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I sometimes pinch myself when it comes to the type of work I manage to get myself involved in. Especially when it involves photographing the work of my friend Kerry O’Brine. In fact, I’m not sure I can even call this ‘work’ because we just all spent the day gossiping and laughing. For her latest collection (the colours of which are to die for!) we headed to Mersea Island to use their pastel beach-huts as a backdrop. We managed to find someone who owned one of the huts who kindly let us borrow it for the duration of the shoot, which was lucky as the weather was just insane! You can’t tell but we were contending with gale force winds on this particular day and our model Sophie was just brilliant to pur up with it all!
I asked Kerry to explain a little more about her inspirations about the collection for this blog post;
“This collection started off with just one blouse, which I’ve named ‘Grace’. As a designer it is great to get feedback and have women try on my clothes because it reveals exactly what I need to do next! All the feed back I get from my customers gets fed back into the designs and business. Even if you don’t immediately see it, it’s there getting mulled over in my brain and being used to inspire new items. Grace proved very popular during a Pop Up boutique in March 2013. Due to this we went ahead and expanded it into a mini collection; thus the Riviera Collection was born. The collection has more colour choices, two blouses Grace and Rosa and one dress, Eloise.
Rosa and Eloise both have a round neck line and narrower arms. This slimmer shape is great for those that felt Grace was a little too generous; especially the lucky petite shapes among us!
The concept of the Riviera Collection is to create some luxurious pieces for work that make you feel like you are on a gorgeous holiday. Running along this theme the ideas for the photoshoot started to formulate. Professional women can and do work anywhere these days. So why can’t our professional woman be at the beach working hard!! She can keep check on her emails whilst enjoying an icecream!!
Well, if you’ve ever tried to organise a photoshoot you will know what a co-ordination nightmare it can be and this time I had to contend with the weather (not in my hands I’m afraid!). We ended up with a lovely sunny day but…….so so so windy! The model Sophie did an amazing job and really was braver than me, the wind was freezing!
I chose the location as I knew about the pretty coloured beach huts and thought they would fit in perfectly with the colours of the collection. These icecream colours led me to images of the 50s and 60s and the inspiration for the hair and makeup came from that. Tracy did a superb job at the makeup and Julie created some amazing hair shapes.
Working with Kerrie always works well as she immediately understands my vision (however quirky it can be!). You can really see the surreal feeling I was trying to go for with Sophie sitting in the middle of the beach facing the sea.”
So now onto the photographs, feast your eyes on those colours ladies!
The Eloise Dress in Coral (my favourite!)
The Athena Dress in Ivory
The Grace Blouse in Green
The Rosa Blouse in Aqua
Grace Blouse in Ivory
Kerry O’Brine designs each piece of clothing herself and each item is hand-made to order in her UK studio. The online luxury business women’s wear business launched in 2011 and this is her third capsule collection. Kerry’s approach to the brand reflects first hand experience of helping women looking for luxurious work clothes that you can’t find elsewhere. Each collection is small and limited. With maximum attention to detail and quality.
Clothing & Styling: Kerry O’Brine Womenswear
Hair: Bridal and Vintage Hair
Make-Up: Tracy Bristow
Model: Sophie Whitaker
And just for a little fun, here is a few snaps from behind the scenes to show you what we were up against! Not only gale force winds but a diva dog who refused to get out of our shots!
