Collaborations – Page 2 – Ensemble of Elan

The Wide Open Secret: Sexual Harassment in a Post-Weinstein World

One emerging fashion model. One professional photographer. Two feisty bloggers/business owners/feminists. Here are our thoughts on the recent surge of sexual harassment allegations in the aftermath of Harvey Weinstein.

As a fresh face in the modeling scene, I am currently experiencing many of the challenges that come with this profession. You have to have the right connections and live in the right location, but most importantly, you have to have ‘the look.’ In the fashion and entertainment industry, looking a certain way can propel you pretty far. However, many people do not realize that there is a lot more to modeling than having desirable physical qualities. Succeeding as a model requires persistence, practice, and risk, and one of the biggest risks involves potentially putting your physical, emotional, and spiritual safety in harm’s way.

I am lucky in that I have yet to face any abuses of power myself, but the research I have discovered while working on my senior thesis regarding the sexual harassment and mistreatment of models is rather shocking. As young women try to enter into the fashion world, they often do it with little experience or know-how, which leaves them unguarded and vulnerable to predators, which can be their photographers, agents, clients, or bookers. Sexual harassment has been widely tolerated by the fashion and entertainment industries for many years, and things are just now starting to change. As a model, I would recommend to others to always do their research before agreeing to participate in a new project. Talk to other women who have worked with those photographers or agents, and take what they say seriously to keep yourself safe.

–Sofiya Stasiv, Fashion Model

Photographers have a lot of power in this industry.

Particularly in the portraiture scene, it’s no secret that the vast majority of photographers are male and the vast majority of models are female. There is a power dynamic there that spans centuries and yet, I often see photographers write off that dynamic as unimportant or even nonexistent simply because of the ‘age we live in.’ So, I think it’s important to first establish that–in case there was any doubt–there is still a lot of inequality between men and women. Our society has not magically pushed past it; we have only made some progress. Of course, sexual harassment is not limited to just male photographers encroaching on the space of female models. It exists across the gender spectrum and throughout various other jobs in the industry. Yet, I certainly won’t pretend that the former is not particularly potent in its presence.

I approach my own work with this understanding. Many of the people I work with are female models, and a big part of their work involves being vulnerable for someone they often don’t know very well. That alone is an immensely difficult thing to do, but it is further compounded upon when the industry is so full of photographers taking advantage of that vulnerability. I don’t really wish to make a case for photographers on this issue since, as a whole, we truly aren’t the victims of the situation.

We have to do better. That starts with educating ourselves on the nature of consent, listening to women’s experiences instead of silencing them with our own preconceived notions, and understanding that the label of ‘creative vision’ does not give free reign to treat people as objects or sexual tokens.

Most importantly, we have to understand the power we wield as photographers in a male-centric industry with a male gaze. We can either be boons to the improvement of our societal standards or maintain the status quo, subsequently furthering the justified feeling of fear people may have when working with us.

–Errick Jackson, Fashion & Portraiture Photographer

Until fairly recently, men could abuse their power and sexually harass or assault women without much fear of repercussion. It was even written into some of their contracts. Frequent sexual harassment was an ‘open secret’ in Hollywood and across the country. Women were often pressured to keep their mouths shut or risk losing their careers. Those who did come forward were often vilified or called liars who were looking for money or attention. And considering 99% of rapists never serve jail time, it’s no wonder that many of these women chose to keep these incidents to themselves.

But something broke after the allegations about Harvey Weinstein came to light. New allegations are coming forward every day against men in entertainment, politics, and business, and they are actually being taken seriously. For the first time in history, powerful men are facing consequences for their actions. Some call it a witch hunt and think that because there are so many men being accused, it cannot possibly be true. But ask any woman alive if she has ever faced sexual harassment, and the answer will almost assuredly be yes.

We still have a long way to go in changing our culture, but we have made a lot of progress in the span of just a month or two. No longer do women have to fear losing their careers by coming forward and ousting their bosses or directors. In a post-Weinstein world, any man who has ever abused his power to sexually harass/assault women (or men), will have to spend every damn day living in fear that one of his victims will come forward and his career will be ruined. And that is one of the biggest victories. It is difficult to stomach that many of these men will never be brought to justice in the eyes of the law because the statute of limitations has passed, but at least we can rest easy knowing now that they are the ones who cannot sleep at night.

