your wonderful outfits have not been neglected, simply not documented and I promise to put in more effort for the rest of the summer (unless of course it is so hot that I can't even step outside for more than 5 minutes without feeling like I may pass out from a heat stroke or hurricane season stops me from bringing my DSLR outside). But these are all minute details and for the mean time I have what I consider to be a good crop of photos for everyone to enjoy today. 


To start off I have several photos of one my favorite students to document, Keysel Pelaez. Consistently he impresses me with his vintage finds. On this particular day he was wearing baggy trousers rolled up Huckleberry Finn Style with suspenders that none of these pictures show off well; paired with a floral vest and a scarf as a neck accessory. At that particular moment I found him shoe-less enjoying an afternoon read under the canopy but as I came up to say goodbye I saw his brown ankle boots under the table and of course had to snap a quick picture of them only so I could imagine what it would have looked like had I seen him somewhere else around campus in full attire. Hands down Keysel has some of the best men's style I have ever seen and you would never guess that he's a biology major. His confidence and pure joy of expression radiates through his ensembles and provides me with so much inspiration for thrift dressing. I promise this is not an endorsed raving on Keysel's style just something that I felt the need to share after having photographed him for almost a year now. 



Talebee Alexander rocking the permanent accessory: tattoos. Read more about this in my CollegeFashionista article this week


Alex Haniff

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Underwear as Outerwear

July 8, 2013, 5:59 am
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With summer officially upon us in Miami it is safe to assume that my wardrobe is being chipped away little by little immensely to bare basics. However for me bare basics are far to dull and do not express me. As a result over the years I have replaced the basic white tank top and denim shorts with more whimsical and delicate alternatives that come from the depths of the lingerie sections of thrift shops and Goodwill's. So when I say I rolled out of bed and went to class I mean I literally rolled out of bed and went to class. In fact the majority of my favorite and most worn items are slip dresses and vintage night shawls, something that 50 years ago you could never even dare consider walking out of your home to get the mail without something else on top of it. 


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That got me thinking about how it was really only recently (recently being around the 1980s) that we began to accept underwear as outerwear. In my thesis research book Adorned in Dreams Elizabeth Wilson discusses this phenomenon in great depth and breaks it down to a sociological perspective that I found extremely intriguing and wanted to share here with you all. On a side note if you are getting tired of my long winded critiques and analytic perspectives on fashion and art then I apologize but recommend you find another blog to start reading. Now getting back to the point: underwear as outerwear, what's it all about?


“There has been a popular, although over-simplified equation between the demise of underwear and the advent of the contraceptive pill in the 1960s. The origins of the ‘freedoms’ of that period were far more complex than this suggests, and sexuality, especially for women, was never ‘liberated’ in this simple way. Both sexual behavior and fashion often expressed confusion and ambivalence." 


"Bra-lessness, for example, was associated both with a feminist rejection of sexual objectification and with the sexual free-for-all of the ‘permissive era’, erect nipples visible through blouses and T-shirts a direction sexual come-on. With ‘girdles’ discarded, for the first time the bottom was visible in two halves instead of a single upholstered cushion. Rubber corsetry, it appears, was rejected both because it was seen as a symbol of enslavement to male standards of beauty and as a form of ‘cheating’, both as an attempt to disguise ‘flab’ and as an unaesthetic garment that turned men off, and akin for some young women to false teeth. Buttocks outlined in tight jeans represented both emancipation and sexuality, both a rejection of male-defined beauty and its acceptance, both honesty and allure.” 


“…Angela Carter points out that ‘however informal, these garments are obviously public dress’—and they are sometimes so worn; camisoles are used as party tops, French knickers are even more daring party wear.....Tights were also simultaneously both outerwear and underwear; as such they anticipated the more recent blurring or even abolition of the distinction between the two. This blurring is one element in the aesthetic of recent fashionable dress.” 

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“…the marketing in the early 1980s by the American designer, Calvin Klein, of a completely different style of ‘underwear for women’…Y-fronts, boxer shorts and boys’ vests…has been explained as the marketing of androgyny interpreted as diluted masculinity…we might make a Freudian point, and speculate whether this androgyny masks the fear of feminine passivity he claimed to have detected beneath the social and psychic structures of gender difference. They also support Angela Carter’s point, for they could be and no doubt are used as outerwear."


