Delta of Venus

(above 3 photos behind-the-scenes from my instagram)

I recently had a chance to style my first shoot where I got to direct everything: the mood, the model, the poses, the lighting, the wardrobe and the photographers. My own imagination is so active and I love to tell stories - through little things, like getting dressed every day, and through bigger projects, whether it be writing, creating a book or shadow box, or putting together a series of photos. While I do love working as a stylist alongside photographers to realize their specific visions, I find myself truly at my most creatively happy when I get to dream up and execute my own concept from beginning to end. I suppose this falls more under the title of "creative director" than mere "stylist" either way it's something I plan to do plenty more of in the near future. Knowing so many beautiful people to model and talented photographers who i trust to capture my vision definitely helps! I love art that is created through a communal process and effort - the combination of so many different minds always creates something greater than the sum of its parts.

The inspiration for this shoot really started with my model, Kerri Lebon - who in my mind evoked the dark elegance of Luisa Casati (particularly Man Ray's portraits of her), portraits of Anais Nin, and the  shadows and mystery of 1930's Berlin. Dark and mysterious, soft yet strong - sumptuous and haunting. These portraits of women who were burning with madness, energy and life. They were yearning, passionate, and always shot on deep, velvety black and white film.

Amy Harrity set up lights for the shoot and also took a few gorgeous digital photos in color. 

digital color photos by Amy Harrity
styled and directed by Ashley Pamela Miller
model: Kerri LeBon

Dirty Blonde

I don't know why it took me so long to realize that Debbie Harry is my Personal Style Spirit Animal. She's always been on my radar of Very Important Style Icons but i recently realized she's not just one, i think she's the one. She has pretty much every base in my style arsenal covered - vintage vixen, cutie pie, classy glamour girl, femme-femme girly girl, rock n roll babe. She's like Courtney Love meets Marilyn Monroe meets Barbie meets Gwen Stefani. I think it all came together for me when I found a photo of her wearing a striped t shirt with a flippy floral skirt and big sunglasses and i was like, WHOA. THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I WEAR LIKE EVERY DAY. And don't even get me started on her apparent collection of perfect vintage tee's.

women who don't cry

You may remember a post from December about a shoot I styled for grainy-dreamy-film-photographer Hana Haley - and about a week ago I got another opportunity to work with her. Remember when I was watching all those French films and obsessing over Anna Karina? That was all research for a shoot Hana and I started planning after the success of our first. And last week our Francophile vision became a reality when we met up at Palace of the Fine Arts early on a cloudy morning. The model, Alyssa, is a 60's gamine starlet come to life (imagine a young Audrey Hepburn). The grey skies cast a perfect pallor on the wardrobe i had pulled, a wardrobe full of reds, blues, whites and grays - chic, simple and oh so french. A couple vintage umbrellas, a great tweed swing coat and my prized 1950's nurse's cape were highlights of my day as a stylist. Once again the photos turned out like a dream and i think it's safe to say, this is the start of something beautiful between Miss Hana and I...

see the rest of this shoot and more ON HANA'S SITE