#WCW.8: @einnahoj

you should definitely plan on checking out this instagram immediately...this lady is on #FIRE and we will be bringing an #exclusive to a #laptop or #mobile near you this #friday!!!  we just love how she lets herself go in her shoots and is not afraid to jump or hide her face or be different. you can find her on instagram by clicking the photo below!



#EVENTRECAP (VIDEO): 86th Annual Fashion Design Show (Sam Fox School)

here is a little video recap of all the designers from Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts that you missed showing their senior thesis collections at Union Station on models from both Mothers and West on Sunday, April 26. ALIVE did an amazing job as a partner for this event with DJTrashTalk providing the beats and Attilio D'Agostino running the smooth sailing show.

#TOTHEMOON: redefining the 'custom' experience with Meero Mani Nails

by June Ann D'Angelo

redefining the 'custom' experience with Meero Mani Nails

so when you have one of the leading internationally published glamour photographers in the world coming to your city and you setup a shoot with them, you obviously bust ass to make sure that set is going to be as brilliant as ever... this is exactly what i faced when photog Michael Abrams came to visit St. Louis so I had a good few weeks to come up with 2 concepts and scrounge together everything needed for the sets and styling.

for any good shoot, details are everything... you really need that extra pop... so, i remembered back to some events where I had spoke with Marsha from Meero Mani Nails about these awesome custom press-on sets that she can create for easy on and off without ruining your existing nail bed, which is exactly what i (or any model) needs for photo shoots. this way you are not stuck to a tacky french manicure that some photog required for a paid shoot. 

i knew that Marsha did custom orders, but i just did not realize how 'custom' the experience would be... before i knew it, i was sending her pics of one of the outfits along with my ideas for the custom set and she instantly sent me back sample nail colors for me to choose from. then, once, we had it narrowed down, she actually sent me the brand and color and suggested that i look these up on google images to see the same color photographed in different lighting. i thought this was absolutely brilliant. what we settled on was absolutely gorgeous and i can't wait to get this set published and share with you...

for any model or creative team that is going into a shoot, they should really think about using this custom nail option to really elevate the shoot. they are incredibly affordable and you can always take them off and keep them for the next amazing outfit that they match! 

for more info and to check out all the fun styles that Meero has made, check out their facebook page by clicking HERE or emailing Marsha at meeromaninails@gmail.com

PICTURE WRAP-UP

here are the outfit choices that i had sent over to Marsha...

i had told her that i definitely wanted to do a color like a nude-pink and she suggested some gold lace detail to match the wardrobe...to pick the color she sent me these choices that i then looked up on the internet to see the colors in different lights...

and then here is what we ended up with... i absolutely love the custom gold lace detail on the two fingers that Marsha had added to match the wardrobe...

these nails went on so super easy. there are these little pads and you pull one part of the sticker off and put it on the nail and then pull the other side off and press that on to your finger... these nails were so easy to put on that i couldn't help but smile to see the entire look come together. 

here's a selfie I took the day of the shoot and a bts below that...

#TOTHEMOON: love is spelled S-H-O-P-E

everyone at the moon would like to wish our very own lead makeup artist and overall awesome person, Miss Mary Margaret now-Shope, a huge congrats on getting married. she is fresh back from her honeymoon and we are ready to put her back to work doing makeup on our upcoming JORD wood watch shoot!

here are a few of our favorite pics we stole (with permission) from her journeys from bride-to-be to bride-on-beach...

i spy some St. Louis photographers in this pic with Mary and her new man...


#CASTING: campaign - JORD wood watches

DIGITAL CASTING

JORD WOOD WATCH CAMPAIGN

ready to take your portfolio #tothemoon? the geminijunemoon team is looking for 1 female model for a fully produced implied shoot highlighting JORD wood watches as part of a brand collaboration that will be submitted for publication. the shoot will be held at a studio location in St. Louis and the models availability will be taken into consideration. full hair and makeup will be provided by licensed, professional and internationally published artists.

to learn more about the brand you might be modeling, you can check out their website by clicking HERE.

if you are interested, please email us with your measurements, prior experience and a few recent unedited pics at tothemoon@geminijunemoon.com with 'JORD CASTING - YOUR NAME' in the subject line.