"Undergarments may even turn out to have been a brief interlude in the history of fashion, a transition between the distant epochs when cleanliness was a rarity and ‘true’ underwear an impossible concept, and the late twentieth century when it is assumed, however inaccurately, that everyone can afford to be clean, and when at least cleanliness has become one of the conventions of the ‘civilized life’ of which fashion is a part. On the other hand, the distinction between underwear and outerwear reflects the distinction between the public and the private that has become so important a part of modern life, and which was less developed before the eighteenth century.”  


So underwear as outerwear, is it a good thing or a bad thing? That is a rhetorical question clearly but definitely an interesting question to ponder upon as you go to sleep in tomorrow's outfit. 

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Erwin Blumenfeld

July 10, 2013, 4:45 am
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After going on a rampage last week and having all my friends watch Press Pause Playa photographer friend of mine recommended I watch a short documentary on the photographer Erwin Blumenfeld. The name didn't sound familiar but as soon as I started watching the series of YouTube clips I quickly realized that I was very familiar with his work already and extremely inspired by the conceptual mindset he had behind his work that I wanted to share.


He was born into a middle-class Jewish family in Berlin and by the age of 10 was given his first camera. He began experimenting with self portraits around age 14 and after WWI he became friends with George Grosz who was apart of the Berlin Dada movement and influenced Blumenfeld to continue his self portraits and magazine cuttings but expand it into creating dynamic and narrative collages. 


In 1925 Blumenfeld got married, moved to Holland and opened a handbag shop but being a terrible business man he spent his days photographing customers that came into the shop and developing the photos in a darkroom he had in the back. Quickly he became active in the Dutch art scene and would showcase his photos in the windows of his shop. Blumenfeld was extremely inspired by the work of Man Ray and began to push his own experimentation's in the dark room, using solarisation and multiple exposures. 


In his portraits of women there is a timelessness to them. He described the women he photographed as complex social beings, timeless and not objectified despite being nude in a series he worked on in black and white. He described his photos as psychological portraiture - a way of discovering what's beneath the surface. While taking photos of his shop customers Blumenfeld continued his self portrait series as well as seen below. This series of photo's convey a complexity of identity in a very vulnerable way. 
"I am convinced there is something happening beneath what we are seeing in another world."


Eventually Blumenfeld's work got noticed by the magazine industry and he was published in Verve magazine in 1937 where his desire, technique, audacity and cutting-edgeness of the time began to be respected. Curator and photography specialist William Ewing was quoted in the documentary on Blumenfeld describing his work, "Double exposures, triple exposures, done in camera, done in the dark room, solarisations, high-contrast printing. We know he didn't respect rules. He was very proud of saying that if the instruction on a new film said never to heat it above room temperature, he would boil it. If it said never let it get below room temperature, he'd throw it in the freezer. And then you'd get these strange effects on the surface." 

Cecil Beaton saw Blumenfeld's work in Verve and quickly tracked him down. Beaton wrote in his diary, "His merit as an artist lies in the fact that he is incapable of compromise, and although I would like him to work for Vogue, his pictures are not of Vogue quality, for they are much more serious, too provoking and better than fashion." Despite these reservations Beaton hired Blumenfeld and signed him on for a years' contract in 1937. 


After WWII Blumenfeld and his family returned to the United States and he was immediately hired back by Bazaar and Vogue where he created highly stylized color images that defined the look of the 1940s and 50s.  Despite the commercial environment he was working in he continued to experiment and refused to compromise his work for the fashion photography world. In turn he created the 'doe eye' cover for Vogue as seen above on the left. The model, Jean Patchett, was reduced to a flat white background with a perfect pair of lips, cat eye, beauty spot and no nose. This has been noted as not only one of Blumenfeld's best covers but one of the most iconic covers of Vogue's history. It is Blumenfeld's use of white space and color that really defined his fashion photography, like creating a painting with more dimension. According to Blumenfeld the real conflict between art and commerce was how to make fashion photography an art and he certainly figured out how to fix that issue.


Before his suicidal death in 1969 Blumenfeld crossed over into the world of fashion film or more precisely he helped create the world of fashion film through advertising and experimental tromp l'oeil effects. Below is a still from one of his witty films but if you are interested in seeing more all you need to do is click here. 

Overall Erwin Blumenfeld is certainly a name that I will never forget again and someone that I hope you won't either. His work is beyond inspirational in his dare devil risk taking and his ability to create images that are timeless not only because of their concepts but because of the way that he was able to capture his models. The models weren't mannequins - they were free. This is something that truly is inspiring me right now and I hope has induced some inspiration for you all as well. 

