Catching the last bit of summer holidays in the gorgeous Jarvis Bay National park was enough of a joy, but shooting these vibrant Shona Joy dresses on it’s Murray’s beach was absolutely hilarious. My photographer Kasia Werstak and I got there early in the morning (my call time was 6am ) and arrived to the peninsula realizing that a dark cloud hung over the pristine white sand like a coal rag. This was in no way the shoot we imagined and we started to despair. Here we stood, two shipwrecked girls with many bags , colourful dresses and sharp Louboutin stiletto heels on the far side of the beach getting strange looks from rare passersby. We wanted to shoot early and get out before it got hot, hence we didn’t eat breakfast, but now hours passed and the sun played tantalizing peekaboo behind the clouds, never quite peering out enough to shoot 1 picture.
Luckily, around 10am, it finally broke through the heavy clouds and we found ourselves in visual paradise. Apart from a snake slithering behind my photographer’s legs, curious dolphins ,even curiouser children and the fact we nearly became cannibals and ate each other, the rest of the shoot was a dream.
For this story the vision was that of a 1950s inspired movie star; immaculate even though she is marooned and disoriented , holding on to her heels, thinking all the while that she will be rescued swiftly and needs to maintain her pristine composure at all times. I wanted to create a disjointed composition between the sexiness and urban feel of the clothes and the amazing, tropical background we were blessed to have for the shoot.
Shona Joy’s clothes are so full of joie de vivre with their exuberant prints and punchy primary colors whilst remaining sexy in an understated manner. I am happy to announce I will be doing the edit of Shona Joy collections for the next few seasons – there are many great clothes coming your way yet and I will attempt to create a fun character for them all. For now, enjoy this fun autumn collection – it is perfect to dance the last of summer in. Hope you like ! xTG
Clothes by Shona Joy
Stilettos by Christian Louboutin
photographed by Kasia Werstak
