Natasha Wray is a London stylist, former Elle Magazine staffer, and contributing fashion editor of the online magazine Milk. When I found some of her photo shoots this weekend I was going to post one in full, only I had a hard time picking just one. Plus I discovered her personal blog and found it so good and insightful that I knew she deserved a big old interview of her own . . . .
1. How would you describe yourself and what you do?
I’m a day dreamer, but am also a control freak, a manic planner and hyper active. I have managed to find a way of working that allows me to be creative, indulge my imagination, whilst also having to be very organised and driven, so fuelling my need to constantly be working and thinking.
2. When did you know you wanted to work in the fashion industry in some way?
It’s weird because I spent a lot of time telling people it was never my intention to work in Fashion and that becoming a Stylist had not crossed my mind. Which is true, I had always been more interested in being a Photographer. However, the more I am asked and have to think about how I got here, I can see a path that makes sense, be it sub-conscientiously. I have always had a vivid imagination and loved dressing up and acting as a child. I loved fashion magazines, and started collecting them in my teens. I intended to study Photography at University, but got distracted and never made it. Instead I moved around magazines until it happened by chance and I realised that Styling indulged my imagination and I got to be part of creating an image.
3. What is your favorite part about styling?
Definitely creating a visual story. I would not be happy to just dress people. I love coming up with an idea, sourcing references and directing every aspect of a shoot with the whole team. I always work closely with the photographer on every aspect from lighting, location, casting the model, to hair, make-up and obviously the styling.
4. Any favorite fashion films, books, or magazines?
I love Lula Magazine, French Vogue and Purple for the shoots. I wish Nova still existed, I was recently introduced to Mirage, which looks great. I recently bought a Playboy from the mid 70s and think this could become my new obsession. I buy too many magazines, and never throw them away. Not really Fashion Films as such, but films that have inspired me from a Style point of view include, Desperately Seeking Susan, Heathers, Virgin Suicides, Some Like It Hot, A Single Man, True Romance, Taxi Driver…there are loads more. The books I read don’t seem to relate at all to fashion in any way. I do love to look at photography books, Taschen books are always brilliant, but I will admit to not looking at enough books and am ashamed of this. I’m getting straight on Amazon after this.
5. What’s the biggest influence on the way you’re dressing at the moment?
Comfort and the weather. I’m quite a practical dresser. I walk or cycle everywhere, so heels are a no no. I love denim and navy blue. My styling work is influenced by trends more than my personal style. It changes slightly, but is always predominantly informed by my desire to feel comfortable. I love cashmere at the moment, I’ve resorted to sleeping in it, my bedroom gets very cold at night and I love how indulgent it is. My jumpers are getting ruined, but I’m warm.
6. Do you have a favorite fashion era or decade?
Probably the 90s. Not because I think it was a particularly good decade for fashion. But because I was a teenager and had the most fun with clothes then. I was informed by music and loved the mix of Grunge and high glamour from brands like Versace and Moschino that trickled down to the street via patterned jeans and jackets. But I would have loved to have experienced the 70s as a young person working in the fashion and publishing world. Some Punk, some Rock, some Peace and Love Romanticism, when everything was a bit more political and people used clothes to express themselves, before everyone in the public eye had a Stylist.
7. In one of your blog posts you mentioned that you aren’t into fancy dress, which I can definitely relate to (Oscar dresses and formal gowns aren’t that interesting to me!). What kind of outfits are the most exciting for you to style/and or wear?
This feels hard to answer as I love doing something new every time I plan a shoot. I like the challenge of trying things I haven’t done before. And I’m at the beginning of my career as a Stylist. I love creating a personality for my model, to fit the story and then decide what she would wear. But I do feel more at ease dressing a girl in a more masculine way than in high heels and dresses, as they don’t make as much sense to me. I’ve just styled a shoot for www.themilkzine.com that will go live at the end of this week, in which I made a very deliberate decision to push myself out of my comfort zone and go glamourous and sexy and I love the shoot and enjoyed doing something that felt un-familiar.
As for me, I find the pressure of dressing up for formal occasions, or fancy dress un-bearable and totally off-putting. But when you find something that makes you feel great, be it a dress, a pair of jeans or a jumper that makes you smile it’s a great feeling.
8. What is your dream styling job?
I’m still thinking about this one. I love that, at the moment, I am doing shoots which I plan and produce from beginning to end, with total freedom. Working with teams who have become my friends, and we get to bounce off each other and are learning together. But I do dream of having a shoot in a magazine I love. Having a budget to pick a location, get a top model and then seeing my shoot published on beautiful paper.