-S & H

Hannah’s Wearing:

Sofiya’s Wearing:

Sabrina’s Wearing:

Photos by: Errick Jackson

Super Simple Styling Tips You (Yes, You) Need to Be Using

Have you ever noticed that even when you buy the same clothes as fashion bloggers and Instagrammers, they just don’t look the same on you?

The reason why? Styling.

Employing a few easy styling techniques can completely transform your wardrobe without you having to spend a penny. Here are five tips we personally use on a daily basis!

1. Tuck in your shirt.

One of the easiest ways to take your outfit from “college kid running late to her 8 am class” to “sophisticated woman who has her life together” is to tuck or half-tuck your shirt/sweater. Doing so defines your waistline, creates better proportions (longer legs, smaller waist), and gives you the ability to show off a stylish belt.

2. Show off your socks.

You can make even the most boring of pair of shoes feel fresh again by pairing them with statement socks. (Or, make weird shoes even weirder, which is the path we tend to take.) Fishnet, solid black, and striped socks are all good options to show off above your sneakers or ankle boots.

3. Wear your dress as a skirt.

Are you bored of your dresses because there are only so many jackets you can pair with them to create different looks? Well, you are about to feel like you have an entirely new wardrobe with this trick. Layer a sweater or sweatshirt over your dress to make that dress feel like a new skirt!

4. Cuff your jeans.

Unless you are wearing cropped jeans, you should almost always cuff your jeans. A single or double cuff prevents bunching at your ankles and allows a killer pair of shoes to shine. You can roll up your jeans evenly, or do an imperfect, asymmetric roll if you are looking for a little edginess.

5. Drape your jacket over your shoulders.

If you ever see a street style star IRL, you can bet that her jacket will be draped over her shoulders instead of with her arms in the sleeves. Wearing a jacket like this keeps you warm, but still allows you to show off your outfit underneath. Plus, it makes you feel powerful, as though you’re wearing a superhero cape!

Sabrina’s Wearing:

Hannah’s Wearing:

Addison’s Wearing:

How to Wear White After Labor Day

Remember that old rule about not wearing white after Labor Day? Today’s the day to forget it.

If you style this color right, you can rock it all year round. Personally, we love white in the fall and winter even more than in the spring or summer. It provides a feeling of freshness in a colorscape (Is that a word? It is now.) that is almost always dark in the colder months.

Here are four of our tried-and-true tips for pulling off white this fall season:

1. Choose interesting textures.

Instead of trying to style a plain white tee for fall, opt for something with a little more texture, like a mini skirt with a slightly rough, woolen feel. Pair that textured skirt (or pants, if that’s how you roll) with a white knit sweater and a leather jacket for a look that feels light and easy, yet far from basic.

2. Pair with darker colors.

If you have a white or off-white blouse that feels summery on its own, wear it with darker colors. Throw a black bomber jacket over the blouse and pair it with some trendy plaid trousers. Top off your look with metallic footwear and an embroidered purse, and you’re done!

3. Look for trendy details.

To make a white top feel in-season, look for one that has a trendy detail, like ruffles on the shoulders. Then, pair that top with more classic pieces, like a knit pencil skirt, black ankle boots, and a simple crossbody bag, to toe the line between timeless and trendsetting.

4. Layer white-on-white knits

When all else fails, go for white on white! Layering a chunky white sweater over a white knit dress feels fashion forward while also looking simple and clean-cut.

Wearing white after Labor Day is no longer a fashion faux pas, so don’t tuck away your favorite white pieces just yet. All you have to do is style them thoughtfully, wear them with confidence, and most importantly, avoid red wine and spaghetti sauce like the plague. ❤

Featured models: Callie Barnett and Erin Spann

Using Fashion to Craft Your Personal Brand

There is so much buzz right now around crafting your “personal brand,” whether it’s for the purpose of getting a new job, promoting your own business or craft, or simply giving the world an accurate idea of who you are and what you stand for.

As three creatives, we love using fashion to promote our personal brands because how we present ourselves to the world is quite important in each of our lines of work. Here are our thoughts on how we use fashion to bolster the world’s perception of ourselves and how you can do it too:

To use fashion to cultivate your personal brand, you first have to figure out what your personal brand is. Do you want to be seen as a logical woman who has her head on straight? A free-thinking creative? I personally want to be known as the girl people can turn to for advice or assistance with any of their personal style woes, even if their preferences differ from my own.

