Getting in the Spirit of Fashion Week

Things have been quite around here, while I’ve been doing a lot of planning and preparation for NY Fashion Week. A lot of last minute friend hangouts, schedule wrangling– and a lot of laundry!

As is tradition, I like to start off each new fashion week revisiting some of my favorite photos from the season before. Hopefully, I will have a lot more great coverage from my 6th (!!) season at NYFW. For anyone new here: I shoot such a high volume (at least 30 shows, averaging about 16-20,000 photos overall–all while pulling 12 hour days for about 9 days straight) that I post “teaser” images every night. Full show and backstage coverage will begin the day after NYFW ends.

Oscar de la Renta Pre-Fall 2012

Really, what can I say that hasn’t been said before (and by someone much more eloquent than I) about Oscar de la Renta? Decades of designs later, and he’s still managing to impress us all.

Each season, Oscar re-interprets classics, while mixing in dashes of what’s new and fresh. Usually while indulging in a few of my favorite things– sheer fabrics, sequins, and bright jewel tones along the way. There were a lot of all 3 in the pre-fall collection. With a few new stand out show favorites for me as well.

Backstage pre-show I found the usual calm of an Oscar show. Models sipped tea while having their cheeks rouged and hair pinned into one of the coolest, yet simplest buns I’ve ever seen.

Hair by Brian Buenaventura for Orlo Salon.


Definitely a hair look I’ll be trying for myself.

Fresh faced. Makeup by Alice Lane for Jed Root.

This hat, on one of the ladies working backstage also caught my eye:

She made it herself, the night before!

I’d like to steal all of these models’ super cool jackets.

More tea!

Upstairs a bit later, the show, set to another great soundtrack featuring the likes of Coldplay and Rihanna, began.

One key thing that blew me away– the hats, by Patricia Underwood:

I loved the updated take on a 1920′s cloche, re-imagined in sheer fabrics.

The best (and most consistent) thing about Oscar is his attention to detail:

The extra bows…

Embellished jacket…

…and ultra fine crocheted “lace”.

I don’t think anyone does sheer white blouses better:

Everything about this screams romance.

The costume jewelry seriously blows me away every season:

So many patterns. Yet so perfect!

I found the “bread loaf” shaped purses a refreshing change from popular handbag styles.

Golden hoodie dress

Shake it up.

Garden party.

A favorite of mine.

The highlight of the entire show was the group of long, billowy, relaxed gowns that practically danced down the runway:

My absolute favorite– this gold gown and embellished jacket:

See the full photo set here

All Photos ®2011 Rachel Scroggins/The Greyest Ghost

Editorial Outtakes: Preetma

While browsing files on my external hard drive last week, I came across these shots of Preetma Singh, from a Spring editorial I shot for a client– that was never published. They’re too beautiful not to share with the rest of the world, so I’m posting some of the outtakes here.

The shoot (about a girl getting ready for a night on the town) took place in the Warren Tricomi salon, on Manhattan’s UES.


One of my favorite shots. I love this multi-watch look!

Not only is Preetma beautiful, but she’s also amazingly intelligent, and kind!
An attorney who now works at VOGUE, you can catch her inspiring outfit posts, and life adventures on her blog Working Girl, Esq. Seriously–her blog is one of the few style blogs I still read on a regular basis. She’s right up there with Susie Bubble on my list of style bloggers who actually stimulate my creativity and make me want to dress better, and is one of my favorite street style subjects to capture at NYFW.

Sneak Peek: NYFW S/S 2012 DAY THREE

Backstage at Peter Som

Backstage at NAHM

NAHM – Maureen Kaveney for The Greyest Ghost

United Bamboo

Backstage at Mandy Coon

Logan Neitzel – Maureen Kaveney for The Greyest Ghost

Backstage at Sally LaPointe

®2011 Rachel Scroggins/The Greyest Ghost and Maureen Kaveney

Sneak Peek: NYFW S/S 2012 DAY ONE

Yuna Yang

Hyden Yoo

ODILON

Rachel Comey

®2011 Rachel Scroggins/The Greyest Ghost

Street Style: Styled On

Now that the weather is becoming relatively pleasant, I’m shooting street style again! As part of their newest feature, you can see a daily street style look shot by yours truly over at StyledOn.com.

I’m excited to see each day’s photo go live. In my opinion, this is some of my best street fashion photography yet! See this look, and more daily here.

Fall 2011: Post NYFW Reflections

Even though I love it so much, I’m always glad once fashion week ends. Ten days of non-stop shows (on top of an illness that almost put me into the hospital this season!) really takes its toll. I’ve tried to keep up with the “sneak peek” images to give everyone a little taste of what’s to come. And in the next week, I’ll be sharing the full photo sets and reports from the runway and backstage at all of the shows we covered here at The Greyest Ghost.

