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.
We only had 7 minutes left to shoot our last look. Luckily, this look came together organically, although I did not plan this look (unlike the other two). I brought loads of jewelry to the set; I wanted to try as many themes as possible. We wanted this look to truly have the primitive feel; we kept the surrong and let the hair down into loose, messy waves. My favorite aspect of this look was the gold details. The gold foils played an especially crucial role. Although I am not a makeup artist, I saw a vision of 3-D highlight, using the gold foils directly on her cheekbones. The gold foil and the heavy gold rope chains created a powerful juxtaposition that represented African wealth, resources and strength. I fell in love with this look, it allowed me to truly flex my creativity. Despite the time restraint, we desperately wanted to create images that were reflective of the Primitive Glam brand, and I believe we executed!
