A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of photographing the Macy's launch of the new clothing line Material Girl. It was a last minute gig, having received the call just 30 minutes before the event was set to begin. Grabbing my gear as I dashed out the door, I arrived with 5 minutes to spare. Since I had no time to prep, I knew nothing about the event except the name of the new line. Upon arrival, I remembered recent news about this being Madonna's new co-project with her teenage daughter, Lourdes. As I weaved my way through a mixed crowd of teen shoppers, hired models, and press, toward the main stage set up in Macy's 34th street flagship store, I could begin to see my worst nightmare: a wall of scrambling paparazzi. Thankfully, when I approached the outskirts of the mayhem, I was able to, with one quick phone call, get ushered through the crowd up to the front of the stage. (Gotta love the perks of being "with" the production team). And yet I still had no idea what was really going on. I just knew I was there to photographically document it happening.
Next thing I knew, onto the stage stepped a tall gangly teenage prima donna with long blonde tresses stretching down below her midriff. It took me a minute to recognize that the girl with the rough-edge attitude sporting the new Material Girl clothing line on stage was none other than Gossip Girl's Taylor Momsen. Straight after press shots, she was accompanied by a member of her band - "What? She's in a band?"... "Uh, yeah. They are called The Pretty Reckless" - for a 4 song set to kick off the Macy's launch event.
I hung around and shot for the full set, staying long after the press were chased away following the end of the first song (their removal did not go uncontested). Shortly after the models came out for the presentation of the new clothing designs, I decided to high tail it out of there before the teeny boppers went crazy over the PA's announcement that Taylor was going to be available for autographs and photos with any customer who spent over $50.
More photos are available in my website's events category.
