L’Amour Paris by LaRae Fashions X KC Collaboratives Magazine

I had the amazing opportunity to be the blogger behind Kansas City Fashion Collaboratives Magazine’s first shoot of 2017! KC Fashion Collaboratives is a collective of professionals in the Kansas City area who have earned their place in the industry. There is one issue out currently which you can purchase here, and the next one is in the works with a goal for publication in June or July of 2017.

Stephanie Rohr is the woman behind the magazine. She is the head editor and producer of not only photo shoots for the magazine but, for other fashion shows and events as well. She started KC Fashion Collaboratives to help hard-working models, designers, photographers and other professionals in the KC area, who don’t want to pay, get published. Rohr’s goal for this year is to have one photo shoot a month and to obtain enough content for two magazines a year. Her main goal however, is to help people get jobs elsewhere in the industry.

Mady Durant, of LaRae Fashions, is a 16 year old fashion designer out of Lake of the Ozark’s, Missouri but is currently working mainly in Kansas City. Her mother taught her to sew when she was five-years-old but she did not get serious about designing until she was 13. Growing up, Durant was homeschooled so designing became her outlet for creativity. She loves making art for everyday life and it means something to her when she sees that people enjoy what she creates. At such a young age she has already started a successful business by showing at fashion weeks, factory producing her designs and selling them online. Durant wants to see the world and her goal is to travel with her business.

This photo shoot showcased Durant’s F/W 16 collection, L’Amour Paris, where she pulled her inspiration from the attacks on Paris back in November 2015. She wanted to make the statement that she stands with Paris. Durant turned something tragic into something beautiful. She says that it means more for her when she can be emotionally connected to her work.

Everything is sustainably-made in the United States. She states, “I will never put profits before people in my business.” Pieces from this collection are available for purchase here.

The idea for this photo shoot was to go with more of a lifestyle, party theme. The models were told to have fun giving this shoot a more personal, genuine aspect of life marketing to a wider cliental.

Everyone who was apart of this amazing and fun shoot are listed and linked below. Stay tuned to see the final results of these photos. They will be published in issue two of KC Fashion Collaboratives in June or July later this year.

I think it is important for people to understand the meaning and creative process behind a collection and it is difficult to do so by just seeing the clothes on the runway. I am so thankful that I was chosen to be the blogger behind this shoot. I got to spend my day with some extremely talented people and it was a blast. I’m hoping that I will get to cover another Kansas City Collaboratives photo shoot in the future.

xx Bella