The WW Club: The Photos

You asked, so here they are; I'm happy to present a few photos I took at the smash hit WW Club speakeasy style event we threw last week. I restrained myself from sharing most of the burlesque photos in order to keep things family-friendly around here (Hi Dad!), but I know all of you have appropriately vivid imaginations and elephantine memories. ;) You came, you drank, you impressed the hell out of us; well done, Washington! 

I've said it before but I'll say it again; many thanks to...

Style goddess Elise Peterson for being an excellent partner-in-crime

Bow tie and menswear guru Eliot Payne

Peter Chang and Brandon Hill of No Kings Collective

Our star performers...

Burlesque queen Cherrie Sweetbottom

Songstress Alison Carney

DJ Spinser Tracy

Style collective Prepster Punk

Fidgety Feet dance troupe extraordinaire

And our lovely partners in style, for the event and look books...

Jack Spade

Alton Lane

Hugh &Crye

Ginger Root Design

The Good Kin

Streets of Georgetown 

It's Vintage Darling

Dr. K's Vintage

Federal

Also, I think you'd like to know that WE DRANK 29 BOTTLES OF WHISKEY. Rock star studs, all of you (ladies included, I know you know how to knock 'em back too)! Looking forward to raising the bar (and a glass) again next time. Cheers!

Thank you, and the Romantic Movement

First of all, on behalf of Elise Peterson and I, THANK YOU all for coming out on Thursday and supporting The WW Club. It was a smashing success; we sold out and had to shut down door sales minutes into the evening. Wild performance art involving fried chicken and champagne by Prepster Punk was offset by live music by singer Alison Carney, and Cherrie Sweetbottom was tantalizing. Our professional dancers from Fancy Feet and Spinser Tracy on the decks got you all jiving on some funk and salsa; you make one hell of a stylish dance party folks!

And of course, The WW Club never would have happened without the support and creative input of Eliot Payne of Accoutre, who graciously acted as creative consultant and go-to guy on the project. His energy, positive outlook, and cracker jack styling prowess made him indispensable. 

We had a blast putting this together, and have a lot of ideas of how to approach it next time. And that's the big question on everyone's minds, now...will there be a next time?! To which I offer Eliot's wisdom, come now, you know that speakeasies are secret! But keep following, and I promise that what we are working on next will be equally worth attending in your most stylish duds.

Photos from the WW Club will be released tomorrow. They are done. You all looked incredible...I can't wait to share.

But until then, there is ANOTHER stylish event, going down tonight. MDLN Ventures partnered with rockstar menswears icons Street Etiquette to bring you The Romantic Movement, a sartorial fusion of music and style. With music from Jesse Boykins, Mara Hruby, and MeLo-X, this will be the last stylish hurrah of The Water St. Project. Pre-sale tickets are already sold out, but you can roll up to the door in your stylish attire and buy one there. Obviously Elise and I will be there, so come out, have a drink, and continue to be sartorially inspired. Details HERE, and check the video below, because it's rad.

How Are You Getting to the WW Club?

Whiskey. Women. Sharp, sexy, DC style. The WW Club has everything you could ask for in a speakeasy event—but it just won't do to have you showing up in a typical cab.

I'm excited to announce that we've teamed up with Uber to make tonight a truly swanky affair, and we're hooking up new riders with an exclusive $15 discount off your first ride. So that means you get to swag out for cheaper than a cab. True facts. 

So what is Uber? Uber is a mobile app that instantly connects you to a professional private driver. In just minutes they'll pick you up and whisk you away to your destination (hayyy WW Club) in a swanky black car. The best part: payment is cashless, and it's just a bit more than a cab.

To get started, download the Uber app on your iPhone or Android (or sign up at Uber.com) and enter promo code THEWWCLUB1 for $15 off your first ride. Keeping it classy with a non-smartphone? Never fear—just sign up at Uber.com then text your pickup location to 827-222, or request in your mobile browser at m.uber.com. Questions? Just email supportdc@uber.com.

