Nordstrom!
Here it is! The Nordstrom ad campaign!! Nordstrom did a fabulous job with it, and they deserve a lot of koodos for personalizing the campaign for Calgary's audience and including it's own people in the campaign. It's a concept I've never seen used before by any company, let alone a massive fashion retailer such as this. I, along with the rest of YYC, love and appreciate this personal touch, and I can't wait for the store to open, Sept 19th! Additionally, they had the amazing Tommy Tom, street style photographer extraordinaire do the entire shoot. Love Love Love his work.
Part of the campaign for the YYC store opening in Chinook Centre, included 100+ stylishly cool Calgarians, photographed by the talented duo Ania B and Tyler Stalman, featured on the Nordstrom blog The Thread. To see the FULL ad campaign the other local talent who was involved in it click here, (...and to start shopping!) To read more about the involvement of the citizens of YYC in the ad campaign, check out this article from the Calgary Herald.
An unexpected, but exciting side gig!
One fine day, quite randomly I got an email from the lovely, stylish, and beautiful Ania B. Through the grapevine she had caught wind of what was going on my little studio and sent an email my way. The email had something in it about Nordstrom's YYC store, 100 Calgarians, street style, and would I like to be a part of it?? Ahhh, yes please! A little later I got another email asking if I'd be interested in doing an even bigger project - this time a paid gig that could involve big photos in prominent places. Again, floored, flattered and stunned, I said "Ahhh, YES!"
So....along came a stylist to my house to poke through my wardrobe to pick out a few outfits. Six to be exact. A little bit of this, a little bit of that. What I didn't realize until then, is that this wasn't for the 100 street style photos, but for an ad campaign, and I would be 1 of 10??!! Whoa Nelly!
Then...the day of the shoot. Orchestrated with precision and skill.
The whole thing was quite a production. I had no idea what was involved in shooting an ad campaign! There were box-loads of clothes shipped from Seattle, racks and racks of clothing, schedules, tables of shoes, accessories, bags, etc. I felt like a kid in a candy store! It all felt very glam.
Lo and behold, it was an awesome adventure. I met some amazing people from Seattle, Texas and YYC many who were happy to tell their story of how they got to be where they are, each of them gracious, friendly, wonderful...and of course stylish!! But the icing on the cake was the photographer Tommy Ton. If you've ever seen really good street style photos, where the models look like, well, models - you've seen Tommy Ton's work. (GQ, Style.com)
I've got to say, there is little that makes me feel as satisfied with the order of the universe as when someone who is a force of talent, skill, and fame, still manages to keep it real. That's Tommy Ton... a kinda shy, humble, nice guy without any airs.
Super fun, super unique, super memorable. Thanks for the experience, Universe!
Studio gets the limelight
My studio had a good day in the blogosphere yesterday. It was featured twice, on two blogs. www.sfgirlbybay.com and www.the10centdesigner.com. What studio could ask for more??
So, I thought I'd take the opportunity to talk about it.
So, a little history on my studio space. It used to have beige walls. Yes, beige. And although it was my little painting space and I loved it, it definitely needed some loving. It had part of a home office crammed into one corner, while another corner served as storage for all kinds of electronic devices and portfolio cases. The remaining space was where I worked.
Then, enter stage right. A talented woman, Lori Andrews, part stylist, photographer, and interior designer, comes in waving her magic styling wand....and POOF! transforms it into something bright, airy and lovely. She styled it like a pro, using stuff that I already had - transforming the banal into the cool and noteworthy. Truly, like only a pro can.
I read once that if you want to inspire creativity in your life, then you paint your walls white. I can vouch for this. The space is now my haven. Stepping foot through the door brings a wave of calm and creativity. Plus it's super pretty. :)
Here is a pic of the studio 'before':
And the 'After' photos:
My favorite thing about the space is that there are books are all over the place. On the shelf, on the floor....and the spines don't always face out! There's something super liberating about this. I also LOVE the light. I Modge Podged white tissue paper to the windows, eliminating the need for blinds. In doing so, it also made the light diffused, soft, and perfect for painting! My previous impression of a studio space was that it didn't need to look good. It was a place of practicality and it would inevitably get messy. Very pragmatic. The difference between my previous attitude and my current attitude can be summarized by this: "I'm going in the studio to paint" vs. "I'm so excited, I can't wait to go into my wickedly awesome studio to paint!!!" Two very, very different things.
It's amazing how you don't realize the true nature of something until that something changes. I didn't realize how much my space needed improvement until it actually improved. I love my little space now.
And now you'll have to excuse me. The studio calls. ;)
My Blog
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Maya's Blog
t's about anything and everything.
The good stuff.
The intriguing stuff.
The fun stuff.
The beautiful stuff.
The curious stuff.
The stuff that makes you smile.
The stuff that get's you pumped to DO, BE, LIVE.