Styles for beauty portrait photoshoots: elegant and natural

The beautiful Makenna Gott and I decided to beat the heat of the Las Vegas summer and hiked to a desert Oasis for an elegant and natural photoshoot. You don’t expect to find such an awesome natural location so close to Las Vegas!

As well as helping us to escape the heat, the nature and wildness of the location createda stark contrast to the urban style of the outfits. I love playing with this juxtaposition of fashion and nature. We used dark color dresses to mix with the greenery of the desert oasis and the water pools. 

Like Coco Chanel famously said, “simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance”. Having grown up in Italy and admiring our Italian fashion, I connect deeply with this statement and I try to apply it when choosing outfits or advising on styles for elegant and classy photoshoots.  We aimed to keep the style for this shoot simple and classy. The first outfit consisted of a nice flowery body and a floaty skirt, gold earrings and a summer hat. 

One of the unexpected challenges we faced on the day was how cold the water at the oasis was! I knew I wanted to get a shot of her in the water but Makenna found itextremely cold, so when it came to the shot the maximum we could achieve was water up to her calves. The photos are stunning so I’m really grateful that Makenna braved the cold (and the bugs)!

I’m always fascinated by materials and on this shoot it was the way the light skirt could float on top of the water, forming a perfect circle around the subject, that caught my attention.

For the last outfit we had a simple and classy black romper with a fun coral-shaped goldnecklace. I thought the necklace would go very well with the natural element of the shoot, and as there were no shoes or any other accessories the statement necklace worked perfectly on its own without being excessive.

The make up artist, Sue Pyne, applied a beautiful natural look to Makenna that lasted really well, even with the hot temperatures. 

I couldn’t resist shooting a couple of instant photos with my original Polaroid 600, with film from the Impossible Project. Makenna kindly recorded a video of the photoshoot for us, which you can see here: 

Video: Desert Oasis Behind the Scenes Photoshoot

Model: Makenna Gott | Check out Makenna's Youtube site

Hair and Make up:  Sue Pyne | Make Up Now USA

Styling and Photography: Martina Zandonella

Video by Makenna