Jenna’s Model Life

I got to hang out with this lovely creature last Sunday, which was two degrees off the record high for the date. I was doing a test shoot where the team comprised the photographer, the makeup artist, and me. The makeup artist also did hair, and unlike most fashion switch-hitters, she was equally adept at both. She and the photographer had pulled an avant-gard dream wardrobe of Prada, Comme des Garçons, and Junya Watanabe. I wore ruffled matador jackets and feathered Ann Demeulemeester things and belts as necklaces and a cute Marc Jacobs dress for good measure.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. First I had to make a coffee run, in full makeup, hair becurlered and ready to spring loose as soon as we stepped on set.

(This photo by Tina Cohen.)

The A/C didn’t work in the hotel room where we were shooting, and I already had one layer of dried sweat coating the backs of my legs from an early morning $1 rag sale (finally getting the hang of LA thrift!), but working with such energetic people was a pleasure. Everyone solicited each other’s opinions, and collaboration hung in the air like San Francisco fog (and just as pretty and dramatic). We shot some seven looks in a little over four hours, totally nailing each one, and we still had time to break for dinner.

When the light was well and gone, the makeup artist, the photographer, and I all sat down and drank a Bloody Mary or two and went through the day’s shots. That has never happened to me before: Normally, even in the rare event that your team still stands one another’s company at the end of the day, the photographer is never amenable to the idea of showing his unretouched, raw take. It was all kinds of special.