For this fortnight’s newsletter I’m sharing some images from a recent test shoot modelled by Mercedes Rigby, photographed by Peter Van Alphen and styled by me, but overall collaborated creatively as a team. I met Mercedes at the Sydney Acne sale earlier this year where we both worked for the week. I walked into Paddington Town Hall on one of the hottest days that summer and she was nonchalantly leaning on a tower of boxes with her shirt tucked into her bra, wearing denim shorts and a fresh crop. The lean was so natural suggesting she instinctively just knew how to move, pose, act, model. That’s all it really took for me to want to work creatively with her. 

 The shoot direction was inspired by the live performance art of Vanessa Beecroft throughout the nineties, where models would stand for hours in a certain arrangement in places such as galleries, museums and waiting areas and be photographed and filmed candidly. Hosiery, underwear and shoes were the focus for this shoot, plus a couple of Pantalon pieces from the Modern Issue.

A stylist who has experimented with photography told me in a recent conversation it has strengthened her styling work as it made her appreciate every person’s role in creating images: knowing when to step in and when to let things be. After all, it’s only about expression, however that may land. For me, this was just for fun and love of it. Thanks Merc and Peter <3

Shot in Redfern, Sydney.