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She Is Alive

July 11, 2013, 7:44 am
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To be beautiful is a lonely thing. You are put on a pedistool and separated from the rest of society. People think that because you are beautiful - beauty based on arbitrary standards - then you must be happy and loved by all but in fact it is quite the opposite. People are intimidated by your beauty and you spend most of your life alone, melancholy and burdened by your physical appearance.


So I have cultivated myself to be more than just beauty through skin, hair and bones. Love me not because of how I physically look but because of how I spiritually look. Because there are stars in my eyes and glitter in my hair. Because I dance when there is no music being played. Because my soul is bright and boiling over. Love me not because I am beautiful but because I am alive. 


This is a preview of an amazing video that myself, Alex Jaramillo, Antonio Diaz and Kevin Smilez filmed last weekend for a special and unique artist collaboration. I could never have done it without such an incredible and supportive team. The video will be complete and ready to debut soon but for now take in all the glory that is sparklers, smoke bombs and passionate souls and most of all remember to love people not for their physicality but for their spirituality. Anyone can be beautiful but not everyone is alive. 

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New York Diary

July 16, 2013, 6:03 am
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Yes you are reading correctly, this is a post dedicated to my New York visual diary. Last Wednesday through Friday I got the chance to spend a whole 36 hours in the city of my dreams. Sadly it was supposed to be a 48 hour trip but some bitches at air traffic control thought it would be really funny to fuck with our flights and delay us by close to a day but thankfully I have the most amazing parents in the world and they managed to book us another flight before all hope was lost. I was supposed to be up there photographing a private concert with Rosanne Cash but since our (our being my brothers and I) flights got so delayed I ended up not making it to the concert which turned my work trip into a pleasure trip. This photo diary is chronological and a variety of i-phone and DSLR pictures so excuse the pixelation in some of the images. 

Other than that here's a quick run down of how my trip went: as soon as I landed in the city near to midnight I quickly freshened up in the hotel and met up with my childhood friend (and when I say childhood I mean this girl literally saw me shitting in my diapers at pre-school; that's probably to much information...) and we spent the entire night bar hopping. The next day was a blur of lunch at The Plaza, roaming around Central Park, roaming around The Met, drinking wine in our hotel room as we watched the sunset over the city and then partying the night away on a rooftop. The next day my brothers and I had to fly back to South Florida for work and boy (literally) do I have a huge post of behind the scenes photo's from my job coming up for you guys later this week. If you've been following me on instagram (@elegantidiosyncrasy) you already know all about it but if not you'll be in for a treat. For now enjoy all that is utopia through my eyes. 

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BOY London: Behind the Scenes

July 17, 2013, 7:16 am
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As I mentioned yesterday this past weekend I was given the incredible opportunity to work for none other than clothing line BOY London. I don't really model anymore but when stylist Alaska Mangialetto and model Sunamys Villalba asked if I would be interested in modeling for BOY London's swimwear campaign how could I possibly say no?! So as soon as I de-boarded my flight from New York I went straight into hair and make-up for day 1 of what would be a 2 day extravaganza. We were lucky enough to get photographer and my heart flame Carlos Morales to photograph these wonderful behind the scenes images. On set was myself, stylist Alaska aka Jacked Fashion, Sunamys Villalba, photographer Al De Perez, and owners of BOY London Gareth Long and Sick Bwoy. 

Instagram shot from BOY London
All behind the scenes images above taken by Carlos Morales
Day 2 of BOY London began with the second part of the swimwear campaign shot on South Beach in company with the amazing model Rivi Madison and a Four Loko. As soon as the shoot ended the models and Alaska went out to dinner and then got prepped for the Club Boy Miami party at The Garret/Grand Central that evening. Sadly Carlos was not able to join us for this day so all I have is shitty i-phone and instagram pictures along with a few shots by the fabulous Jipsy Nefarious for Miami New Times to give you all an idea of what this experience was like.  At the party Rivi and I modeled aka partied with Ben Washburn and DJ Grace Jones. To describe this BOY London weekend in a coherent sentence is very difficult as I am still recovering from all the surreal-ness as I am typing this so I will let the photos speak for themselves. Hopefully soon I will have the swimwear campaign photos to share with you all soon but for now this will have to do.  

