‘The Monstrous Tea Party’ Photoshoot
Dave and I came up with the idea of throwing a huge party to celebrate his 22nd birthday. What first started out as just a simple dinner turned into something a lot huger, an all out party celebrating the past year which we contain various art installations and being a celebration of life. To kick off such a huge year and help set the standard of such a tremendous birthday party, we decided that we wanted to have a photo shoot which would launch the party. First we came up with an overall theme which was Alice in Wonderland but we wanted to add a twist to it so we made the Mad Hatter into a serial killer, Alice into a whore, the Queen into a ruthless murderer and a few other changes with some well known characters. Monday was the day I met Tom Ford and was inspired to have a photo shoot, we would find ourselves preparing for one of the biggest creative tasks of our lives on the Friday of the same week. We had 3 days to come up with a concept, round up the gang, make props, get costumes and make sure that our original vision was what would be seen in the final product. Luckily, we had such an amazing crew with us and such beautiful faces to help model. Before we knew it, it was Friday night and we were setting up our various sets, our models were in hair and make up and we were getting ready to snap our first picture. Everything came together in such a beautiful way that I was left yet again….SPEECHLESS. Alex and Ian created some amazing costumes and did such a wonderful job on make-up. It ridiculous what they are able to do with old ripped up fabric and a brush. They are some of the most talented people I have ever met and I am so honored to know them and have them in my crew. Brittany was the perfect choice to portray our demented Alice. Chelsey helped in all aspects of bring this vision to life and executed the role of the Queen with such evil precision. Dominic helped bring everything together and suffered through the torturous plastic dog masks along with Ian but boy did they make it WORK. Jelena rushed over from work at midnight and was molested by our hair and make up artists and took all the abuse like such a trooper. I had Christine along with me to help shoot all the madness. Her talent with photography is unparalleled and I am occasionally inspired by all of her beautiful photographs. The final product of our photos was enhanced and brought to a whole other level thanks to the brilliant Adam Reich.There is literally nothing that he is not good at and one day I wish to be able to have at least half the talent and wisdom that he possesses. Lastly, there was the birthday boy himself Dave. Everything I do is never complete unless I am working alongside such an artistic genius. This was one of our first all our joint collaborations and it is so amazing what he is able to accomplish in such a short amount of time. My favorite thing about Dave is nothing and I mean NOTHING is impossible to create and accomplish. I know that he will go so far in life because every dream I have had has become a reality thanks to his unending help. The photo shoot was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life. The pool of creative people that we had working together to help create one vision was enormous and the vibe of the whole shoot was what of pure art. I think we made both Lady Gaga and Tom Ford very proud with our twisted imaginations and passion for what we were doing. I am in love with the final product that we were all able to create together and I am excited for many more projects to come in the future.
