The Vanguard of America’s New Fashion Vernacular Written By Jadan Horyn @JadanHoryn Edited By Edina Sultanik
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You will never believe what happened after you left the photoshoot at Ladurée,” says a voice on the phone one evening in August. I give the long pause and then say, “Try me.”
The day before, I’d joined what turned out to be a 10-hour photo shoot for the cover of this magazine, featuring a striking fashion designer made up in full Hollywood glam-style hair and makeup posing in a range of unbelievable scenes, from an indoor swimming pool to a swanky hotel bar. The set was littered with racks of glamorous evening gowns and dresses, sequins, feathers and tulle, priceless gems and jewelry as rows of couture heels,
pumps, and stilettos lined the walls. The shoot itself was scripted into scenes, each progressing in its level of whim and fancy with people and props to propel the unified vision. It was a visual tour de force to watch - and participate in. I was roped into modeling as a man-bunned bartender—a human prop supporting the drama. So naturally, after such an extravagant experience, what I was about to be told had to be equally extreme. Those couture pumps, heels, and stilettos had been placed in a red roller suitcase. In the damp darkness of the unusually chilly
August evening, they had been left sitting on the street in the hustle and bustle of loading trunks. The designer on the other end tells me that they were her best shoes—she brought all her favorite things from her own closet for this shoot. I hold my breath. She says, “You can imagine when I got to my showroom and I realize there is no red suitcase. I make a beeline back to Ladurée in the pouring rain. Professional photoshoot makeup was running down my face, and my hair was frozen stiff from more hairspray than most people use in a month, looking at what can only be described as a fashion disaster. The red suitcase is strewn across the road, its contents gone. A homeless man smiles from
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