See you tonight. We're looking forward to seeing you arrive in style.

GoKateShoot for Washingtonian: Jason Edward Tucker

The WW Club menswear speakeasy is tomorrow, so in this week's theme of getting you in the mood, here are some outtakes from my shoot with artist and gallerist Jason Edward Tucker for my column with Sarah Zlotnick in Washingtonian Magazine. You can see the whole thing HERE, but I've also shared photos of Jason HERE and HERE. Jason and I met when I first began photographing for the Corcoran Gallery + School of Art, and we became fast friends through our mutual loves for conceptual art, fur, and a roof deck margarita. Meant to be, clearly. I brought him on board for Thirst ROMP! to do a performance art piece, and we have more plotting projects in the works. I love visiting him at Morton Fine Art, where he works, and am constantly inspired by his deconstructed look.  

This is the second time this week that I've posted about white men's shoes, but seriously, how inspiring and fresh are they? Now ladies, don't get all miffed that I haven't included you; you know as well as I do that there is plenty of outfit inspiration here, particularly with menswear-inspired flats for women (hello, Prada, Phillip Lim). Obsessed. 

More after the jump.

What Does Your Style Do for You?

Does your style do this?

For tickets and more information on The WW Club, go HERE.

Clothes courtesy of Ginger Root Design, Dr. K's Vintage, Federal, It's Vintage Darling, and Accoutre.

Film: Two Dapper Georgetown Gents

As I prepare for the WW Club and talk to attendees, many people are curious as to what to wear. We've given you a look book to start you off on the right path, but here are some wonderful film photos I took last weekend in Georgetown. These are two gentlemen from two of our menswear partners who I think exemplify the range of style we're open to. I love photographing these dapper gentlemen...I dare you to check out these photos and not think, damn, that is one good looking man. 

Opening of the Corcoran's Next Show

Last weekend I photographed the opening of the new show at the Corcoran, Next, which highlights the work of graduating students. I love photographing these kind of events; artists are used to communicating visually, and see their style as an extension of that. So much color, pattern, and edgy styling! I got to shoot the artists all over the museum and with their work. There was excellent representations by both genders, but I think the ladies pulled it out on this one. Cheers!

Check out more after the jump.

Lumen8Anacostia: (Set III)

Here's the final set of photos from my adventure around Lumen8Anacostia / Lightbox with stylist Elise Peterson. We loved playing around in this piece that is part of the 5x5 exhibit, which highlights 5 curators who each pick 5 artists to create public art. 

In case you didn't hear, we're throwing a really sexy speakeasy style event called The WW Club. 

Go get tickets HERE. Seriously. Scamper. ;) We have some amazing surprises in store and are excited to see you all. We are doing the event as part of the incredible Water St. Project, a pop-up gallery in a gutted warehouse in Georgetown. 

I spent the entire week (until 3am every night, phew!) shooting stop motion videos of the artists creating and installing their work in the space (which is BANANAS, I'm so excited!), and helping prep the space for the opening. I photographed the soft launch last night, and the grand opening tonight is going to be BONKERS. I'm shooting the gala Corcoran Ball (heyyy black tie swank), and then rolling up to the Water St. Project in all of my regalia. I will be a lot tonight, haha. Come out and have a drink, see the space, and get excited for The WW Club. 

Meanwhile, enjoy more photos of Elise in some rad art. 

Fashion District, Spring 2012

Last Thursday I had the pleasure of going to ReadySetDC's Fashion District event, shooting on behalf of Washingtonian Magazine (find my photos and their writeup HERE). Of course, my flash died the instant I walked in the door, leaving me stranded on client assignment to shoot a space FILLED with stylish people. Seriously. Filled. It was like a reunion; almost all of my favorite people were there...and I had no flash. Potential for crisis was high. BUT IT WAS FINE! I actually really like shooting with available light, so I sucked it up, slowed down my shutter, and asked all of my subjects to stand stil please and thank you! And they did! So here are the pictures and I kind of completely love them, because the tone and feel of the evening came through and they show how much fun I had. 

