With summer beginning to wind down and only about a month left here in the northern hemisphere its hard not to take a look at items that we may want to keep in the closet for resort or timeless accessories like a handbag. In our most recent photo story with singer/model Leah Renee, we did just that.

photography Reka Nyari
styling Johanna Laracuente
hair Dennis Bailey
makeup Yisell Santos
fashion editor Michelle Bell

Click this link to see the whole photo story.

Gavin Douglas really understands how leather can create magnificent form. Witness his glorious flowing leather trench from his Fall 2007 show. It’s just perfect. photography Anne-Marie Michel (of iPapier)

The New York Time’s Ruth La Ferla wrote a fashion story (published yesterday), presumably attempting to analyze what she considers the hippest summer fashion trend — bohemian chic with a modern edge. She acknowledges that the current generation of young women aren’t exactly replicas of their 1960s counterparts (though some obnoxiously pretend to be), but this point seems grazed over in favor of conveying a carefree, we’re-independent-and-confident-but-didn’t-spend-three-hours-getting-ready (no, they spent four). The article’s interviewees described the style as “ghetto hippie, a “flowing, sensual, kind of sexy acid trip” and “Pakistani tailor” (used as a pseudo hyphenated noun, naturally). The trend titles alone should scream caution to savvy shoppers. Long rant short, I’m not a big fan of the idea or the look itself. With that said, if it’s done right, it can be fabulous (like this T-Bags dress), but if it’s wrong, it’s very wrong.

I make it a habit to rarely log in on the weekends. I am behind my computer almost every minute during the week so on the weekends I try to step back. But today’s very special update is one of the photos that again, didn’t make it in our snapshots photo spread for the June 2007 issue. This one features a head piece from designer Leah C. Take a look below:

From the Hats Off snapshot feature.

photography Reka Nyari
styling Johanna Laracuente
hair Dennis Bailey
makeup Yisell Santos

Sometimes there are fashion photos from our spreads that are never seen. It could be lighting, it could be hair/makeup, it could be the fact that we simply forgot to include the photo. Sometimes we wonder what we were going for with a particular look. Michelle will call the stylist up and ask her “hey what was this about?” I’m sure it happens at the larger print magazines. For example, last month’s Bridal Bliss featured a bride with no one to marry. Turns out the photographer forgot to send us this last photo (maybe she was holding it for herself) who knows? Long story short, she finally sent it, but it’s sorta late to include it in the gallery because Bridal Bliss was last month ago and Hats Off is this month. So I decided to break ranks and publish one of the photos that was never seen. First thing to note is that if you want to wear this wedding dress and accessorize it properly you have to be a Yankees fan. See below:

photography Reka Nyari
styling Johanna Laracuente
hair Dennis Bailey
makeup Yisell Santos