One last photo of me after I changed out of my BOY London attire by Jipsy Nefarious. Lookin' so cute so I had to share.
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No Fucks to Give

July 19, 2013, 5:59 am
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Every time I go to New York I always come back feeling a million times more motivated than before-this time was no different. That city seriously inspires me beyond words and makes me feel more at home then any other place I've ever lived or been. Even though I was only there for less than 2 days I met so many people and saw so many things that have put my spirit on a whole other level of awakening and stimulation. I feel driven, inspired, at peace and restless. I feel like I have a million projects I want to do and people that I want to work with; like I'll sleep when I'm dead (which is probably why I'm sick from exhaustion now) and the world is at my fingertips. I feel like I'm on the verge of great-ness and that when I graduate from college 5 months from now life is going to blow up in all the best ways. New York showed me that I am on the right path; that I am cultivating myself exactly the way I should be and that when I get strange stares from people in Miami on the streets or feel mis-understood by my peers at school that I shouldn't have any fucks to give because I know that there is something so right in what I'm doing. 


My cousin gave me this dress when I was up in the city and it is easily one of the most comfortable luxurious items I own. Perfect for Miami weather, perfect for New York bad-ass-ness and thus making it absolute perfection for me. I feel very empowered wearing it; like I am a glorious feline nymph ready to take over the world - also a very accurate description of how New York has made me feel since leaving. Five months and counting until I can call that city my home, until then I will take in all the great-ness that Miami has to offer me by sneaking onto rooftops, running around like a mad woman and watching the sun set every night when it's not pouring down rain.

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A Response to Sickness

July 22, 2013, 5:51 am
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As invincible as I truly believe I am it turns out that my immune system feels differently. After my crazy-ass week last week of no sleep and constant work despite how much fun I had doing that work I have finally fallen victim to the sickness that everyone seems to be suffering through here in South Florida. It is probably due to the bi-polar weather conditions we are experiencing with rain half the day and insufferable heat the other half but whatever reasons they are it fucking sucks. No I am not sick like finding myself purging up every meal I eat sick but more like coughing, exhaustion, headaches, and hot-cold fever kinda sick. However sick-ness does not mean that I get to drop everything and spend days fortress-ed in my bed as I am a busy woman and ambition know's no rest. Instead it means that I get to chug a bottle of NyQuil, get my ass dressed in something halfway descent and continue doing work work work work work. The picture above is exactly what's been on my bedside table for the past several days. 


As you can see when I am sick and still have to go about my daily activities I dress in a very dark and melancholy manner with all black and maxi layers. The gold embellishment was meant to act as a psychological tricking device to try and convince me that I was happier then I actually was. Clearly based on my facial expressions that didn't really work but it did seem to trick everyone on campus to think that I wasn't sick so I guess you can count that.


I wanted to share this lovely ladies outfit because when I asked her what made her decide to wear this ensemble she said that it was her way to respond to her sickness from the day before. I took this picture on the same day that I was dressed in my all black response to sickness and I thought it was so interesting to see our very different reactions to our poor immune systems. Here she is looking all colorful and dainty and even carrying around a cup of fresh flowers. I mean what the fuck! I felt like death standing next to her. My point in this comparison is that dress can be used as a reflection of genuine expressions and false personas. My genuine expression was that I was sick, angry, sad, and depressed and her outfit was acting as a false persona of rainbows and uplifiting spirits.


For any of you that are sick out there too consider these flowers to be a get-well gift from me and Luna to you.

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Stirring Up the Arts

July 22, 2013, 12:30 pm
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Hey guys, great news in my art life. This Saturday I will be a headlining artist for my second gallery show at LMNT alongside some other amazing photographers Diana Santisteban and Jason Bassett. I will be showcasing new exclusive work and you all should definitely come. Also the day before on Friday I will be giving an artist talk about my experiences of going from model to photographer. If you haven't heard me rant about it enough here on the blog then hearing about it in person may be a little more interesting, or at least there will be a bar for you to drink while listening to me rant, I swear that makes it easier. I hope to see some of you there and as always if you have any questions just shoot me an email at ashleyggarner1@gmail.com

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Polaroids

July 23, 2013, 7:45 am
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For over a year now I have been in the possession of this polaroid bad boy but sadly never had the right batteries to make it work. I finally got some batteries shipped to me a few week's ago and have been shooting like crazy or as crazy as I can with a limited supply of film. 


