For someone who doesn't really connect with nature much, I deserve a pat on my back for this one, not only for the trooping through the woods all weekend--bugs and snakes about--but also for the grace with which I handled the emotional intensity of the subject matter. For those of you who haven't been following, lookbook is inspired by my deceased mother who wore all white--or, being a nudist, often wore nothing at all!--all summer in the 120-degree heat of Central California, and who believed herself to be gifted with magical powers. It conjures up until-now repressed images of the books she read me (like the Time Life Series, which had a book dedicated to fairies, witches, sorcerers, elves, etc.), her art (like that famous image of Ophelia, anything by Maxfield Parish, and plenty of sensual images of semi-naked women underwater), as well as the painful part where I spent 4-6 weeks of my childhood summers being sent to summer camp so she could  have time for herself, her work, and her lovers.  I feel like we've really out done ourselves this time. In addition to for the first time explicitly using my mother and myself as the subject matter, where as past lookbooks have largely been efforts to reclaim places and practices of my traumatic past by way of putting pretty women--and "good" women--in ugly or "bad" contexts, therefor exerting a form of control over these places/practices that I did not have as a child or young adult when my autonomy was taken from me by victimizing adults.
Being able to talk about this and to end the silence via art and expression in a safe community of women and men really helps.

We are beginning to book models, photographers, production team members, and stylists for our upcoming lookbooks, and wanted to put the shout out to any fresh faces, fresh eyes, or fresh hands who'd like to come along, particularly if you're inspired by one concept more than others. We've got: (1) AUGUST = Medical/Minimal/Structural/Industrial, shot in and around Portland, inspired by my past hospital stays and intense procedural phobias, (2) SEPTEMBER = Pioneer Chic/Western Inspired, a 3-4 day shoot with locations on the way to and in to Eastern Oregon, including ghost towns, desert landscapes, the painted hills etc., inspired by my childhood fascination with gold rushers and cowboys, (3) OCTOBER = Black Magic/Mourning Time, shot in and around Portland, inspired by my mother's collection of Victorian Mourning Wear, her stint with The Church of Satan, and her time in the voodoo haven of Louisiana voodoo culture, (4) NOVEMBER = Monochromatic, shot against colorful walls or with studio backdrops in and around Portland with everyone wearing the same colors, inspired by my inherited need to obsessively organize everything combined with the Collecting the Collectors photographic art show by Carlie Armstrong, and (5) DECEMBER = Party Time, in and around Portland, with all shots representative of some form of party, inspired by a desire to overcome my life-long aversion to parties, which stems from the nature of my childhood trauma. Sound interesting? Want to be involved? We'd love to have you in any capacity. Just email us!

This month--and just in time for Pride--we're really fortunate to have some incredible hand-knit conceptual performance art costumes in the house by PNCA pre-thesis student Travis Beardsley, including the ledgendary No Homo Dress. These pieces are so impressive we felt they deserved their own mini-lookbook, styled and modeled by Loren Hughes and Hidalit Aranda. If you like what you see, please visit us or call (503) 477-5124 between 12-6 PST any day or email us for pricing. Because Travis is a starving artist AND a starving student (who has to throw a chunk of change at his forthcoming thesis), and because we know many of you would like to afford his goods but might not be able to, we give you the option of supporting small business and buying with us, or to contact Travis directly to make payment arrangements sans our 40% comission.

Are you a photographer, stylist or model who would like to participate in a lookbook shoot? If so, contact us. We are always looking for fresh new faces and fresh new eyes for our monthly in-house lookbooks, and we are even more eagerly looking to loan our clothes out to you so you can independently come up with your own concept and execute it for your portfolio developement. We don't require any money (only full payment if you lose or damage something), just your guarantee to get us the clothes back the day after the shoot and an edit of your images withing two weeks of your shoot, and lastly, your promise to graciously thank us all over the place with wardwobe credits! If this sounds like something you'd be interested in we will give you full access to our instore collection (unless our consigners disapprove of your clothing picks) and whats in our basement storage. It can sometimes take a while to schedule out these things, so please contact us ASAP to get the process going!

I have now had Daisy for almost two weeks. These have been the best two weeks I've had in a long time. When I got her she was super timid, very skittish, experiencing a stress-induced case of anorexia and was perceived by many people as "a behavior problem" (this never made sense to me, as she is and always was very well behaved) and by others as "the biggest dog with the smallest personality" they'd ever met. In less than two weeks her spirit has really started shining through. She's wagging her tail and kissing, hugging, playing like crazy when I come home after being gone even for a few minutes. She's warming up to the sites and sounds of the city, the new affection she's having bestowed upon her by strangers, and she's really turning out to be quite a goofy girl. It's a 180-degree turn from when I got her. No small personality anymore by any means!

She's very attached to me, her new environment is growing on her, and as long as she's with me, she is happy as a clam, even with my hectic driving all around and my poorly-scheduled stressful life. And honestly, her timidity and skittishness have made me mindful enough of her comfort to slow down, to not frantically thrown things around, to not have temper tantrums at inanimate objects, and to want to be home with her more than running around busy-making. Beyond that she's SO wonderful to wake up to in the morning (we have a "Good Morning" dance and song), and waking up in the morning was never my thing! My grandma was so wrong when she told me, "I hope you didn't get that dog. Those dogs are very hard to take care of. They're really messy and hard to train. Do you think that's good for you? Did you ask your therapist first? What did your therapist say?"