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Peyton Couch of MACS/AMAX Talent Agency plays mysterious redhead in our May editorial dedicated to Memphis Fashion Week. Here, Peyton wears clothing by participating boutique Southern Couture and jewelry by local hands Brave Design.
Memphis Fashion Week (MFW) roared in like a lion the weekend of March 28th bringing thunderstorms and rain along with creative surges and inspiration for our second annual editorial supporting the big event. We feature designers who were a part of MFW and also hire models who walked the runway shows. Peyton Couch, one such model, is more than just a pretty face — she also serves on the board for Memphis Fashion Week and works tirelessly in the months of planning it takes to pull such a series of Herculean events. The logistics alone that entail the three days of MFW are exhausting to confront and Peyton is right there in the midst of everything, always with her sweet smile and drop-dead gorgeous looks.
Our spin on this layout was to also incorporate what is happening on a national scale in fashion for Spring 2014. THE hottest color in the forecast is orchid so I chose a background color for the studio that was as close to the shade as possible — the result is electric, palpable, and hypnotic. A major beauty trend is strong hair color so I asked Peyton to hide her trademark girl next door honey blonde locks for this fascinating short red wig that hairstylist Lucy Hadskey perfected. Makeup artist Christopher Padgett made Peyton even more exotic with his artistry and I think our gal was just every bit as beautiful as she normally is but with a mysterious twist. Sara Harrison, wardrobe and production assistant extraordinaire, was also on hand lending all of her skills to basically keep me from coming off too much like a moron — the girl thinks for me and she is greatly appreciated. It was really fun watching Peyton's transformation as she showed all of these great wardrobe looks in her disguise and modeled in a totally different way than they had been over the previous weekend.
We had a special visit from Memphis jewelry designer, Becca Belz. She brought temptations to the set made of sterling and pearls and draped Peyton with them. We were all hovering the black velvet boxes that contained Becca's pieces and took turns wearing them the entire time while we were shooting — a particular long strand of pearls caught my eye and it made my stomach hurt to give it back. We work hard, but we also had fun bouncing to Beyonce's newest album during the shoot and breaking for lunch when our delish pizza from Aldo's arrived.
A special heartfelt gratitude goes out to the awesome creative team of people from the magazine that I work with on the reg: Ken Neill, Publisher; Brian Groppe, Creative Director; Anne Cunningham O’Neill, Senior Editor; and Larry Kuzniewski, Photographer. They all let me run wild with these crazy ideas for background color and the wig and I'm really happy that they gave me such freedom. It's also important to note that the May fashion editorial was the last ever photo shoot produced in Larry's legendary studio. He has lived and worked in that space on the bottom floor of Contemporary Media for almost 30 years and I really think he did a beautiful job with this project. Much love, my friends.
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