Adriana Caras, who Vogue and the LA Times named “one to watch,” approached Ketchum, Idaho-based photographer Caroline Woodham to shoot marketing material for her LeSwim line.
Founded by veteran designer Adriana in 2014, LeSwim is a fashion brand focused on modern swimwear for women. Featuring a unique capsule collection of Italian-made sandals, the LeSwim resort destination wardrobe markets to the travel-oriented and fashion-forward woman. With textiles fabricated in Italy and seamless construction, most LeSwim suits are reversible, interchangeable, and elevated with refined Italian hardware.
The LeSwim team wanted to execute an Instagram-focused campaign, which is LeSwim’s main marketing channel.
In fashion, I am learning that more clients are relying on social media for their entire brand and marketing platform. It isn’t just in addition to but sometimes exclusively social media. Adriana really wanted to work with me since she knew I traveled to locations that appealed to her customer, so we brainstormed a plan.
The goal for the LeSwim shoot was to create a look on the Instagram page. It aimed to speak to a luxury brand style. It also aimed to capture the type of woman who would shop for elegant travel wear. The products had a soft, sensual feel. Additionally, LeSwim offers a full line of sandals for the season. These sandals came in both leather and hand-dyed crocodile tones.
Adriana sometimes will post iconic images on Instagram like Jackie O, or models in luxury travel locations with playful but stylish lifestyle shots.
Caroline found women who fit the “look” of LeSwim. Moreover, she found them while traveling to exotic locations such as Hawaii, the Bahamas, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and a mountainous lake resort.
While the exotic locations were beautiful, the spontaneous shoots made planning challenging for Caroline. Everything was arranged on the spot. She planned to find locations and models while she was traveling for other purposes. Caroline knew she needed to bring specific camera lenses to shoot fashion and product looks. So, she kept in touch with Adriana at all times. Caroline kept in touch with Adriana at all times in case Adriana wanted to showcase a particular location where she traveled.
For example, last spring, Caroline visited a surf culture beach location in Nicaragua and managed to gain access to an exclusive resort called Mukul down the coast to capture images.
Getting the right model is usually the most challenging part for Caroline, even when she is using an agency. However, Adriana generously offered each model a suit of their choice for their time.
When I do find a perfect model: slender, sophisticated and classy, they are excited to model for trade. I also offer them the images for their portfolio.
For now, LeSwim is taking social media one step at a time until its brand grows. While Caroline is happy to build a portfolio of fashion work in exotic locations, her favorite part was getting to know the LeSwim brand and creating/art directing the work solo while on location. Adriana loved the work and appreciated the stylistic elements that Caroline added to cater to high-end clientele.
See more of Caroline’s work on her website.
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