We will soon be launching a styling service (stay tuned for more details on that coming within the next few days!), so it’s important to me to instill a sense of confidence in my potential clients. That means even though I love risky, out-of-the-box styles, I know not everyone does (and I don’t want my clients to think I’ll be dressing them all in high-waisted referee pants and lace crop tops!), so I need to make an effort to reflect a variety of styles within my own personal style so clients trust that I can meet their own fashion wants and needs.

This is why I chose a relatively simple look for this shoot. I realized a while ago that I almost never wear jeans in photo shoots, and I don’t think I have literally ever worn a t-shirt for a shoot, so I figured I would give it a try and make those seemingly simple pieces feel fashion forward! There are a lot of women out there who live in jeans and t-shirts, so I needed to make myself relatable and my style accessible to them.

So for you, what do you want to reflect? What do you want people to know about you before you ever even open your mouth? Keep your personal brand in mind when choosing outfits, and it will not steer you wrong.

-Sabrina Runge

As an independent musical artist, I choose how I am represented. I don’t have a record label telling the world who I am, and I like that.

As a natural performer, it’s easy to perform on and off the stage… to try to be something I’m not in order to feel “good enough.” I had to learn how to stop performing, and, as a dear friend put it, “just be.”

This year, I’ve begun to take that mindset on and off the stage; to do what I love because I love it, not to fulfill others’ expectations. It’s a privilege to “fill the air, the silence” (as my boyfriend says it) with whatever I choose and to remember that people show up to hear me and let me be myself with them. Nobody likes false advertisement, and with that in mind, I use style to visually represent my true self.

I prefer minimalism and consistency in my style. If I go a little out of the box from my day-to-day for a show, it’s because I want to use style as another way to express my creativity. However, with that exception, I usually prefer to let my personality and music do the talking. Choosing a simplistic, neutral-based style allows room for interpretation. It doesn’t make such a statement that others can automatically have a definitive opinion about me before actually knowing me. I desire to know others and be known truly, not superficially. I’m not saying I wear plain, homely things in some sort of “stick-it-to-the-man” mindset against our society’s focus on image. I do enjoy many trends in our culture, and I love expressing myself visually, but I do not depend on it.

All that being said, my style usually consists of mostly black, flowy pieces. I wear a lot of black because I view it as a confident color. (Honestly, I love any outfit that feels like pajamas.) I’ve come to love my nearly shapeless body, and I try to not deceive anyone into thinking it’s anything else. If my shape disappears under a flowy dress, that’s okay with me because in this heat, I’m just happy for cool clothing. As far as accessories, it’s safe to assume that I’ll almost always be wearing a key necklace that says “BE” on it to remind me to be real, along with the same gold studs, my mother’s ring, and black booties. I value consistency and simplicity. My style is constantly swaying between simply confident and confidently comfortable. That’s the mindset I try to live in as well. Confident but not conceited; comfortable and content with myself.

–Tiffany Lee: Musical Artist, Nap Queen, and Plant Mom

Whether you are a business owner, lawyer, or fashion guru, you are your brand. So, as your brand, the way you present yourself is the way you display your business. As a fashion blogger, photographer, and soon-to-be stylist, I use fashion as an avenue to make a good impression on others, thus creating a good impression for my business. Even if I’m simply running to Kroger to buy more Halo Top ice cream at 11pm, I still try to make an effort to dress nicely and look my best no matter the occasion because I never know when I’m going to run into a present or future client.

Always looking presentable and approachable instills a kind of trust with my clients. I’ve branded myself so they know they can trust me to always do the best work I can for them because I put that same kind of effort into myself (almost) everyday. Jogger pants, loafers and a chic, silk cami is one of my go-to outfits because it’s effortless yet sophisticated for wearing out, and I can still go home, plop down on the couch, and spend the day working and editing photos without ever having to change clothes!

When I started out branding myself as a photographer, I dove in headfirst and told people I was up for anything, from newborn sessions to weddings. Yet, I realized this wasn’t what I really wanted to do, so I began focusing on what I loved: fashion photography and portraiture. As a fashion blogger myself, I see both side of the lens, so I have a unique perspective when it comes to fashion photography, which sets me apart in this field and aligns with who I am as a photographer and a person.

It’s a lot easier (and more authentic) to cultivate your personal brand when you are honest with yourself about what you want to do. It’s no surprise that I didn’t get booked for many newborn sessions because my heart wasn’t really in it. Once I created my personal brand that aligned with each and every one of my passions, I began to see a lot more success in each of those fields, and you will too.

