Collaborating with an Angel Part 7

So I'm sure you are wondering what happened to the portrait. Well when we looked at the results of the first shoot I did look fabulous and all but there were a few things that we wanted to change. So the dreaded 'R' word was uttered: RE-SHOOT!!!!
The bracelets were too Indian looking and my love of the Japanese aesthetic was not coming through strongly enough. So back to the drawing board, literally. My original design for the dress (drawn on the way home on the tube, so excuse the draftsmanship) minus the crazy collar (less 'Snow White' that way). Then Neeta found some amazing jewelery from a store in Bath called Alexandra May. It was very hard to part with it after the shoot. The shoot was much easier second time around as I knew what to expect. The make-up was done with an added midnight blue eyeshadow I brought, for the full Liz Taylor effect. I had the routine down pat much quicker for the picture, (it became a mantra) it went as follows: turn side on - breathe in - look at the hat - eyes to the camera - follow Neeta's suggestion. What was her suggestion you ask? Well it varied from 'sultry eyes' to 'sultry eyes, knowing smile' or 'knowing smile eyebrow raised'. She called me Liz through the whole shoot, to fully channel Ms Taylor. I think it worked. We ended up with a fantastic array of pictures and 30 photo's, polaroids and digital shots later it was a rap. I awaited the final result the following week to see the fruits of our labours. The 4 hours attached to the set was well worth it. The end of the day was emotional for all concerned as it was the last in the series of 17. There will be a book available from Nazraeli in the summer. I'll surely let you know when it is released. I must take this opportunity to thans everyone who was on the shoots for making me feel like a goddess all day.As you can see the resulting image is incredible. It is hard to see it as me! (The image is provided by Neeta Madahar and is her copyright.) Neeta, my biggest thanks go to you for making me beautiful and choosing me as one of your sitters, I will be eternally grateful.