Photography: Grenouille
My mother collects vintage umbrellas. Monochromatic, striped, floral, cuckoo-spotted, with cool pointed tips and parrot heads for a handle – you name it, she’s got it. I’ve been dreaming of borrowing them for a photoshoot forever, and finally Mark and I took a whole bunch to the park and shot against the reds and yellows of autumn foliage. Amazing results below!
My outfit: Kimchi & Blue coat, plaid scarf, yellow tights, Bebe fingerless gloves, vinyl elf boots (thrifted).
Pushing back the frontiers of fashion! ;)
Soccer Field. Ok, I’m starting to get really cold here!
Some asked why Mark chose Grenouille as his photography nom de plum. He did it for a couple of reasons, all of which sort of came together in that name. Mark is part French and certainly looks the part; he’s always joked that if he were ever to take up photography seriously, he’d show up to gigs wearing a black beret to play up the French artist stereotype. :) The name itself came from the main character Jean Baptiste Grenouille from the movie/book Perfume, which Mark is really into. The parallels are obvious: Jean Baptiste was trying to capture the essence of a woman with perfume; a photographer does so with his lens. And last but not least, ‘grenouille’ means ‘frog’ in French, and everybody knows how much Mark loves frogs (green being his favorite color)! Back in his rockstar days, he even had a frog-shaped guitar covered in stickers of frogs. :) (photo courtesy Bernadette Giacomazzo) Yep. That pretty much sums it up. :)
Gorgeous example of combining glasses and bold make-up! The combination of the two is quite stunning!
Lovely lovely looks. You look great. I love the blue plaid scarf thing and the blue beret. I’d love to know what colors were used for the makeup looks, I am getting back into greens a lot! xoxo
I always love the effort you put in your outfits and makeup. looks amazing!
I love the glasses :) and I’d like to see that make up tutorial!
btw, where did you get the tights? :)
The tutorial for this look is coming this Friday. :) I used Lime Criminal (green) and Prima Donna (pink) eyeshadows.
You look stunning, especially in the first photo! :)
nice photoshoot, thanks for sharing! You should do a tutorial for that make up too!
I love the one of you and the yellow umbrella, such pretty colors! I would love to start collecting vintage umbrellas myself!
inspiring as always. :)
wow wow wow! Love the way you walk the line between vintage/retro and bright and modern! Ur an icon :-) xx
I am in awe of how you can look like you but totally not like you all at the same time. and you do it naturally! I watched then trying so desperately to teach that on Top Model.
Frogs is how english canadian calls french canadian too ;) (aww poor us >.>)
(p.s. your pictures are stunnin and Mark is an awesome photographer)
I love your hair! I have medium length sometimes-manageable-sometimes-not curly hair and if you have any advice on curly hair styles, I would love to hear it :)
PS. I had to where those glasses when I was 10, my dad picked them!
I love vintage umbrellas! I found a beautiful one in the alley by my apartment last month and am going to try and dip dye it hot pink (it’s beige). And that green, I die. . .
I love your makeup in this one, can’t wait for the tutorial. Once I get some of your makeup I’ll probably mess around with it, trying different looks you’ve done with different colors.
The picture with the yellow umbrella in front of the tree is absolutely perfect.
a-MA-zing! Love the 80′s glasses pic as well. BEST EVER. Totally unrecognizable. My favorite is the pic w/ the yellow umbrella. BTW, we watched Perfume on Monday – it was brilliant. I loved it. It was interesting because it was completely realistic for most of the movie until the end! I thought Mark chose Grenouille because Grenouille was also obsessed with redheads. :)
i must say that i wish i had someone like Mark/Grenouille to take photos of me
but instead of autumn leaves i would be trampling in 3 feet of snow…yes its a blizzardly here
as for you, Xenia
ravishing as usual :)
As always, you look ethereal and astonishing in these perfectly composed photos. And I LOVE the story of Mark’s nom de photog. ;)
You look amazing :D I love that plaid scarf. And your glasses remind me my dad’s glasses :D
Beautiful as ALWAYS!!! I love your eye makeup, which limecrime shadows are those?
never mind, I just saw you answered what colors you are wearing :)
wow! i’ve never seen a scarf like that. i have to go get one now!
are there really still leaves on the trees there!? I’m in Ohio and they’re rather bare here =[, I’m jealous. and where did you get that beret from?! Its so cute!
How do you get your hair to do that? That would be a good tut :3
i have that same coat but in PURPLE! you look beautiful and adorable dear :)
Lovely photos :) I adore that scarf of yours!
Amazing vibrancy of colours. Oh and congratulate Mark on great taste book-wise; Perfume is sensational.
Oh My! That scarf! Those photos are beautiful, and the colours are amazing! And you are so pretty!
Very amazing indeed, love the close up shot of you in clear glasses – so cute!
I really adore that yellow umbrella.
You look so stunning in these photographs =] And, I really like the red coat!
I was wondering if I could use a picture of you for a Christmas card idea that I have.
If so I’ll send the finished product to you.
You and Mark are the ultimate power couple. I think if you wanted you two could run the world.
I love and collect vintage umbrellas and parasols too. The pagoda shape is my favorite.
I love your make-up in the shot with the glasses. You look stunning.
Luv
Poochie
This is completely amazing – those umbrellas are awesome and this entire photoshoot looks like an editorial. I love this.
I adore the boots! Did you alter them, or did you find them just like that?
TOTALLY LOVING this shoot!!!!!
FAB job!! Your makeup looks absolutely flawless!!!
you’re so beautiful!
Questions, questions, questions…
The glasses are vintage and they are just frames (no glass). I think most people’s parents had something like that in the 80s, ha! I know my mom & dad did. :D
The beret is actually from France, haha. My little sister studied in Paris for a year and brought it back as a souvenir. Mark got the same one in black, so we match! :)
The scarf I got at Filene’s Basement. It was only $17, too. Hey, when it comes to clothes, I’m a bargain shopper. ;)
♣ Tanya
Sure thing, feel free to use it for anything you want. :) I’d love to see the results!
♣ Princess Poochie
Pagoda! That’s it! You know what’s weird? Pagoda means ‘weather’ in Russian.
♣ Autumn
Didn’t alter the boots. They were weird from the start and that’s why I had to have them! ;)
I really love the colours in these photos, so autumnal!
I’ve been feeling a little down recently, until yesterday when I stumbled upon your website.
People used to say I had this fizzy personality, but lately the fizz has been slowly fading. Looking at your photos, fashion, makeup, and reading your posts has really given me a kick up the backside and inspired me :)
Thankyou.
Sidenote; you’re hair is fantastic in these photos. I’d love to know how you achieve it. I always find my hair disappears when I wear hats unless I curl it.
Your hair is absolutely amazing, as well as your makeup. Looking forward to the makeup tutorial!!
This shoot is my favorite so far, I think! I love the umbrellas.
adore these pics, especially the first. very beautiful.
amazing!
[...] from my Leaves & Umbrellas shoot. Although, come to think of it, it’s very Christmassy, too! [...]
It’d be awesome if you had a tutorial on how you did your hair for this shoot!
Beautiful pictures!
I saw this cardigan and thought of you:
http://www.topshop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?beginIndex=0&viewAllFlag=true&catalogId=19551&storeId=12556&categoryId=102451&parent_category_rn=93594&productId=951618&langId=-1
This is lovely! I would love to see postcards made of Grenouille’s work :)