Istanbul, Turkey

Istanbul, Turkey                           

                           

It took nearly the entire day to get to Istanbul, and when we arrived, we were so happy to see SUN!
The hotel was amazingly furnished in the most tasteful modern style I had experienced yet in these hotels. It really brought a breath of fresh air into my styling mojo, and inspired my work days to be in such a beautiful place. The lounge we were photographing was on the 28th floor overlooking the Sea of Marma and zillions of huge cargo ships awaiting their next assignment.

The first shoot day we worked with four models. The models were super DIVAS, and totally obsessed with smoking. When we start a shoot day, we always have the models go through wardrobe with us at the beginning of the day. I dress them for the Creative Director and client, and they give me feedback. We explained the process to the models and let them know it was time to do this. One said "I need to smoke first". I said "Oh, maybe you can go in five minutes? The client and Art Director are right here (polite introductions were made) and ready for us now". Model: "I don't care, I'm going"..... and she walked out of the room!!!!!  If this had happened in NYC (or in front of the photographer), she would have been eating dust on her way home. Somehow, she remained ......and tortured me throughout the day with her attititude. We were able to wrangle in the other models a little better, but they were still constantly nagging for smoke breaks. For example, the photographer was in the middle of photographing the four as a group and the mega-diva turned to him mid-shot and said "Will you be much longer, I need to smoke"? Can you believe it?
I talked to the producer who replied "Yeah, I think she's getting older and is depressed".

We set up our wardrobe in the photo assistant's room since it was closest to the lounge. We explained to everybody that we needed to be mindful of this. At one point, I walked into the room. Of course, the models were all smoking there (non-smoking hotel, btw), and they had their feet (with shoes) on the sheets and had eaten two hundred dollars worth of mini-bar. HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAa hahaha..... it was CRAZY.
I think they gave me a gray hair.

The second shoot day, I was glad to be rid of them and we got some nice shots for my book.

We had a day off in Istanbul! Lucky.
My first priority, of course, was to see the Grand Bazaar, the huge and legendary market. I had a great time meeting some vendors and bargaining for lovely kilim pillow covers. I also found the hamam towels I had been longing for, and I met the nicest family who has made them for five generations. The father was so proud of the business and explained that although he is a doctor, he and his family maintian their textile business because they love it so much. He also happened to have designed some costumes for the film Troy using their hand-woven fabrics. It was awesome chatting up the locals, who were so generous with their stories and their tea.

Second priority: eat good food.
Here's our typical Turkish brunch. I could eat this every day.
A selection of goat and sheep milk cheses, butter, tahini, crushed walnut and grape seed syrup, cucumber, fresh pita, honey, olives, tomato.

check out this fresh pita bread!

this pomegranate juice was pressed in front of us

Third priority: See some culture, go to legendary Blue Mosque.
I went inside and later learned I was supposed to cover my head. Woops. and duh.
The Mosque was so amazing, the inside was decorated with millions of tiny hand-painted blue and white tile. There was a six-spout fountain in the middle of the courtyard where men sat and washed their feet.

I would definitely love to come back here. The vibrant Taxim neighborhood was my favorite to walk around in and to have dinner.