I would label this with pithy and fun captions, but I'm tearing through making a stop motion video and would rather do that, frankly. I'll show you tomorrow, don't worry. 

Extra thanks to the whole Accoutre and Hugh & Crye teams for being complete rockstars, and to Uber for the delightful ride in style. 

Photos of me taken by Philip Soriano.

MORE PHOTOS AFTER THE JUMP, SO CLICK THROUGH!

Lumen8Anacostia: (Set II)

Lumen8Anacostia / Lightbox

Saturday, April 14

What's your medium?

#makeart

Lumen8Anacostia: (Set I)

Lumen8Anacostia / Lightbox

Saturday, April 14

What's your medium?

#makeart

Fashion Disctrict: Back Alley

I took oodles of photos of Fashion District, but here's a teaser. 

Philip and TC of Hugh & Crye in a back alley of Georgetown directly after the event.  

The Ladies Behind the WW Club

Elise Peterson and I

These are the last shots we took during the lookbook shoot for The WW Club; my digital camera died, so we set my vintage film camera in the dirt and sat very still. I love these images. 

Get your tickets HERE...they're going fast!

The WW Club Lookbook

DC men are great in many ways; their intelligence, motivation, and passion are incredibly stimulating, and when those three elements are directed at style, it's magic. To celebrate that, I'm happy to present a pop-up speakeasy event The WW Club, complete with complimentary whiskey tasting and burlesque performances, which you can get tickets to attend HERE. To offer you some sartorial inspiration, I shot a menswear lookbook sure to challenge your ideas of DC style. These looks are bold; styling duo Peterson and Payne made sure of that. But don't be scared; if these are too much for you, just take one page out of our stylish models' books and try a hat, a pocket square, or a cuffed pant to change up your hum-drum look. Baby steps, right? For more, check out the lovely feature that Washingtonian Magazine ran on us HERE. 

  

More fabulous photos after the jump, so click through!

The WW Club: A DC Style Speakeasy

THE NEWS IS OUT; stylist Elise Peterson and I are throwing a menswear event as part of the edgy Water Street Project, on April 26, 7-10pm. And it's going to be hot. So hot we're holding it in a gutted warehouse in Georgetown, and we got you a burlesque dancer. YEP. Before I even tell you about it though, you can buy tickets HERE. Do it. Right now. We're going to sell out. Come drink whiskey with me! Washingtonian Magazine interviewed us, our menswear stylist guru Eliot Payne, and ran some of the gutted-warehouse-cool photos we shot, which you can see HERE. The official look book will be released TOMORROW, and I can't wait.

The Introduction

Gentlemen, we know you like to drink, and we know you don't mind getting dressed up to do it. Now, don't be coy...we know you love that feeling when you come out of the bedroom (or into it) wearing a sharp suit, perfectly fitted jeans, or your favorite vintage motorcycle boots and your honey goes all weak at the knees and threatens to take those right back off of you. We recognize that, and we want to celebrate it with a drink or four, speakeasy-style. Ladies, we'd love if you got dressed and sampled the whiskey along with the gentlemen...there's nothing we love more than a sassy woman who knows her booze! 

The Details

In an homage to the DC speakeasies of the past and present, stylist Elise Peterson and photographer Kate Warren bring you The WW Club, a speakeasy event to celebrate the rise of menswear and the ladies that love it as much as their gentlemen. But don't worry, we wouldn't have you get dressed up for no reason; get a little lush with a whiskey tasting served by a very sassy Whiskey Mistress. Your $10 gets you tickets to taste 3 of the available whiskies, but we are happy to sell more tasting tickets, and our bar will be quite flush and more than open. 

Not sure what to wear? Style guru Elise Peterson and menswear designer Eliot Payne of Accoutre are creating a pop-up boutique and doling out style advice with clothes from DC's best boutiques to help even the most style-challenged men get it right get it tight. We're partnering with style powerhouses Jack Spade, Alton Lane, Hugh & Crye, Federal, Accoutre, Dr. K's Vintage, It's Vintage Darling, The Good Kin, and Ginger Root Design, to bring you some delectable styles to try. We know DC has some serious steez, and we're ready to see it, so step out and show off your speakeasy-worthy styles.

