Art of Collaboration
Gust Blog Post Written Exclusively for OhWowYouWoreThat
One of the most amazing things I’ve experienced since launching a line of bikinis, as well as myself into the fashion industry is the comradery of talent coming together to into a reality. Between designers, photographers, models, hair and makeup artists, stylists, bloggers, and local press, I feel very fortunate to have worked with so many talented people since moving to Los Angeles less than a year ago.
LA has a reputation for being pretentious and fake, which made it a bit intimidating to move here, but I personally having met only the most amazing people, both in and out of fashion. I’m so inspired by the way everyone is here seems to be living the life of their dreams, or aspiring to through hard work and collaboration.
I’ve been a part of many swimwear photo shoots now. Often friends and colleagues will ask me how I’m able to afford it, so I’m about to share my secret. The secret is that we are all here to create something beautiful, and we are all trying to stay current. Photographers need to update their fashion portfolios, and models and beauty experts need to do the same. The designs are simply what bring everyone together, and it’s truly a work of art to see what happens when everyone brings their skill together to work on a common goal.
Following our most recent collective, our photographer now has a beautiful set of pictures from her first time working with swimwear, thus broadening her fashion portfolio for future shoots. Our hair and makeup artists now have some high quality shots of the services they offer to add to their site, and can use these in their social networking as well. Of course, it’s always great to have new content to share with fans and potential clients. Our model happens to have been a fashion blogger, so this gave her plenty of material for a new post, as well as the opportunity to update her modeling portfolio. We even had a set designer, who displayed and chose the props, as well as took behind the scenes footage of the day. Some of the shots will also go onto her site.
What’s more is we all tend to select different pictures depending on our priorities and skills, as my images need to specifically show off the bikini designs, while a photographer’s selection will grasp the image as a whole.
So as a model, designer, or beauty expert with any kind of budget to start their business, remember that there are other aspiring yet highly experienced people out there who need your talents in order to bring theirs to life. While I’m working on building my brand, I mainly use ModelMayhem casting calls to connect with local artists, but also take advantage of platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and general word of mouth. From a business perspective, there is an even greater benefit when collaborators have a blog, fan page, or Twitter where they can send backlinks and mentions to one another to increase each person’s following.
Together we have the ability to join forces and create something bigger than any one of us can alone, to share our talents with the world and make it a more interesting and beautiful place. That in itself is a work of art.
Written by Joanna Kinsman, founder and designer of Miss Kinsman SWIM, a line of lingerie-inspired Brazilian cut swimwear made in downtown Los Angeles, CA.
Credits:
Photography – Lauren Devon
@laurendevonnow
Model (unnamed)
http://www.thefashionbrewery.com
@fashionbrew
Makeup – Victoria Aje,
@vajeMUA
Hair Design- Regina Jackson
http://facebook.com/HairbyGinaJ
Set Design – Rachel Swetnam
@rachelswetnam