Since Poeta had a bit of the air of the Belle Epoque, right around the premiere of the film Titanic (noted for detailed costumes) we got a call from an editor of Elle magazine to do a photoshoot for a story around vintage-inspired clothing. Here are some raw images from that day of shooting. We flew in family friend/dancer Jennifer Hanna and recruited the stunning waitress from Gelato Vero on India Street in San Deigo to be our models. Joel Beeson is the photographer. As a documentary photographer, Joel was gracious to consider fashion photography as a favor to me, and it was his insistence that we use non professional models in the documentary style that makes his work so lovely.

Vintage Swarovski beads, Czech, Venetian, and Japanese delica beads, seed pearls, freshwater pearls, silk embroidery threads, French silk tulle, charmeuse, chiffon, and hand-dyed vintage lace

With friend Lori Nichols, photographer Joel Beeson, and a Holga camera, we headed for the empty train yards of Birmingham, Alabama to shoot our part Deborah Turbeville , part Sarah Moon - inspired vintage scene.

In 1994, I started a company called Poeta. It began as a fashion company — romantic, sweet, a little bit bohemian/grunge inspired (I still love all that silkscreened, beaded, distressed grunge high fashion from the 90s, Ghost, Alberta Ferritti...).I had a generous benefactor who brought me this whispy gray, black and mauve tri-tiered chiffon slip with a little cropped organza shift from Soho, a confection of a dress. I wanted to make hundreds like it. Paul Poiret was a notable influence, both in style and substance -- he had a marketing model by which he presented haute couture work to clients through a theatre of alluring promotion. Poeta's intentions were similar: to create a landscape of poetic style with intricate promotions, beaded samples, hand-tinted photographs, vintage styling and an evolving poetic narrative. This is some of that early work.