Summer Lookbook: Location and Ideas

I realised in my excitement over posting the lookbook photos the other day I totally forgot to talk about the location and the inspiration behind it! I really wanted to talk about it mainly just because it means something to me personally.

We shot the lookbook near Hannah's house in Coburg, a northern suburb of Melbourne. I've pretty much lived in the north ever since I moved out of home, and it really feels like a second home to me now. In particular, I really truly love how the backstreets of Brunswick and Coburg have a very particular feel to them that seems somehow iconically Australian 70's suburbia or something like that to me. I guess it's all the cute little streets with their weatherbeaten houses, and the old Milk Bars on almost every backstreet corner (most of them shut down now unfortunately). I have so many good summer memories of riding bikes around these streets, drinking cold beers on backyard couches and front porches, that looking at the lookbook photos makes me almost kind of nostalgic!

Summerrrr!

The collection itself was pretty heavily inspired by The Virgin Suicides, which is obviously set in Michigan. I thought it was really nice though in the shoot to give give the images a certain Australian feel, which helps make it seem a little more personal and appropriate to me and to the label I guess. It's still got that whole teenagers-in-suburbia thing going on from the film, we just transplanted it to Brunswick!

This shot was originally inspired by Lux coming home late from the Homecoming dance in her white dress. Lux in Brunswick!

I really can't talk about all this without giving a huge credit to Hannah for capturing the vibe I wanted so perfectly. She is such a talented photographer and it was so wonderful how she was able to take my rather pathetic descriptions of what I had in my head ("kind of run down... but beautiful at the same time" and "she's a bored teenager in suburbia") and turning them into something that completely conveyed the story I was going for.

It's incredibly hot in Melbourne today, and after writing that I feel like riding up to the shops for in icy pole! Either that, or sitting in front of the fan with an atomiser of water :P

More photos here.