-Hannah Lewter

Black Maxi Dress, Black Jeans, and Graphic Tee

Hannah’s Wearing:

Tiffany’s Wearing:

Sabrina’s Wearing:

What is ‘Cultural Appropriation’ Anyways?

For this post, we challenged ourselves to put together the most *American* outfits we could without doing any online research to see how much influence other cultures have on our sense of style.

In short, we failed. Miserably.

Literally none of the styles we chose originated in America. Then, we did some more research and found that the only styles that truly got their start in the United States are blue jeans and western wear.

This exercise was truly eye-opening because we saw firsthand that if we hadn’t taken styles from other cultures, there essentially would be no fashion in this country.

So, that brings us back to the idea of cultural appropriation. When is it okay to take ideas from other cultures and when is it disrespectful?

I remember people getting upset about things like the name, “The Washington Redskins,” or even more recently, not liking that Kendall and Kylie put their faces on t-shirts with the names of Tupac and other African American artists, but I didn’t realize there was a name for it: cultural appropriation. The definition of cultural appropriation is the adoption or use of the elements of one culture by members of another culture.

As someone who is half Puerto Rican, I do understand this on a personal level. Particularly when people use bits and pieces of Spanish without really knowing what they mean, like adding “el” before certain words and “o” after them , like “el car-o” to be funny and make those words sound Hispanic.

It’s not that big of a deal to me because I know most people who do this are just trying to be funny and aren’t trying to be disrespectful, but I understand why it is offensive to some people. Taking some aspects of a language and using them improperly is not respectful to that language and the people who speak it.

-S

As we all know, America is a melting pot of different cultures. With so many different types of people coming to the States, cultures and lifestyles are bound to mix and take on aspects of other traditions. There are definitely reasons to tread cautiously when it comes to clothes, art, or anything from other cultures, but without this amazing conglomeration of people and ideas, we would not have things like Chicago-style pizza or New York Fashion Week.

I was researching cultural appropriation for this post because I actually didn’t even know what it was before Sabrina brought it up to me. I found this incredible article on how to approach cultural appropriation in a positive way, and I could not have put it any better myself:

“In the 21st century, cultural appropriation—like globalization—isn’t just inevitable; it’s potentially positive. We have to stop guarding cultures and subcultures in efforts to preserve them. It’s naïve, paternalistic, and counterproductive. Plus, it’s just not how culture or creativity work. The exchange of ideas, styles, and traditions is one of the tenets and joys of a modern, multicultural society. So how do we move past the finger pointing, and co-exist in a way that’s both creatively open and culturally sensitive? In a word, carefully.”

-The Atlantic, “The Dos and Don’ts of Cultural Appropriation”

If we limited ourselves to just ‘American’ culture and didn’t share with others, we would not have much at all. Blending cultures and lifestyles is what makes America, America.

So, if you like good music, good food, and good fashion, we should probably keep mixing cultures (respectfully).

-H

To be completely honest, I did not understand why people got upset about cultural appropriation until fairly recently. I thought that people should be happy and feel honored if another culture borrowed one of their ideas and showcased it. (Boy was I wrong.)

I finally understood why people got upset about it when girls started wearing shirts and toting coffee mugs with the phrase, “Nama’stay in Bed,” emblazoned on them. Namaste is a Hindi greeting, and one time when I asked a girl wearing one of those shirts if she knew what “Namaste” meant or even what language it came from, she had no clue. As someone who is half Indian, that’s when I got a little offended and realized that there’s a right way and a wrong way to borrow from other cultures.

It is acceptable to borrow another culture’s idea if you know the meaning behind it and you treat it respectfully. Such as, if a clothing company used tribal print on one of their artisan-crafted handbags and also told a story about creator of the bag and the origin of the print in the description, this would be acceptable. On the other hand, if a company put a Native American headdress on one of their Caucasian, underwear-clad models for a runway show, that is not okay (ahem, Victoria’s Secret).

-S

Sharing between cultures is something that is unavoidable–and honestly desirable–if we want to bring cultures closer together. But, there is a right way to do it by honoring the history of the cultural idea and the people who came up with it, and a wrong way to do it, which is ignoring everything except the aesthetic value of the idea.

Learn before you wear.

Photos by: H+L Creations

Savvy’s Wearing:

Hannah’s Wearing:

Sabrina’s Wearing: