Carnaby Kid behind the scenes

This morning Lori Versaci of Versaci Knits released her adorable Carnaby Kid sweater. It's, the tiny version of her fun adult Carnaby Street design*. A few weeks ago,  I met Lori for cocktails after I taught  at Pins and Needles in Princeton. Between gin drinks--very good gin drinks-- she tucked the sweater into my bag and asked me to shoot it on Zoe.  The drinks were so good, we didn't quite discuss details--but it was obvious to me that we'd made a winning model:design pairing. Really, no bias ;-)  This past Sunday, the shoot finally happened.

Official version, above. Serious style! Thought you might like to see what else went on when I slipped the stripey wonderfulness onto the 3 year old with the freshly trimmed bangs. Sister Lulu had come over for pancakes. For the bazillionth time, she was drafted into helping with reflector/diffuser duties. Sister knows how to throw some shade, on demand.

We'd been shooting for 10 minutes in increasingly sticky weather by the tracks at the end of the street when we heard the toooooooot toooot of the vintage trolley approaching--do you see it in the upper left? Our model got a little excited. She's been wanting to ride the "choochoo".

 

A split second later, completely unplanned,  barefoot and with camera in tow, we're trolley passengers. We're breezing through the wetlands it crosses, spying egrets,  and nesting osprey with their babies, enroute to the ShorelineTrolley Museum.  My neighborhood adds the local color for tourists  We didn't let them down when we boarded, unfolded reflector flopping with us.

Wicker seats! People used to ride with civility. The wool sweater was a little warm..but so dapper.

The trolley makes a stop at the car barn out in the woods. Visitors see the old subway cars and trolleys under restoration, and learn commuter train history. We skipped that part while our sweater model put on her sparkly sandals and played house in a vintage trolley stop shelter.

Waiting for the whistle to all on board again.

We rode back to our street. It's the turnaround spot for the trolley.  As we headed home,  the trolley went the opposite way. Not that you could tell without a caption.  I just couldn't post this one without adding arrows--so ominous!

BTS: Versaci Knits Kids Photo Shoot

Welcome to another Behind the Scenes. This time,  with Lori Versaci of Versaci Knits.  I am a huge fan of Lori's designs for grownups- I mean, Modern Tunic? Pour Moi? .When she said she wanted me to shoot a collection of kids' sweaters for a book,  I knew the little knits would be spot on, too.

Photo above , captioned later by the mom as "Please, put on the sweater, please. I will buy you a pony tonight if you just. put. on.the. sweater." 

 The photo shoot was in Princeton NJ. I always set up a joint secret Pinterest mood board as we plan, to get the photo juices rolling and define the look. Sometimes you can't articulate what you want--but you know it when you see it. Pinterest is genius for this.
Lori's Pins revealed a love for classic but updated kids' imagery- just like her designs. We chose a historic stone building for the background, kept everything understated and neutral except the knits themselves (oh those saturated Madeline Tosh colors!) and gathered classic kids'toys, and accessories made form natural materials-  leather and straw.
The weather served up a sticky, drizzly day with rumbling clouds and threatening thunderstorm, and our  little 3 year old model wasn't feeling great-- up until the last minute we kind of wondered if the whole shebang was going to be a bust--but then, Boom, it came together. Luckily the building had a wide protected  porch, and the skies opened up (biggger BOOM) in torrents just as we completed the photo shoot. 

VersaciKnits is doing  series of trunk shows and appearances, if you want to catch her. I'm planning to see her at my LYS Knit New Haven next week (yay!). She's teaching a short rows tutorial, which I hope will staunch that feeling I always have on short rows, that I am quite possibly doing them wrong. Or, there's a Better Way.
Lest you think all my photos turn out well--here's an alternative set-up that shows why the background choice matters!