Bracklesham Bay

A low tide rain dance with Kate and her Arabians.

In a previous life I worked for a fashion and home retailer, and loved nothing more than styling customers and merchandising the fashion floor and mannequins. Part of the joy in creating clients’ portraiture is styling the outfits to be worn.

In the weeks running up to the session, we’ll chat about what items they have in their existing wardrobe, and I’ll make some suggestions, mixing and matching clothes until we have the perfect style that represents them and the overall asthetic they are going for. Sometimes I’ll recommend they source a few key pieces or accessories that would tie it all together.

For Kate’s beach shoot with her two beautiful boys Zorro and Flash, we went for 3 different looks.

The first outfit consisted of a flowy silk skirt (miles too big but that’s where my emergency pins come in handy), a little vest top and a velvet blazer. I’m all about the texture. Rather than doing up the button on the latter we tied an old leather belt around the waist to give a tucked in silhouette. A black choker and felt hat completed the look and worked well with Zorro’s black mane and tail.

Flash’s bright chestnut coat screamed out for a pop of colour, so we went for a vivid green floaty dress that complimented his beautiful Arabian bridle which had emerald stones set on golden threads. We were going to add a neckace but decided against it as the bridle was embellished enough and as in the words of Coco Chanel, “Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off.”

The final choice was a white lace dress with a ‘runaway bride’ feel. Kate had found it in a charity shop bargain box and we styled it with a fringed leather jacket I’d purchased from Vinted. The night was drawing in by this point so it helped her stand out against the dimming evening light.