Bringing Jackie back to life
By now you must know that I nearly worship the ground Charlene (owner of Zepherra) sews on. I knew that nobody else would be better suited to construct a replica Bar Suit, but after hiring her for that special project I decided to throw another dress into her workload: the iconic orange dress worn by Jackie Kennedy.
Although I loved Maggie with her own blonde locks, I knew she could rock both a red and brunette wig, as well. So I had Carl Brown make both for our vintage portrait sessions. And obviously Maggie needed the brunette wig to channel her inner Jackie!
Blonde Jackie!
Like the rest of the wardrobe, we tried everything in Denver first. I loved the way the orange dress looked on Maggie and decided it would be a go! I didn’t know, though where I would choose to photograph her in it. As I’ve mentioned before, Paris location scouting was a bit overwhelming.
J’adore Dior
While Charlene was making the dresses, I suddenly got paranoid about copyright. By now you are all well aware that I take copyright seriously when it comes to photography. But what about fashion? I suddenly assumed the rules might be the exact same. I frantically reached out to several people in the fashion industry, as well as doing my own online research to find answers. And to my surprise, I found out the following:
“It might be a fashion faux-pas to copy someone’s style, but it may be a surprise to learn that making a direct or substantially similar copy of clothing, in many circumstances is legal, because clothing designs are rarely protected by copyright law specifically.”
I didn’t really mind a faux pas. to be honest. I just wanted to be sure I was obeying the law. My overactive mind took “fashion police” to a whole new level!!! I was told, though that as long as I wasn’t trying to pass the replica off as authentically Dior (or whichever designer) with the intent of selling it, I was fine.
Once we were in Paris, I felt a strong pull to photograph Maggie outside Dior. Christian Dior’s story…how he started his business later in life…the iconic Bar Suit…how he revolutionized fashion for women…it has all inspired me so much in my journey to Paris. So I knew that I had to take Maggie there. What I decided I would NOT do was photograph Maggie in the Bar Suit there. It just felt odd to do so. Instead, I chose Jackie O.
Earlier that day, if you recall, I had purchased two bouquets of flowers: roses and sunflowers. The sunflowers ended up in the portrait session recently posted, leaving the roses for Jackie O.
Back to life
Creating magic outside Dior
The portrait session was pretty short. It was late in the day and we were all tired. But there was something truly magical about seeing Maggie as Jackie O. I really felt for a moment that she was actually standing in front of us. I hope that wherever she is, she smiles when she sees this.
Jackie Kennedy Orange dress by Zepherra. Purcahse here!
Link of the day
