Irina the inspiration

she may rub some the wrong way, and some will go so far to call her a bitch... but she gets the job done. and if bitchy looks like this: bitch me out.

peep the rest of her incredible collection here: Irina Shabayeva's first real world collection

I shot her, bang bang.

"Bohemian Goddess"

"Whip Country"

"Harajuku"

"Guide for Daring Girls"

"Late Romance"

We spent 5 hours on this shoot, 2-3 cocktails, & 1 battery recharge. My little suitcase full of tricks packed a punch this time!

definition of anti-fashion

Okay. So some of you are probably asking yourselves "what the hell is an anti-fashion fashion designer doing designing fashion?!"

No, I'm not AGAINST looking fashionable. However, I don't agree with the whole "everybody fits into a certain style tribe and conforms to their chosen 'uniform'". I think there are some people who just. like. fashion.

Whether it be the shredded-to-hell denim with black biker boots wrapped with chains one day, a flouncy floral chiffon spaghetti strap topped & rayon-bottomed shortsuit w/white peep toe booties & fringed bag on Tuesday, a pair of regular boot cut jeans & a tye-dye V-neck & baseball cap on Saturday, and a swimsuit, beach hair and crocheted cover-up on Sunday. I. JUST. LOVE. FASHION!

Clothes and jewelry come in so many different styles that all say very different things! I just try them all out. Not everybody conforms to a "cohesive practical collection of ready-to-wear" either. And I sure as hell won't for my first clothing line! Mine is going to be eclectic, unpredictable, and definitely not something that will fade like a trend in time.

I get it though. A large majority of people do only stay on their comfort level of dressing, thus making target markets a very valuable piece of profitable information especially for mass-producing clothing labels aimed at mass consumer targets. I think my market is a bit smaller than "the department store junkie" though, and yet is as wide as the world. I like multi-cultural statement pieces, disco bunny attire, bar-hopping biker chic grunge, incredibly cute & comfortable loungewear, piano bar temptress glamour, sun-bleached sand babe garb, metropolis girl extraordinaire/working mistress attire, down home country-gal spirit, high society madame regalia, and everything that falls in between.

Anti-fashion to me means I despise the predictability from season to season. I scoff at the boring, hideous fads that disguise themselves as trends. And I absolutely do not want to be a part of the nose-raising hot heads who think that fashion is LIFE. Because, actually, there's a lot more to it than just that.