On the one hand it is extremely inspiring to look at the world through a new lens, literally, and a blue filter that comes with the expired film but on the other it is very annoying to only be able to get a handful of the shots that I want to get because I can't zoom in and am limited to photographing in very specific lighting situations due to the nature of the camera. You win some you lose some, right? Overall I feel like there is something very nostalgic about these polaroid pictures. Like you are suddenly looking at a moment in the distant past even though it was just a few minutes ago. I must admit I do miss shooting film and being able to have a picture in my hand to hold. I mean of course I can always get my digital pictures printed but the feeling just isn't quite the same. There's something kind of magical about film, a je ne sais quoi quality to it. Luckily I got my batteries in time to take some film with me to New York so below you will find my favorite polaroids that came out of rolls I shot in Miami and in New York. 

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Psychological Portraiture

July 24, 2013, 11:23 am
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When I started modeling in Miami four years ago one of my first legitimate jobs was shooting a look book for the knitwear brand KrelWear. I distinctly remember every single detail from working that job and one of those details was meeting this incredible, vivacious, eccentric woman who put acrylic butterflies in my hair and massive lashes on my eyelids. She had cartoon tattoos covering her arms and her hair was a multitude of crazy colors that fascinated me beyond belief. I had never met anyone quite like her and I still never have. 


This woman goes by the name of Janice Quijano aka Natasha Wylde aka one of my favorite people ever. After that job many years ago we continued to work with each other and shot at least 10 photo shoots or more together either as model and photographer or stylist and photographer or makeup artist and model or hair stylist and model and so on and so forth. Both of us work in many different areas in the fashion industry and thus can create and collaborate together on many different levels. After I quit modeling she fully supported me despite the amount of potential she still see's in me and I am so thankful for that. For her unfaltering support and love for me. For that very reason I proposed to her that we photograph each other in a unique artist collaboration before she leaves me for New York. The photos you see below are the result of this psychological portraiture. I wanted us to photograph each other as we saw each other. As artists, as human beings, as vivacious and creative souls. Janice, you are truly a blessing in my life and I don't know where I would be today if you hadn't of given me all the opportunities you did. I love you and I always will and I can't wait for the day that I get to join you in the Big Apple. 

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FIU Style Sightings

July 28, 2013, 9:31 am
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My favorite stylish professor on campus, Professor Phyllis Baker. I ran to catch her before she got to her car and she graciously posed for a picture looking as statuesque as ever. Her dress was from China but she had just returned from a trip to Turkey.
Raymond Taylor
"Why did you decide to wear this outfit today?"
"I actually had this on last night."
Grace Frawley
"I call this Canadian cocktail attire."
Left Kiara Colbert , Right Grace Frawley
"We are heading to an art networking event tonight."
Morgan Pritchett
"I was feeling spiritual this morning."
I know this last picture is horrible but this girl was to adorable for me to not feature. I barely got the shot if you can even call it that but I've photographed this girl at least 5 times now and have never gotten her name because she's always on a mission on her bike but damn do I love her style. She seemed to have on an equestrian hat as a helmet this day. 
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Self Branding In Question

July 30, 2013, 9:01 am
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Am I unsuccessful because I am not self-branding? This is a question that has been bouncing around in my mind the past couple of weeks and something that I wanted to prose on a little more in depth here. I know that Elegant Idiosyncrasy is not the typical fashion blog and that is because I talk about lots of things other than just what I'm wearing. I post pictures of things other than just myself because I think that it is important to understand how the process of different things get translated into my personal style and photography. My outfit is the result of these experiences and to me it seems unfair to not talk about them. As a result of being a bit unconventional I don't get the highest page views and don't get invited to all of the fashion week go-to events and don't even get mentioned in the top 50 Miami fashion blogs and sometimes, just sometimes it can get frustrating. 


I often have long chats with my dad when these things get to me where I wallow in self pity wondering whats wrong with me but then he quickly snap's me out of it and back into my confident self righteous self and I remember exactly why I'm not getting the sort of recognition that all of these other blogs are. I am not an easy person to brand. I am very complex, slightly all over the place and a little lost but with a strong sense of self and very unwilling to compromise that. I am not just a fashion blog but also an art blog, a theorist blog at times, a street style blog and a photography blog. I don't think that commercial brands like H&M or Forever 21 could put me in their campaign and expect to sell very much because I'm not that marketable. My blog, like myself doesn't showcase the latest items on the market because that's just not what I do.  


