JULY 29, 2017
PHOTOGRAPHY: Curtis Patée | LOCATION: Bozeman, Montana | INSPIRATION: My favorite movies, song lyrics and upbringing
Directing photoshoot editorials are what I miss most about having a fashion line. That is why I like to conjure up ones on my own every once in awhile. It is like creating a fine art picture or writing a story but its using myself as the story. You can really will anything you visualize and then put your mind to. I’m not a model so much as I am a dreamer and strong visualizer. Most of the things I’ve created for myself and opportunities I’ve gotten have not been from a static mindset–you can’t be on autopilot if you want to accomplish the unknown. My mind has always been a constant over-flowing fountain of ideas waiting for me to act on one.
As an adult we have to get into the routine of things and it is advantageous to have said routines and patterns but know the liberties you have to take to live a dynamic life at the same time–those decisions are not made involuntarily. Habits are involuntary, decisions are voluntary and must be done with avid focus. So, I encourage girls to get out of their comfort zones, shift gears and visualize themselves in another world and then gather all of the necessary things to make that world come to life! You don’t have to be a model, you just need to own it and (along with a decent photographer behind the lens ) the realness will shine through in spectacular ways.
XO WHIT XO
19th Century Reminiscense
Where is my John Wayne-
Where is my prairie song-
Where is my happy ending-
Where have all the cowboys gone?
-Where Have All the Cowboys Gone” by Paula Cole
THE INSPIRATION
Movies: Many turn of the century classics, but these ones in particular…
Far and Away: A great 90s movie about Nicole Kidman, along with Tom Cruise, both Irish immigrants racing to Oklahoma to claim land in the 1890s
Anne of Green Gables: A 90s mini series I adored about a young orphan growing up in PEI and Nova Scotia during the Victorian era.
Back to the Future II I think it’s the saddest and at the same time funniest part when Doc reveals to the 19th Clara Clayton that he has come from the future and now has to leave her to go there. She blows up at him because she thinks he is just making up an obnoxious excuse to stop seeing her. What I love about Clara Clayton is her wardrobe—the old west garmantry. I wanted to experience another era and you have to have everything in place to do that—the makeup hair, outfit, attitude, lighting, landscape, etc…I never thought I could transport myself back in time to Clara Clayton’s day but with enough visionary work I do in my head the more accurate I can get.
Once Upon a Prairie
You’ll remember me when the west wind moves upon the fields of barley
You’ll forget the sun in his jealous sky as we walk in fields of gold
So she took her love for to gaze awhile upon the fields of barley
In his arms she fell as her hair came down among the fields of gold
Will you stay with me, will you be my love among the fields of barley?
We’ll forget the sun in his jealous sky as we lie in fields of gold
See the west wind move like a lover so upon the fields of barley.
Feel her body rise when you kiss her mouth among the fields of gold
I never made promises lightly and there have been some that I’ve broken
But I swear in the days still left we’ll walk in fields of gold
We’ll walk in fields of gold
Many years have passed since those summer days among the fields of barley
See the children run as the sun goes down among the fields of gold
You’ll remember me when the west wind moves upon the fields of barley
You can tell the sun in his jealous sky when we walked in fields of gold
– “Fields of Gold” by Sting
THE INSPIRATION
Movies: Gone With the Wind: Scarlett O’Hara when she wore that red gown. This gown was borrowed from a friend–it was passed down to her from her great grandmother in North Dakota. I wanted to bring out its elegancy and sentimentality along the delicate yet rugged background I was in. It was probably a prized luxury posession of hers as I could see it was very well-taken care of as it looked barely worn.
Music: Beyonce’s scene in “Formation” with the black farm hat, long thin braids and deluge of necklace adornment. Whenever I see that part of the music video it sends chills up my spine.
Fashion Icons:
Katia Nikolajew (IG @bewolffashion) is one of my favorite fashion girls on the cultural runway right now–her style is eclectic, etheral, pinup and bohemian all wrapped into one!
The Farmer’s Daughter
She’s a good girl loves her momma
Loves Jesus and America too.
She’s a good girl, crazy ’bout Elvis
Loves horses and her boyfriend too
–”Free Fallin” by Tom Petty-
She’ll let you in her house
If you come knockin’ late at night
She’ll let you in her mouth
If the words you say are right
If you pay the price
She’ll let you deep inside
But there’s a secret garden she hides
She’ll let you in her car
To go drivin’ round
She’ll let you into the parts of herself
That’ll bring you down
She’ll let you in her heart
If you got a hammer and a vise
But into her secret garden, don’t think twice
You’ve gone a million miles
How far’d you get
To that place where You can’t remember
And you can’t forget
She’ll lead you down a path
There’ll be tenderness in the air
She’ll let you come just far enough
So you know she’s really there
She’ll look at you and smile
And her eyes will say
She’s got a secret garden
Where everything you want
Where everything you need
Will always stay
A million miles away
“Secret Garden”
by Bruce Springsteen
THE INSPIRATION
Movie: The Straight Story 1999
-I watched this film a long time ago, it stars Richard Farnsworth and Sissy Spacek. The film is based on the true story of Alvin Straight‘s 1994 journey across Iowa and Wisconsin on a lawn mower. Alvin (Richard Farnsworth) is an elderly World War II veteran who lives with his daughter Rose (Sissy Spacek), a kind woman with an intellectual disability. When he hears that his estranged brother Lyle (Harry Dean Stanton) has suffered a stroke, Alvin makes up his mind to go visit him and hopefully make amends before he dies. Because Alvin’s legs and eyes are too impaired for him to receive a driving license, he hitches a trailer to his recently purchased thirty-year-old John Deere 110 Lawn Tractor, having a maximum speed of about 5 miles per hour,[2] and sets off on the 240 mile journey from Laurens, Iowa to Mount Zion, Wisconsin.
I love a good ode to John Deere Greene in any facet of pop culture—especially in Joe Diffie’s self titled song!—but this movie represents the depth of love, family and the ties that bind. It definitely strikes deeper at the heart. He used his tractor as an example of the humbling power of staying true to where you came from, taking action with what you have regardless of the circumstances.
Some of my other favorite movies that inspired me to do this shoot:
Homeward Bound
Old Yeller
Milo and Otis
Split Infinity
Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken
The Horse Whisperer
Second Hand Lions
My Friend Flicka
I grew up in the West