DJ Spinser Tracy will get you all hot and bothered, and the sultry Cherrie Sweetbottom will take things over the top with a burlesque performance sure to drive you to drink. Don't worry, we have a bar for that once you're good and lubricated from the whiskey tasting. Kate of GoKateShoot will document the debauchery, doing what she does best, and Quincy Jones of Prepster Punk will be coming in with some surprises as well. What does WW stand for? Come and find out. Get dressed, and let The WW Club tease you a little bit, DC. 

The Added Bonus

Feeling extra naughty? Buy one of the exclusive Club Member tickets ($25) for advance access at 6:30, half an hour of open bar, and a private show by Miss Sweetbottom.

Surprise Incoming...

I'm making an announcement this afternoon that will involve men, whiskey, and debauchery...all wrapped in a stylish, creative package, of course!


Stay tuned, or follow me to Twitter @GoKateShoot if you MUST know RIGHT NOW. 


This photo has nothing to do with anything except being neat. Taken during one of my shoots for Washingtonian Magazine. I ruin film like it's my job, and then it turns out awesome. Don't worry there will be ah-mazing photos that come with this announcement!!

Free Tickets to Fashion District and Uber Car Service? Yep.

I'm about to give you a prize so exciting that you will make this hyper and excitable face that Eliot Payne made during our DC Modern Luxury shoot (pg. 60 HERE), and possibly do this silly dance that I'm doing right after we wrapped, as captured by my assistant Craig Hudson. Enjoy these extremely hilarious and potentially reputation-damaging behind the scenes photos and than scroll for SWAG GIVEAWAY. 

Got your dance party fix for a hot minute? OK awesome. 

Hey team. I run all over DC photographing and being inspired by excellent style, but this Thursday (April 12th, 7:30pm-1am, Google Calendar it up!) I will be shooting ReadySetDC's Fashion District. My bow tie and sartorial partner in crime Eliot Payne will be repping some awesomeness from Accoutre, and will be joined by some of my other DC fashion fav's, including Ginger Root Design, Kolton J, Kelly Tang, Aliceanna, Artaya, and Hugh & Crye. And AND you can also buy your goodies there, so my bank account will be wimpering but closet will be flush. Ah, the life. It's a good thing I built some extra room into my booze budget, this isn't an event to miss...

I'm going to give you a pair of tickets to come to Fashion District! 

TO WIN: Tweet a photo of you looking BOSSY @gokateshoot with the tag #fashiondistrict. And now you're all bitch, what do you mean BOSSY?!, to which I would respond, YES. Send a photo of whatever BOSSY means to you...get creative! Bought a new pair of Prada heels that you're itching to rock ASAP? Bossy. Have wild new blazer that you want to show off? Yup, fully bossy. Make a funny face that makes me lol at my office job so that my officemate thinks I'm a total loony? Absolutely bossy. Cat photos? Definitely bossy. There is nothing serious about this; have fun with it! I'll pick a winner tomorrow night and tweet at you to get you hooked up.

Get BOSSY for Fashion District, I'll see you there! 

Hold up though. I need to confess something to the world that only my closest friends anyone who has ever met me  knows. I am perpetually 3-30 minutes late at all times. And you'll say, oh hey girl, it's cool, that's sort of just like fashionably late, right?! Wrong. I mean, that would be more or less logistically correct, but I don't need validation for my bad habit. There is nothing fabulous about being rudely late for an actual timed meeting/party/underwater basket weaving class. I know right?! My friend once asked me, "Ohmahgod, how do you get all over the city so fast and go to more than one shoot in a night? That's ah-mazzzzzing!" I used to take cabs, and my bank account failed. A lot. And I would arrive places thinking, noooo, it smelled like a mix of weird spices and 2 day-old takeout in that cab...I really reallllllly hope I don't smell like that now.  

