Fashiontecture

Shifted shapes and broken lines, frames and translucent screens, welcome to the modernistic fashion of Mikel Bennett and Shel Weinzerl. Mikel and Shel are an informal design team who together have a certain fashion aesthetic that breaks with conventional notions of line and shape. Their work has a strong architectural quality, which should come as no surprise being that Mikel's background is in architecture: "I feel that architecture and fashion are similar. In both fields it is design that has to function in some way" For Mikel, it's about process, regardless of the medium that seems to fascinate her the most "I used to do a lot of construction of buildings, so I find that while I am designing, I think about the details and the process of putting the garment together.  In fact I find the process of figuring out the garment as fun as designing it." Along with collaborating with Mikel on fashion, Shel produces jewelry "conversation pieces" as she describes them. They are highly sculptural, intricate, meticulously crafted pieces made of mixed metals and precious stones. Her most recent collection is Pearls b4SWNZ, and one of those pieces appears in the image below.

For hair and make up we had Angela Wang. Angela brings a talent for reading the fashion and then letting her imagination take it from there "There is usually a story, an imaginary character in every look I create". For this shoot Angela created  two looks "For the natural look. I was thinking something earthy, elegant, like a goddess. And the second look I imagine her as a worrior from the future".
And for our character, we had model Sheila Johnson. It was Sheila actually who initiated the whole shoot. Sheila and I had worked on another shoot together and she asked if I would be willing to shoot a test with her. I was impressed with Sheila's performance in the video, she has a real elegant and classic quality to her and she's great to work with. I told her I'd be happy to work with her, however she would have to pull her team together. 
And what a team it was!

To see more images, go to my on line book: www.stevereganato.com and check out the beauty and womens portfolios.