What to Wear Wednesday...with Emil Rodriguez-Powell
It's WTWW, and also a new month! For the month of July, our WTWW posts will focus on an Americana theme! Kicking things off is Emil, of Slice of Lime Photo!"When we think of “Americana style” most of our brains tend to immediately channel open fields, barns, beautiful sun filled images, and that iconic red vintage pick up truck that just screams “AMERICA!” While I am a huge fan of those types of shoots and swoon over them like the rest of you, I wanted to put a bit of a spin on the usual Americana style shoot and go with a more urban flair.
When you live in a town that has a penchant for showing their love for America on their buildings and those buildings happen to be two blocks from your front door…it was a no brainer deciding on the ideal urban locations for this shoot. My brain is always scouting locations and I had been “saving “these locations for a shoot like this.
Besides finding the ideal background, the key to making any American themed shoot work, is the wardrobe!!! I threw together an Urban 4th of July style board on Pinterest and scoured Polyvore to find some boards to pin that would help bring my ideas to life. I then sent the Pinboard to the handful of my senior models that were available for this shoot to help them style their looks.The obvious staples for an Americana themed shoot are flag print shoes, shorts, tanks, and shirts. With these being so in right now, getting your hands on flag themed clothing is a piece of cake. From Free People to Apricot Lane to Asos to Forever 21, there is no shortage of clothes out there that would be perfect for this type of shoot.
But keep in mind that you can run the risk of the wardrobe getting too busy if you include too many flag patterned items. Having a variety of solid red, solid white, or solid blue, to balance out the flag patterns in your Americana styled shoot is essential.
Accessories in the way of little hand-held American flags, headbands, bandanas, and sunglasses helped complete our styled look. Thanks to the relationships I have built with several local boutiques, I was able to reach out to one, Knock Knock Boutique in Hershey who sent over a box full of sunglasses, necklaces, bracelets, and the American flag scarf to polish off each of the looks my seniors had pieced together on their own.
Be aware that there is etiquette for how to handle/use the American flag and often times using it as a prop during a shoot can cause controversy. A quick Google search will tell you that things such as draping yourself in the flag or holding it the wrong way are a big “no no”. This is where American flag scarves come in as they are the perfect alternative.
With the right outfits and a few fun props, the fun, carefree, celebratory vibe of 4th of July can be captured in just about any setting. Break out of the norm , try something new, and LET FREEDOM RING! "
What a TOTAL fun shoot! I love the urban take on Americana! Thank you so much, Emil, for sharing these tips with us! And of course, the imagery!Stay Stylish,Megan