That's not to say that I'm hating on people who do do that, more power to you if you have mutually beneficial relationships with brands that give you those sorts of opportunities. My point in all of this wallow based ranting is that I am coming to realize as it gets closer and closer to graduation that I have failed at self branding. Elegant Idiosyncrasy is a blog about me but at the same time it has not been successful at branding me. In our generation we're practically geared to learn how to self-brand and I'm not sure how I would market myself if put on the spot to. I have one foot in the fashion world and the other foot in the art world. To me I see them as the same thing and that is what I try to embrace here but to the rest of the world, or at least to some of the world it's not seen that way. 


I'm not sure I'm the type of person with the type of blog that should to be sponsored in a Gap campaign but I'm not saying I don't want to be, just maybe that's not for me. Maybe I'm not the type of person that is meant to be a Susie Bubble or Bryan Boy or Man Repeller. Maybe I'm just meant to be the creative fashion artist who sometimes is the model, sometimes is the photographer, sometimes is the creative director and hopefully most of the time is all three. Maybe I'm meant to remain ambiguous and that is my self branding - the lack of it. 


I'm not really sure why I'm writing all of this and then publishing it for all of you to read other than I like this space to be a reflection of who I am and what I'm going through and this is exactly who I am and have been going through for quite some time now. I hope that this can be solace for any of you bloggers or fashion artists or journalists or what ever/who ever you are out there who feel the same way. You are not alone and I certainly hope I'm not. I don't think we are unsuccessful because we are not self-branding, we are just different and different is always a welcome thing, right?


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Color Fest Inspiration

August 1, 2013, 12:07 pm
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Last week my college decided to randomly have a huge ColorFest party to celebrate the announcement of which musicians will be performing at our Homecoming in October (it's going to be Zeed and J Cole!!!). At this Colorfest students were given bags of colored powder and asked to just party their asses off in the middle of the day in the middle of the week (it was a Wednesday). I had completely forgotten about this party and didn't remember it was happening until I started seeing a ton of students walking around campus covered in mixed colored powdered. Sadly I didn't have the right lens on me but the sun was setting and I didn't have time to go back to my room to switch them out so I worked with what I had. With that said even though I was completely exhausted from only having had 3 hours of sleep the day before and a full day of classes earlier I managed to get a few photos that I liked and left with a large dosage of inspiration for my personal style and other creative projects that I will tell you more about soon enough. Summer classes just ended for me today and I plan on spending the beginning/end of my summer feeling as awesome as everyone does in these pictures, I hope you all do too. 

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Sulking Sunday's

August 4, 2013, 6:32 am
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On Sunday's I usually find myself spending my morning's catching up on poetry blogs, reading my book and indulging in the written word of any form. As much as visual imagery is a part of my inspiration beautiful prose's are just as much a part of it. Last Sunday I found myself in a rather melancholy mood and with the rainy weather upon us I was forced to stay inside and sulk in my bed all day. Ok, maybe not so much forced as I chose to wallow in the melancholia like I do at times. It reminds me of how deeply I can feel sometimes and the sadness can be unbelievably inspiring. I thought that I would share with you all this Sunday some recent words I've added to my quote book that inspired a photo that I took last Sunday in the shower that you will see at the end. Oh, and before I forget I was interviewed by the extremely talented stylist and designer Alaska Mangialetto of Jacked Fashion. Be sure to check it out here, you might learn some things about me you didn't know. 


"I cross my heart that when I said you were wonderful you were."

"I hope you never make another loving heart break the way you broke mine that second time."
-Lola Rothschild 


"I don't want to be your entire world, no.
I would be happy just to be your morning coffee,
your hanging car keys, your wallet. 
Something seemingly insignificant,
but if lost throws off your entire day." 

-Unknown


"Do not fall in love with people like me.
We will take you to museums & parks & monuments
& kiss you in every beautiful place so that you 
can never go back to them without tasting 
us like blood in your mouth."

- Jean-Luc Godard

"To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial.
To be known and not loved is our greatest fear.
But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God.
It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness,
and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us."

- Tim Keller 

"You're scared that if you don't break other people's hearts, someone will break yours. 

That is your biggest fear: love." 
-Unknown 


"Maybe the sun will explode & the moon will fly out of orbit.
Maybe I will burn so fastthere won't even be time 
for me to think of you once more."

-Clementine von Rodics, Out of Orbit


"I am a mausoleum, filled with relics of mood swings, depression, sadness and regret."

-Burning Muse

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