#simonevii

This Is Primitive Glam

8/9/2016

 Shooting with David (@kaleiddoscope) in July was such an enriching experience. I had the freedom to style a complete shoot with three different looks. This opportunity gave me the confidence to keep working towards my life-long dream of sharing my visual aesthetic with the world.

 For my first shoot, I wanted to recreate some of the aesthetics that have inspired me from childhood to now. Although all different, each look encompasses an aspect of our brand “Primitive Glam”.

 Growing up in the 90s, Disney did not have a black-girl princess for us to aspire to. My sister and cousins would feel as close to these fictional goddesses when we draped our heads in my Grandma’s long, colorful, tribal scarves. We danced about, whipping our scarves like make-believe pony-tails. We adorned ourselves in Grandma’s jewels, and then scurried about half naked; searching for adult clothes we could manipulate to fit our youthful bodies. We were Queens and Princesses of our own design. For us and by us, we adapted the image of beauty in our minds. Zay’s (@zaviamonet) first look was an ode to our earliest aesthetic, the Black Girl Princess. Her scarf, an ethnic crown; her jewels earthy and eclectic. I would love for black beauty trends to continue to move into this direction, where women define beauty in their own image.

 Look 2 was a complicated evolution, making the look more endearing. Anna

Nicole’s Guess Campaign initially inspired me. Hair, jewels and the

bustier were all inspired by that 1993 campaign. Plus, Zay’s pin-up girl

obsession dated back to about 2006, so it was very important to add

concepts that my muse loved. Look 2 was anticipated to be

headshots; Zay arrived on set dressed from the waist up, wearing a Jamaican surrong covering her bottom half. When we noticed David snapping full body shots, we immediately protested! The tribal surrong was NOT apart of the look! Until, it was! The mix of classic glamour (the bob and the jewels) with diasporic pride (the surrong) was a perfect contrast! “Go off Josephine Baker!” I exclaimed, after David showed me some of the first few shots on the camera. The epitome of Primitive Glamour, we combined classical opulence with #blackgirlmagic.

instead of trying to change people, put that energy in trying to understand them. in the long run, you'll benefit from that way more, promise. when you understand somebody, like truly understand why they do what they do and how they think, you can either appreciate it for what it is or decide they're not what you want. in this world, people are so used to getting what they want, instead of appreciating what they have. so many girls are trying to mold a guy into their perfect guy, instead of just enjoying the person they have right in front of them. and when this happens, relationships become complicated and you're left with that straining feeling that things are "almost perfect, except... " when you live in the present and accept situations and people for what they are, instead of what they "could be", you really begin to live. living this way reduces the amount of disappointments, bc there are no expectations. when you make the commitment to love a person thru their flaws, you can't be blindsided by them later. when you decide to spend time and build a relationship with a person, without any goals of titles and long term commitment, if you just enjoy every second of their company and conversation, you will truly begin to fall inlove. instead of trying to be in a relationship, build a relationship, its that simple! and in building a relationship realize that nothing in the world is more precious and beautiful than an individual being themselves. you never go wrong if you're comfortable in yourself. when you are secure and comfortable in who you are, others have no choice but to respect it. but in order to be comfortable and secure in yourself, you first have to know yourself. like any other relationship. you have to understand yourself, and this takes time. be honest with yourself. see your flaws, all of them. work on the ones you need to fix and accept the ones you cannot change. when you understand yourself, you are able to love yourself. like truly love who you are. people think they love themselves just bc you've been who you are all your life, you wake up to yourself every morning and you do what's necessary to remain safe, but that doesnt mean you love yourself. once you understand yourself, you then begin to love yourself, similar to how other people love you. you will begin to find the things you do, or say funny, or cute. you will begin to adore yourself, and you will put yourself first and live life to keep yourself happy. when you're in love with yourself, you are overall a better person. when you're secure with the relationship you have with yourself, you're not insecure, or jealous. you have no time for mean-ness or gossip bc you got better things to do, similar to when you're happy and secure in a relationship. when you're in love with yourself, you don't even need to say it, because it's an unspoken thing. you're a better person and people feel it, and respect it. when you're in love with yourself you allow yourself to be who you are. it's such a cliche, "if you dont love yourself, you can't love someone else", so people don't take it seriously, but it's the truest statement and if people took the saying more serious, life would be way easier. see, in describing how to love yourself, I also described how to love someone else. do you see how precious it is for two people to love each other. the same way you love yourself unconditionally, and allow yourself to be, that's how you should love others. once you understand them, allow them to be. understanding is the key to life. it's the key to love. it's the only real goal in life that makes sense. do you ever look around and think about our world, why the sun sets and rises like clock work. have you ever thought about the places on the planet that humans can't and don't see? there are so many things in the world we will never understand, so it seems the only logical purpose in life is to try to find an understanding. not necessarily about the sun, or the world, but I believe God put us here to take all this in everyday, and grow with it, and learn from it, understand it and love it. 

but everything is.

we try to fill up space,

as we carry out our life sentences. 

    like hot water,

i want the pain 

to evaporate off my skin.

never to be heard from again.