The Painfully Hip Design Collective are on a roll. This time within the walls of the lofty new Eric Firestone Gallery, a magnificent building full colored glass and beautifully weathered murals and seasoned brick, what Eric hopes to call “Tucson’s version of Andy Warhol’s Factory.” So on friday night’s big opening (starts at 6pm, the gallery expects around 500 people), we plan to take that literally… by doing a live photo shoot with the art opening party as a backdrop. I can’t tell you how excited this makes me. Make sure you stop by if you’re in the area so you can witness my hummingbird-like styling and direction …although some may come for the champagne.
I am getting ahead of myself. The following is my interpretation of Autumn this year… a jaunty 70s schoolgirl with Biba Girl tendencies.
When Agent Ribbons (vaudeville outlaws, theatrical bandits, our only hope of making it out of monotony alive…) rolled into torrid Tucson like a three ring circus of unquestionable awesomeness, we were excited to reimburse the stratosphere some of our couchsurfing karma. Natalie Ribbons, Lauren Hess and their fanciful dancing bird, Christopher, hit the road from my old stomping grounds (Sacramento, CA) and have been on the lamb since January. We couldn’t let them make their escape with out documenting their dangerous levels of va-va-vaudeville vavoom.
I was feeling a definite Bonnie & Clyde streak brewing. Voila, our very first band shoot!
They chose their performance outfits from the “Painfully Hip Closet/Room” for their performance at the gorgeous Solar Culture Gallery – a mustn’t miss in Tucson – which they rocked without question. After the ensuing spectacle, they left the crowd hankering for more and decided to sing for their supper at the Red Room later that same night. Better believe they had the entire restaurant up and dancing! Quite the feat… especially when late night mozzarella sticks are involved.
photographer: Ryan Mihalyi
styling: Diana Deaver and Amber Mortensen
Hair and Makeup: Amber Mortensen
Special thanks to Stacey and to Solar Culture!
Is it Vaudeville? Or “cabaret-inspired victorian punk garage?” Pictures are always nice, but I’m going to let Natalie’s green wiggle dress do the talking:
If you are a touring band rolling through Tucson, and would like to raid our styling skillz and alliances with amazing photographers like Ryan Mihalyi for some promo shots, launch us an email at painfullyhipATgmail.com!
All images were either used with permission or found on the web and believed to be in the public domain. If any images that appear are in violation of copyright law, please let me know and i will remove them immediately.
Thanks for reading,
Amber
painfullyhip at gmail.com
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Just scored an interview to be the new Visual Merchandiser (aka Window Dresser) at Forever21 and the envy of unemployed 21 y/o's everywhere. 2010-07-29
