spring 2023 — Blog

Album artwork from Chancha Via Circuito’s album Bienaventuranza.

Does music - like really really good music - give you tingles down your spine? Personally, while I may lack a natural talent with musical instruments, music is still my muse… it inspires me every day; it is my refuge. Enough so that last year, for my 40th birthday, I bought myself a DJ controller. I mean, what better time than to launch one’s nascent DJ career than at midlife, no? Daytime tea parties only though, no requests please.

My proto-DJ self made a little playlist for you. It’s full of things I’ve been jamming to all day while I work on my golden goodies… Some soul, synthy dream pop, rock, hip hop, world beats, electronica, even a little jungle (!) to smooth you out and then lift you off before touching you back down (again and again). Perfect for these early Spring days where we’re creeping out of winter, but not quite in the full heat of Summer just yet. I hope you enjoy <3

Photographer Matt Nager with model Samantha Joseph

Coming out of the holiday season, after a nice week or two of R&R, I quickly hit the ground running for SS23… That included, as in recent years, a marathon of finishing the new pieces, concepting/creative directing and producing the lookbook shoot, and getting every item shot for web. It’s a lot, but it’s all a true labor of love and a joy to do.

Matt gets the high angle with River Wharton.

This season, I was so happy to work with a longtime friend to photograph our lookbook: Matt Nager and I have known each other since high school, and I have long admired his career trajectory, which has included work for publications like Time, Travel & Leisure, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal… the list goes on. But Matt also has so much more to offer on a fine arts level, and so we melted our minds to come up with what became Close To Home (the name here partly inspired by the fact that our location was in our hometown of Boulder, and really felt like a homecoming of sorts).

The concept: a lonely woman, Samantha, is trapped in a decadent yet time-faded home on a hillside, with no one to keep her company but her imaginary friend River. That and plenty of fabulous jewelry of course. Our models Samantha Joseph, from Wolves Management, and River Wharton, were decked out in wardrobe provided by several dear friends - including Kate Towers, Salihah Moore (who also provided her amazing yellow telephone), Laurs Kemp, and a bit of my own wardrobe, which came from Max boutique and Assembly NY. Styling was by yours truly, as per usual (my other work/love, as you may know), with makeup by my friend Lillian Marsh. A shout out is also due to Kristina Foley, for hand-felting and botanically dyeing a sheep fur throw to match my color specifications, and to Laura Morningstar for allowing me to use her ceramic “lil papa” as a prop. Oh, and thank you also to Dad Grass, whose CBD joints were a surprise star of the shoot as well ;) And last but not least, a huge thank you is also due to Brian Schwartz for our location.