#MOONBLAST.1: the 'i just got married 4.5 months ago' guy

by June Ann D'Angelo

MOONBLAST.1

the 'i just got married 4.5 months ago' guy

cheers to our new section, #moonblast, which we have added thanks to a random string of offers from philandering persons this past year. i think everyone that knows me, knows that i am definitely a 'to each their own'-type of person and do not really care if someone wants to disrupt the dynamic of the relationship society says we should have with a man and a woman and 2.3 kids with the goddamn white picket fence. i want this, but it's not for everyone...i'm starting to think it's not for most. 

i want to have the (a)typical marriage where i do greet my husband with a whiskey on the rocks when he gets home for work while i start making him an amazing dinner from scratch in sexy lingerie. but i want to conform to this norm, not because it's the norm, but because i like to live a lifestyle of submission and servitude, both domestically and sexually. one day when i get married, i want to feel like the world will end if my partner was not there. i want to have my partner in crime that i hold nothing back from.

most of all, i definitely would not go sending messages to people i haven't talked to in years to try to hook up with them after i got married 4.5 months ago...but this guy did... 

***do you have a #moonblast? email us a picture and a little anonymous backstory to us at tothemoon@geminijunemoon.com and we will pick our favorites and post them***

#TOTHEMOON: RIP - Mary Doyle Keefe

by June Ann D'Angelo

RIP - Mary Doyle Keefe (Rosie the Riveter)

although many will use the wrong image today, Americans and women can all stand up and salute the iconic Rockwell painting of Rosie the Riveter that crashed the cover of the Saturday Evening Post on May 29, 1943! in my opinion, this image has stood the test of time and remains at the forefront because of it's ties to this nation's history. at the time, Mary Doyle Keefe was only 19 years old and working as a telephone operator and actually rather petite and has said that Rockwell took certain liberty to beef her up in the actual painting to embody the females that would break through stereotypical gender roles. when she received $10 for 2 days of modeling in Vermont (which would be roughly $138.94 in 2015 based on an annual inflation of 3.72% and a total inflation of 1289.42%), i wonder if she had any clue that her likeness would become the stamp of the women's rights movement?

thank you for stepping out and going against the grain to embody a woman that the time did not know yet. you paved the way for women to be individuals and i thank you so much from the bottom of my boxers!

from CNN.com: Mary poses with her iconic Rockwell cover in 2002

#TOTHEMOON: "Dust" by Dennis Gatz

by June Ann D'Angelo

there's definitely not a lot of photographers i will DRIVE to... i will fly to a photographer without a problem, but actually drive...there's a big difference there. but somehow Dennis Gatz and myself stumbled upon each other and knew we had to collaborate. so, i grabbed Bear and jumped in the car one Saturday and drove out to Kansas City to visit Dennis at his studio and make some SURREAL art... 

the work Dennis produces definitely falls in the genre of 'surrealist' photography and if you are a fan of Dali, it's only fitting that you check out his work...

this is image is titled "Dust" that we were able to create on my first of many KC trips...

check out more of Dennis's work by clicking the image below...


#MOONSTYLE: 420ed - comfy while ripped

by June Ann D'Angelo

what to wear on 4-20? always a debacle... one you might think much about if you obeyed all 4-20 rules and partook in the wake n' bake. today, seeing as how it is a bit chillier in the Lou from some fun rain yesterday and i'll be hitting up a party later tonight with some meetings in between, i decided to go uber casual while playing with some prints so i can try to maybe say i might be 'in fashion'. nah...who the fuck cares about that? it's all about having fun and being functional. so i threw on some free people harem pants and paired them with these obnoxiously-brilliant Joe Boxer wallpaper shoes with an old Roots sweatshirt that's completely ripped up at the sleeves... i don't know about you, but i will definitely be comfy and warm...and high!

