As you may remember, I recently ventured into the world of retail/fashion with my design of a raincoat.  This project has been in full swing over the past several months much to the significant efforts and business acumen of my husband. We now have a completed sample and a top quality manufacturer. The next task at hand is to create a website which also means professional photos.  Which photographer to use?  Thanks to my daughter, Hayley, who recently went through this process for her marketing business, the decision was simple: Rachel Rubin at PARLR.   She is part of a full service beauty salon in Framingham that includes a photo/video studio, so one stop shopping.  What an amazing experience this was.

With three outfits packed and of course my raincoat, I left home around 9am to arrive by 10 for ‘hair and makeup’…it was a bit tricky to find the building which is in an industrial area, but thanks to GPS it was not so bad. With my suitcase on wheels I entered the building, not really knowing what to expect. Finally made it to the elevator…pressed  #2…doors open.   OMG!   O.M.G.   A female fantasyland.

High ceilings, trendy music playing, sequins, fur, pink, sexyyy…

Wow.  Great space!  First order of business was getting some finishing touches to my hair with a flat iron while I sipped coffee and felt like a princess. Next was makeup – actually the first time in my life that I let anyone do my makeup…after reinforcing quite a few times that I was accustomed to wearing ‘heavy’ eye makeup, I was quite pleased with the results and also learned a few new tricks.

Time to get dressed and strike a pose – or poses I should say!   You would think I would be a pro at this because of all the photos I take for my blog, but I felt like anything but.  Rachel was absolutely wonderful.  She took the time to understand what was important to my brand and gave me direction and feedback that was immensely helpful. Her assistant kept me hydrated, and the stylists made sure my hair was just right. Was it fun?  You bet it was!  It was also exhausting, and I was happy to get back into my comfy dress and flat shoes.  But it was not over yet – it was now time for my coat to be photographed on a professional model…

After the young beauty went through hair and makeup, she donned the CANDY COSTAS Raincoat and was ready for Rachel to work her magic – between the two of them, magic it was.  At this point as I was watching the photo shoot, I was suddenly overcome with emotion and shed a few tears – the coat looked AMAZING – she looked AMAZING – and this was MY design???  My vision of the coat and my lifelong passion for style were literally coming to life before my eyes.   Here are a few cell phone pics…

Beautiful!

Rachel at work!

Creative outdoor shooting…

Checking the outdoor pics…

Click here for another sneak peek!

“It’s a wrap!”  Wow.  Thank you to the entire PARLR team for their professionalism and expertise, and especially to Rachel for making my vision a reality.  Stay tuned for the final pics – and  – for the CANDY COSTAS website!  Woohoo!