And then there was Uber and all was right in the world. I can absolutely get down with having a private driver and car service always 5 minutes away (thereby negating the arghhhh where are all the cabs I'm so late, or, WHY ARE THERE NO CABS ON H STREET AT 4AM?!, or, WHAT IS THAT SMELL?! moments). Ubers smell awesome and save me from infinite lateness. Miracles. 


So! When you win the Fashion District tickets, you win the Uber ride too! Uber has generously offered you and your hot date/arm candy/wingperson/bestie a lux ride to Fashion District, complete with a BOSSY SECRET RED CARPET ENTRANCE and AN UBER COCKTAIL. Love it. Enter! 

Aren't feeling particularly bossy? That's OK! You can find all pertinent details and purchase tickets at fashion.readysetdc.com. On top of that, even if you don't win, first time Uber riders can get $15 off their first trip. Use the promo code ReadysetDCFashion at Uber.com or in the Uber iPhone/Android app to receive your discounted ride. On a Blackberry? Sign up at Uber.com then text your location to 827-222 to request a ride. Questions? Just email supportdc@uber.com.

Behind the Scenes of Eric Schulze for DC Modern Luxury

Here were some of my favorite photos that did not make it into my feature in DC Modern Luxury Magazine (which you can see on page 60 HERE). Part of what I love to do on this little blog is share some behind-the-scenes secrets of the shoots I go on, and there are two I'd like to share here. The first is about the styling; my subject Eric Schulze has brilliant taste in clothes, but even those with a trained eye need an expert opinion now and then...which is where Eliot Payne of Accoutre comes in. With an impeccable attention to detail and ease with clients, Eliot is my go-to menswear stylist. He's also good friends with Eric now, so he was a natural choice to help him get his looks together for our shoot. Eliot and I talk about styling and sartorial choice all the time (and send each other outfits for approval), so I know that we are on the same page while constantly challenging one another. 

In the first look above, he layered a colorful button-up with a denim shirt, tweed blazer, and bow tie to create a high-low, work wear meets rugged urban man look that we're going crazy for right now. 

In the second look seen below, they guys kept it a little more dressy with a wool vest and blazer...but mixed with a springtime lavender shirt and bow tie become undeniably cool. 

The second tidbit I'd like to share is about the location. I'm a shoot from the hip, spontaneous photographer, but I did want to plan a location for the magazine shoot that would give us some space to work with. The morning of the shoot around 8am, I called up the Tabard Inn in Dupont and asked if they had any spaces we could use for the the morning. They were more than happy to oblige, and gave us this gorgeous banquet room with colors that matched our styled looks perfectly! And the light was life altering (a sentiment only felt by true photographers...I had a photo nerd moment for sure, lol). So exciting!

Many thanks to Eliot Payne, Tabard Inn, and my assistant Craig Hudson for all of their help. 

Enjoy these stylish snaps of Eric!

Ciao Nina for Fab.com

A couple of weeks ago, I did a lovely ladies Sunday shoot for DC designer Ciao Nina's exciting run on design site Fab.com. I made fresh fruit salads, endless pots of tea, and hosted my favorite lady friends to model the pretty accessories crafted by Nina. We had a blast and felt oh-so-pretty...the vibe was relaxed and collaborative. We had four stylists bring beautiful clothes, Lauren of Immortal Beloved did hair and makeup, and we relished in each other's light-hearted, easy breezy company. After wrapping the shoot, we were having so much fun that we all migrated to a luxurious dinner at Graffiato, celebrity chef Mike Isabella's Italian-inspired hotspot restaurant. Nina's stylish goodies are for sale on Fab.com HERE, and you can see some of my favorite photos here. Lots of the other ladies from the shoot posted my photos as well, so check out the links below.

Enjoy, and go buy local!

Many thanks to our lovely, multi-talented team:

Kate Warren

Nina O'Neil

Shannon Cusello

Lauren Clark

Rachel Cothran

Elise Peterson

Cheralee Lyle

Alicia Guidi

Allix Wright