The final tally: 43 shows! More than ever before. 21 shot by me, Rachel, and 22 by my assistant photographer Maureen. With an additional 22 backstage beauty reports to come, thrown in the middle of it all. : ) I’m so excited to share everything with all of our readers! This season was both the hardest, and most rewarding season of NYFW so far. Never could I imagine I’d have the opportunity to cover so many amazing shows. Or get so much support for my work, from so many amazing people!

Styled On is currently featuring my NYFW photo diary, with work I have yet to post here. Keep checking back for our full show coverage. Until then, I’ll leave you with this list of the good, the bad, and the ugly of NYFW:

The Good:

Oscar de la Renta. Need I say more? Top on the list of “shows I never thought I’d shoot”. The single most elegant show I’ve ever seen. If I had to stop shooting tomorrow, I’d be happy knowing I was able to cover Oscar at least once.

My amazing friends, and support team: I couldn’t have survived this season without Maureen. The help and support of my friends at Style Wylde. And the entire PR team at Krupp Group. And all of my fellow blogger friends, helping me keep things in perspective. Thank you all for loving and supporting me all week. And being my #1 cheerleaders!

Cynthia from Style Wylde and I, after our last show of the season!

The Bad:

Missing Katie Gallagher’s show. Probably my #1 regret about this season. I’ve been following Katie’s work for the past 3 seasons. Not only is she incredibly talented and hard working, she’s also really sweet! I’m a huge fan, and the fact that I got sick the day of her show totally broke my heart. Luckily Maureen was able to cover the show for me, so expect a post soon. But it still makes me terribly sad I couldn’t attend myself.

The photo pits at Lincoln Center. After my fourth full season, I can say that they (sadly) seemed to be more poorly organized than ever. Which was glaringly obvious in contrast to other, off site shows. If Milk Studios can calmly cram a mini herd of photographers into a pit 1/18th the size of the Theater, why can’t Lincoln Center handle it? I saw fights, photographers ejected from the pit, and even had a jerk try to sit ON me at Betsey Johnson— and then harass me at every show for the rest of the week. Seriously? It made me want to stay off site forever.

Rude Bloggers: Especially those who RSVP to every show under the sun, then don’t go. You make all bloggers look bad. And take a spot from someone who would absolutely kill to get into the shows you just blew off. I saw and heard of multiple people doing this. Some even going as far as bragging on twitter about the “two cool shows they have at the same time” and how they were just going to RSVP for both, despite attending being physically impossible. It makes those of us who see this as work and not “party time” look unprofessional. It’s also incredibly rude to the PR reps who organize things! And don’t even get me started on the attention whores who think they deserve front row at every show…

The Ugly:

Pervy Photographers. I’ve been encoutering jerky photogs since I shot my first concerts at age 14. It’s an epidemic! But this season, it was just gross: My first backstage of the week, we had to leave early because creepers were taking photos of the girls dressing. Be respectful guys, you only hurt the rest of us who follow the rules. And you seriously cut into my short window of time shooting first looks. If you want a free show, go surf the internet.

Also gross: The weather! Thank god it’s now starting to feel like Spring! : )

Getting in the Sprit of Fashion Week

In the two years since I started The Greyest Ghost, it’s been a tradition for me to do a “best of” fashion week post before the start of each new season. With NYFW officially a month out (as of yesterday) now’s a great time to revisit some of my favorite photos from Spring/Summer 2011 shows.

ERRO

Backstage at Vena Cava

WHIT

The Finale at Jen Kao

Mandy Coon

Backstage at Costello Tagliapietra

Victoria’s Secret Bombshells at Fashion’s Night Out, Soho

Gwen Stefani, Fashion’s Night Out, Sephora Soho

Rachel Antonoff

Yuna Yang

Katie Gallagher

Band of Outsiders

SUNO

Gary Graham

Malandrino

Peter Jensen

Pamela Love

Chris Benz

Temperley

LaQuan Smith

Backstage at Jeremy Laing

I’m never “ready” once fashion week actually begins. But I have a feeling this season is going to be amazing. Look out for more show coverage than ever— I have a friend coming from LA to work as a second shooter for The Greyest Ghost!

See all the S/S 2011 shows I covered here.

All Photos ®2010 Rachel Scroggins/The Greyest Ghost

My First Editorial

This morning, my very first published editorial went live at Styled On. Featuring Oscar de la Renta Fall 2010, and shot in DUMBO Brooklyn, the shoot consisted entirely of Styled On community members. I’m so excited to finally see the editorial online! See the full slide show here.

The Greyest Ghost Gets Styled On

Wednesday, I shot my very first editorial for Styled On! I don’t want to spoil the amazing shoot before it’s posted on the site, but I can say it was a totally amazing experience! We created some beautiful images together while shooting on location in DUMBO. I’ll be sure to link the full feature once it’s up. Until then, here’s an outtake:

Our team: Casey Kettleson, Abbie Houck, and Leandra Medine, between shots.

See another sneak peak here.