Behind the Scenes - Stacia Photoshoot

The days leading up to my bi-annual Stacia photo shoots are always stressful and full of anxiety -- praying for all my samples to come in before factories close for Chinese New Year, finding a great photographer and model on my measly budget, selecting my "looks", and scouting locations. And all so I can capture the essence of my next collection in print.

This time around, I was aiming for a more editorial look that evoked the natural elements of my new Fall '09 collection. With groups titled "Monterey", "High Desert", and "Altitude" and using sustainable, eco-friendly fibers like soybean and bamboo, I figured the hills of Malibu would be the perfect backdrop for my rustic collection of cozy knits.

February 2nd was D-day. 9 a.m. sharp in Malibu Creek State Park, pretty much the middle of nowhere in God's country. My nerves were at their peak, hoping and praying we'd get all of the shots done in 8 hours. Finally, the collection that's been brewing in my head for over 4 months now would come to fruition for the world to see. So far so good, everyone arrived, my fabulous team - Colette (the photographer), Adrienne (hair/makeup), Jenna (the model), Daniel (the tech guy), Thao (my right-hand stylist and moral support), and Amy and Misa (two incredible volunteers.)

And the trek began...hauling 4 large duffle bags of samples, camera equipment, and schlepping through the outback with our gear and trying to do so under the radar. Other than getting some great pictures in this beautiful setting of trees, brush, and rolling hills, our main objective was to avoid the dreaded park rangers since we didn't have a fancy (and expensive!) filming permit. We weren't exactly a large movie crew nor Vogue magazine on an elaborate photo shoot, so as far as I was concerned it was worth the risk getting busted without a permit.

After about 9 looks we were on a roll. Every shot looked like a frickin' layout in Elle magazine. I was so happy to finally get my editorial shots of my collection and have my vision come to life. All was going smoothly until we spotted the dreaded white ranger truck. We immediately slumped down, put the camera away, and pretended to be enjoying a lovely day in the park. Unfortunately, it happened to be the day after the Super Bowl so all the usual slacker rangers were off-duty, so the big honcho ranger (head of permits!) was subbing and doing so with gusto. With his gun in sling, swaggering walk, and pre-requisite mustache, Mr. Ranger was ready to flex his muscle and big shiny badge and explain the importance of obtaining a film permit and that we had brazenly 'broken the law.' Great! My life was flashing before my eyes (or at least the rest of the collection that would not get photographed) and I was going to be hauled off in cuffs and all for the sake of fashion! But the key to quick release is to just play dumb. The sooner we got out of there the sooner we could scout a new location and get on with this shoot. We dutifully handed over our names and id's so he could run our driver's licenses through the system to make sure this group of fashionistas weren't serial killers or predators.

According to my experienced photographer, getting caught without a film permit is pretty common and usually uneventful where rangers typically just ask you to leave in peace. But this guy was going for broke and really wanted to shame us into believing his job is oh so important! Luckily none of us had any records or outstanding warrants so we were given the heave ho without any further incident.

So with our tail between our legs and bags of samples, we moved on. Thanks to my resourceful photographer, she quickly found us a new location right down the road but off park property. We resumed our shoot in a beautiful vacant for sale lot in a quiet residential horse area. It's amazing that the landscape and lighting were equally as beautiful as the park and without the stress and hassles of rangers and permits. I must admit the adrenalin of our run-in with the law really got our creative juices flowing! Everyone was pumped. The shoot just got more fun because now we had something to laugh about and because we were losing sunlight by the minute, we all had to work more efficiently and more creatively to get the job done.

At the end of the day with a sense of accomplishment and adventure, we literally shot the last look right at sundown with not a minute to spare. And for my Rendezvous capsule collection, this was the best possible lighting to highlight my Holiday line. An end to a successful and super fun day of fashion. A reminder to me of why I'm even doing this -- because fashion is fun and simply in my blood.