Photo Credits: 1. Natasha Wray; 2. Photo by Jon Gorrigan, styled by Natasha for Naag.com; 3. Scene from Taxi Driver; 4. Photo by Jackie Dixon, styled by Natasha Wray for The Milk Zine; 5. and 6. Photos by Jon Gorrigan, styled by Natasha Wray for The Milk Zine.
This week, in honor of Cyber Monday (isn’t that name funny?), everything in the store will be 25% off. That’s everything–new things, sale things, sweaters, dresses. All you have to do is enter the coupon code JOANCRAWFORD at checkout.
Photos by Drew
Dress: Dear Creatures Bonny Stargazer Dress, c/o Modcloth
Tights: Toasty Warm Tights, c/o Modcloth
Shoes: Swedish Hasbeens
’90s Coach bag: thrift store
I always love the Thanksgiving holiday since my birthday falls right around it, but this was the year I turned 30 so I’d been pretty much dreading it since I was, oh, 25. This whole month I’ve been a little bit down in the dumps because of it. I’ve gotten small cases of the birthday blues ever since I turned 20 and got sad I couldn’t be a kid anymore, so this birthday was especially tough to see on the horizon. Fortunately I was in Tennessee with my family and with Drew and had about as perfect a birthday I could wish for, complete with my mom’s pumpkin pancakes for breakfast, homemade vegetable pot pie for dinner, and of course chocolate cake for dessert. I did perfect day sorts of things like run on the treadmill and read and play piano, and when my mom asked how I’d like to spend my birthday I said I wanted to go to a nerdy historic site. So we went to Carnton Plantation in Franklin, Tennessee.
I knew about Carnton because my mom had told me about it and how during the Civil War it was used as a field hospital for Confederate soldiers after The Battle Of Franklin. She told me about the little graveyard on the side of the place, with over 1,000 soldiers buried under tiny simple headstones. But I didn’t know how creepy the place would be or how sad the whole thing was. There are still blood stains on the floor in the children’s nursery-turned-operating room, and I left the place wanting to take a ghost tour and read up more on Civil War history.
The day was weirdly cold, and I definitely had to pull out my new-old thrift store winter coat that I’ll show you later. For now here’s my birthday dress. This whole outfit is pretty much a bigger version of my niece Stella’s outfit, with the brown sandals and sweater tights and blue drop-waist dress, but I promise I didn’t plan it. One of my fashion-y resolutions for my 30s is to start dressing a little bit more grown-up and I wanted my birthday dress to show it, but when I saw this Dear Creatures dress I couldn’t really resist it, school uniform shape and all, so then I end up dressing just like my five year old niece. Oh well, there’s always next year.
Photos by Ashley Smith
Dress: Village Plaid Dress by Tea Collection
Shoes: Salt-Water Sandals, from Tea Collection (similar here)
Sweater tights: Target
When Tea Collection wrote me an email asking if I’d like to style a children’s outfit using some things from their collection I just about dismissed it as one of those funny press emails bloggers get that have nothing to do with their blogs. Well it wasn’t as strange as the Kim Kardashian lip gloss/Sex and the City DVD party ones I usually get, but not having a child of my own I know absolutely nothing about kid’s clothes and didn’t really see how it’d fit on the blog. But then I checked out their site and changed my mind in a hurry. Their clothes are good and simple and neutral-colored, and the little girl’s dresses are so sweet (in a not overly girly sort of way) that I found myself wondering if I could fit into a size 16. Then I figured that maybe it’d be better to style my little niece Stella instead.
Stella is a weird/good mix of tomboy and girly–she is tougher than most little boys and doesn’t seem to be afraid of anything, but she dresses in all pink outfits that my sister Ashley lets her pick out herself each morning. This outfit is maybe not very Stella but it is kind of tomboy and exactly the sort of thing I’d want to wear–flannel dresses and thick tights and sandals outfits sound just about perfect now with the fall weather we’re finally getting in the south.
Thanks a million to Tea Collection for the clothes, and of course to Stella for modeling and Ashley for taking such good photos. I miss those two already. At the moment I’m at my parents’ for Thanksgiving with Drew and Lauren and Neil, about to eat lots and lots. Hope all of you here in the US have a wonderful holiday!
I know I’m pretty late to the William Eggleston fanclub. Over the years I saw a few of his photos floating around on fashion blogs but I never really paid careful attention to his stuff until I went through one of his books at my friend Jamie’s apartment. So this weekend I took another William Eggleston book out of the library and learned all sorts of things about him. How come I never knew he was from the south? Or that he did a book that’s sort of William Faulkner-related?
Well, some of these photos are from the book I checked out and some aren’t. I stole them all off the internet, and as far as I know most of them were taken all across the south–Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas . . . . That city skyline one is Atlanta back in the ’80s! Of course I like the rural country road photos best, if only because they make me more excited to go see my family in Tennessee on Thursday.
