Sea Glass Stella Dress
Rachel Keohane (Team Leader)
Gatlinburg, Tennessee
Daughter: Ava, 7 years old
Instagram |I was the first to receive the dress from Pleaides Designs back in May of 2018. Lynzi, the owner of Pleaides Designs, handmade us an absolutely gorgeous version of the Stella Dress. As soon as I saw the greens and blues of the fabric used, I knew we had to shoot at our favorite outdoor location, a mountain top field and the river in the Smoky Mountains National Park. My goal was to make this experience fun and playful for Ava so I told her to have fun, run and explore around the field and river. I’m so happy to have caught her jovial mood and the movement of the dress. Once our time came to an end we were excited to pass it on to the next little girl, Lilly in Ontario, Canada.
Lynn Ewing
Ontario, Canada
Daughter: Lilly , 7 years oldI received the Pleaides dress from Rachel Keohane in July 2018. My time with the Sea Glass Stella was magical. For our photos , my 7 year old daughter Lilly and I took a roadtrip to our favourite beach at the Scarborough Bluffs in Ontario, Canada. That day was sunny and warm with a slight breeze. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The beach was full of sunbathers. Lilly and I trekked out to the furthest spot from the barbequing, music, and laughter to savour the solitude of the water. Freelensing my images during full sun gave them the look and feel of pushed film. The following week I handed the dress off to Chelsea Kozlinsky who lives around the corner from me.
Chelsea Kozlinsky
Ontario, Canada
Daughter: Ellianna, 6 years old
Our time with the Pleaides dress was magical. We took it on a two week road trip around Iceland and stopped at the black sand beach in Vik first. We loved the way the fabric of the dress moved in the breeze. It was a chilly day, but we didn’t let that stop us. We then set out to find a gorgeous waterfall, surrounded by beautiful greens, complimenting the gorgeous color of the dress. It was just us and the waterfall and Ellianna twirled the evening away. As much as we loved our time with the dress we were happy to send it off for another little girl to enjoy. The next adventure for our dress would be in Michigan.
Holly Awwad
Imlay City, Michigan
Daughter: Charlotte, 4 years old
When I received the dress, I knew I wanted to make this a fun and colorful shoot. I was in love with the high – low skirt and the beautiful tiered colors....and so was my daughter Charlotte. I chose to shoot at a train station a few towns from where I live in Lapeer,MI. They have three brightly painted vintage train cars on display outside the station. Inside each car is a train museum. The colors of the cars played up the colors in the dress beautifully. When we arrived Charlotte immediately started exploring and climbing on the bright train cars, twirling and running in the beautiful setting sun. Please note these images were not taken on active train tracks. The cars were on display only and not connected or near any active tracks. We were sad to see the dress go but when I told Charlotte that we would be sending it to another little girl to enjoy, that made her happy! Next stop for our dress was in Milton,Georgia.
Holly Long
Milton,Georgia
Daughter: Brooklyn, 6 years oldWhen the dress arrived from Holly in Michigan we were so excited! We had anticipated the dress for a while and it was so fun hearing the stories from the other ladies and their adventures with the beautiful Pleaides dress. I knew from the start that I wanted to make this shoot something to remember with my daughter and so I planned to shoot at the top of Arabia Mountain in Dekalb County, Ga. The hike up the mountain was memorable. On the way up we encountered two firefighters that had just finished their workout and they offered to help us carry some of our belongings up the rest of the mountain. So sweet! My friend Susan and her daughter Lily joined us as well. As soon as we got to the top we were taken back by the stunning view. Everything was so peaceful. The sky was wide open and the sun was shining. Brooklyn twirled and explored and we had a bunch of laughs together. The Pleaides dress was a perfect compliment to our surroundings and my daughter truly felt like a princess in it. We stayed until the sun sank into the horizon. As much as we loved our time with the dress we knew it was going on another grand adventure! Next stop was in Orlando,Florida.
Amber Hausler
Orlando, Florida
Daughter: Zoe, 4 years old
It was Early September when I received the beautiful Pleaides dress. The weather in Orlando, Florida was in the high 90’s with high humidity and daily thunderstorms. At the time I had pictured by daughter running or twirling with sunlight streaming through the dress. However, due to weather conditions, a lengthy dress and a strong little personality, I had to make this work for both of us. On the last day we managed to catch some pretty light. We were both so thankful for our time with the dress and super excited to send it to the next little girl! Next stop was the west coast of Florida to Nicole and her little one.
Nicole Houser
Sarasota, Florida
Daughter: Lily, 3 years oldI received the Pleaides dress in late September in Sarasota, Fl. My 3.5 year old daughter was was the perfect model for this dress. She has always been such a huge girly girl and has loved to model beautiful clothes for me since she was a toddler. Spinning and dancing around in flowy dresses are one of her favorite things to do, so when I first opened this amazing dress, I knew she would be in love with it! The subtle blue ombre at the bottom was my favorite part, as well as the flow and spin factor. I had grand plans for taking this dress to one of our beautiful beaches, but I only had a couple of days with it since we were leaving on vacation and I never made it out that way. I decided to shoot on our street in our neighborhood in the evening. We were blessed with a gorgeous post Florida rain sunset. When our time ended with the dress we sent it to Victoria all the way down under in Australia.
Victoria Andrews
Brisbane, QLD, Australia
Daughter: Lola, 5 years old
I received the Pleaides dress in late Spring here in Australia after it’s long journey over the Pacific from the United States. My daughter Lola loves nothing more than dressing up, especially in a beautiful ‘twirly’ dress, so we were both super excited to be involved in this project! I chose to shoot late afternoon when the light was golden and warm to really make the most of the gorgeous floaty chiffon. We absolutely loved our time with the dress and were sad to see to see it go. It’s next stop was down the coast to Nic in New South Whales.
Nicole Kearney
Newcastle, Australia
Daughter: Coral, 5 years oldI received the beautiful Pleaides dress from Victoria in Brisbane, Australia, which is just 800km to the north. My girl Coral was so excited when she first laid eyes on this gorgeous dress. Jacarandas bloom in late Spring along the east coast of Australia and I knew the pretty purple flowers would complement the pale pastel colours in this dress perfectly! So, I decided to shoot this series in NewCastle, Australia, where I grew up and where my parents still reside. The suburb has a lot of beautiful gardens and big old Jacaranda trees. The final adventure for our Pleaides dress was off to Bianca in New Zealand.
Bianca Owen
New Zealand
Daughters: Hosannah and Mayanah, 6 and 4 years oldIt was Summer here in New Zealand when we received the Pleaides dress to photograph. Both of my daughters Hosannah and Mayanah were excited to wear the beautiful gown. We chose a couple of golden evenings. Mayanah wore it first. It was too big for her but she looked so cute hoisting up the skirt in the long grass. I have shared a photo of her under the trees, holding up her hands in the way she does when she does when pretending to be a pony, galloping and trotting through the field. The other image are of Hosannah on the swing. I loved the way the evening light was pouring through the trees creating haze and heavy shadows. I wanted to catch the dress in motion as it has such a beautiful layered tail, and it looked so gorgeous flying out behind her on the swing. We loved every moment we had with the dress. When our time to came to a end with it we sent it back home from where it first started with Rachel in Tennesse. Our traveling dress had made its final round.
Ten Artists. One dress. Memories with our daughters to last a lifetime!
Artist and Photographer since 2013, specializing in Fine Art Portraiture for Wall Art located in Vancouver, WA, USA.