#TOTHEMOON: NAKED AND CRYPTIC

by Paolo Meneghetti

NAKED AND CRYPTIC

an aesthetics review of an image by Brian Cattelle

NAKED AND CRYPTIC

According to psychoanalysis, the grief would be erased trying to “incorporate” it inside of us. Abraham and Torok invite to safeguard somebody who left us, through our“crypt” of memory about him. So will we be able to revitalize (paradoxically) something mournful? A crypt seems to philosopher Derrida a place both included in another place, and separated by this last one. That would be the perception of an enclave. The crypt seems a “compromise” between the unveiled (aware) intimacy and the hidden (unconscious) intimacy. Here the model is framed in the room of an abandoned hangar. The break on the ceiling would be perfectly projected to the break on the floor. Both of them have a shape almost squared; but the first element is illuminated, while the second element gains a darkness (complicit the soil). The nude of course “unveils” the intimacy of a person. But here the body conserves an own darkness, from the belly to the feet. So the photography is played on a perception of the enclave, both on the ceiling and on the floor. The pipes and the sticks break the orthogonal equilibrium between the tiles. That’s symbolically a perception of the synapses, inside the “paroxysm” of unconscious thoughts.

NUDI E CRIPTICI

Per la psicanalisi, il lutto sarebbe rimovibile provando ad “incorporarlo” dentro di noi. Abraham e Torok invitano a salvaguardare chi ci abbia lasciato, nella nostra “cripta” del ricordo per lui. Sarà un modo per rivitalizzare (paradossalmente) il luttuoso? Al filosofo Derrida, la cripta pare un luogo sia compreso in un altro, sia separato da quest’ultimo. Sarebbe la percezione dell’enclave. La cripta pare un “compromesso” fra l’intimità svelata (consapevole) e l’intimità nascosta (inconscia). Qui la modella è inquadrata nella stanza d’un capannone abbandonato. Lo squarcio del soffitto si proietterebbe perfettamente sullo squarcio del pavimento. Ambedue hanno una forma quasi quadrata; però il primo è illuminato, mentre l’altro guadagna d’oscurità (complice la terra). Il nudo ovviamente “svela” l’intimità della persona. Però il corpo qui mantiene una sua oscurità, dalla pancia ai piedi. La fotografia dunque è giocata sulla percezione dell’enclave, sia sul soffitto sia sul pavimento. Le tubazioni ed i bastoni rompono l’equilibrio ortogonale fra le mattonelle. E’ simbolicamente la percezione della sinapsi, dentro le “convulsioni” dei pensieri inconsci.

Bibliography:

M. PERNIOLA, L’arte e la sua ombra, Einaudi, Torino 2000, pp. 99-101

#MOONFASHION: Ceremony of Separation (Comme des Garçons Fall 2015 RTW)

Ceremony of Separation: Comme des Garçons Fall 2015 RTW

Designer Rei Kawakubo's latest Comme des Garçons collection, which the cult figure herself described as a "ceremony of separation”, was presented during Sunday's solemn show in the Mineralogy Gallery at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle.

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#MOONTUNE: Liz Phair

added by June Ann D'Angelo

yes, we pull out the big guns when boys decide to be douche-bags...Liz Phair helps us stay ahead of the game and keep things in perspective...learn to use boys as much as they use you or stay out of the batter's box...or find a MAN that isn't about the game at all...that's what I'm waiting on...

and have no fear...i've picked the perfect MCM that i will be posting shortly...if you can't wait head on over to instagram (IG: @geminijunemoon) and check it out...

#EVENTREVIEW: not jolly at Salon Joli

by Kristen Parks (IG: @kristenparx)

on April 1st, June and I were invited to the ELLE Magazine & Wella Professionals Salon Soiree at Salon Joli. I think this event might have been an April Fools Day joke...

In my book, first impressions and presentation are everything. From the outside, the salon looks pretty nice, in a quiet little plaza. We walked into a packed seating area with an awkwardly placed step&repeat, a large event poster, retail shelves, styles for the evening displays and the front desk. Somehwere there is a DJ (push play) BLASTING music from last summer. We squished our way to the front desk, to sign in with the young lady. It was hard to hear, and the sign in felt more like a junk mail sign up list, but the girl was super inviting and sweet. We informed the front desk that we were bloggers and asked if we needed to let them know which blog we were representing... "it doesn't really matter..." So the ladies at the sign-in had no clue that bloggers were even coming and if they did, they did not understand the significance. Oh. At this point, I'm already overwhelmed and not really sure what is going on.

We followed the crowd into the actual salon, where we passed some makeup applications, the ridiculously loud music set up, and a super cute little dessert table. I will say that the catering service was great! All of the servers were friendly, attentive, and easily identifiable. The appetizers and desserts were delicious too!

At this point, we are the station area of the salon. Salon Joli IS a beautiful salon; the stations, chairs and layout are all super nice looking. I really appreciate nice looking salons. However, I have NO IDEA who the owner is or who the stylists are. I feel like any business owner and their employees should take so much ownership and pride in their business or place of work! As an industry professional, a potential new client or a blogger I should have been greeted by both an owner or a stylist if they really wanted my business. How do they know what I was looking for with this event... a new place to get my hair done? a new place of employment? or just to learn about the salon and event for this blog?

Well, the answer was to learn about the salon, the event, the brands, and so on. And I'm not impressed. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect, however I assumed there would be style presentations and I also assumed they would follow trend with these styles. We are in the middle of the going all over blonde, "granny hair", springy braids, vivid colors, and balyage trends right now... I saw a large group tag teaming a pony tail on what I can only assume was a model, but other than that I only noticed one other model.

I was really happy to see at least one stylist take such pride and ownership of her hair color and style on her model. The stylist included texture and silver hair in her beautiful style. She walked around with her model the entire time I was there, answering questions about the color and style, as well stopping for pictures. Now, that is a stylist who's presented herself and her model amazingly well.

We stood at a table with AK Brown and Diamond Hudson of Mind of a Fashionista for about an hour. At this point, I really cannot tell you how loud this music was. It was hard to have a conversation without yelling and even harder to think. Like I mentioned before, since all of were invited bloggers, I really thought someone would have greeted us at some point. I always try to meet as many people as I can, give out business cards, talk about the blog and what I do and make as many connections as I can at an event. I had no idea where to start at this Salon Soiree. I mentioned before being a little overwhelmed at the sign-­in... now I'm completely overwhelmed and frustrated. I have no idea who to talk to, what I'm supposed to be looking at or doing, if something was going to happen at some point, or what.

Had this been my own event, I would have been in constant motion, greeting every individual I possibly could. My stylists would have been at their stations with their models, in the process of styling or on a pedestal showing off their already ­done work, each answering questions and giving consultations to the potential new clients. I would have asked my bloggers to sign-in and include what blog they were from, and have them in their own general section... not nessesarily a marked off section, but something I could keep an eye on at all times for new people to introduce myself to. I think a small media kit about the salon, event, and the event schedule would have been a good idea too. I would have used more current music, as well as keep it at a good volume people could still talk over, but keep the vibe upbeat and moving. I would have made sure that my stylists make an effort to introduce themselves to everyone they passed by rather than stay by who they already knew.

We ended the event with some cute selfies in front of the step and repeat... we had to do something fun to show for the event. We were headed out the door when a woman handed us goody bags. She didnt introduce herself as an owner or stylist, so I'm not sure what her role was... but at least someone acknowledged us on our way out.

Overall, I was unhappy. I think the event had the potential to be a great experience to reel in new clientele, new employees if needed, and overall just general support and good reviews. But, sadly, I cannot report any of that. 

Definitely will not make it #tothemoon...