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Welcome to Fashion In Flux, a look at how the last year has changed the fashion industry — including how its creatives are coping, innovating, and moving forward. In this story, we chat with creatives about how COVID-19 changed the photoshoot.
To work in the fashion industry is — among a multitude of other things — to be continually looking at the future. What shoot will we do next? Who is the up-and-coming designer to know this year? What are the next fashion and beauty trends? We are always planning, always chasing the next opportunity, and always moving. When COVID-19 hit, the fashion industry was confronted with the uncertainty of the future. Many photographers, makeup artists, stylists, and producers in the industry work on a freelance basis, which meant that beyond emotionally comprehending the magnitude of a pandemic, they were also faced with unprecedented financial instability.
But to work in the fashion industry is to also understand how to adapt quickly, innovate, and develop creative solutions for difficult problems. You can prepare for everything and anything, but on the day of the shoot, there will inevitably be surprise obstacles. Last year, the entire industry was forced to adapt to the ever-changing pandemic landscape. Sets are more intimate, COVID-19 tests are mandatory, and content creation continues to get scrappier. Teen Vogue spoke with some of the creatives that have safely returned to set with a smile under their masks and a feeling of optimism towards the future.
Nigella Miller, hair stylist
Teen Vogue: What was it like during the early days of COVID-19?
Nigella Miller: At first, I was devastated because I couldn’t do any hair. Once salons were closed, I knew production was shutting down next. At that point I wanted to cry, because I was like, “Okay, one job’s gone, and then the second job is also gone. All of my work is gone. What do I do now?”
I always knew I loved it, but not being able to do it, that’s when I was like, “Oh, my God. I can’t see myself never doing production.” So I think I was more excited to get back to work than ever. And that kind of made me realize how dedicated I am to producing amazing work, whether it’s editorial, [e-commerce] — I do it all.
TV: What changes would you like to see remain once COVID-19 is over?
NM: I think the mask is super important. I think we, as production people, don’t notice how much we are around dust, germs, and particles. Especially when it comes to hair because we’re constantly breathing in chemicals. We have to put our health first. If everything changes in the world, I’m still going to wear a mask on set because I want to protect my own body from the chemicals I’m using every single day.
Shaina Ehrlich, makeup artist
Teen Vogue: What was it like during the early days of COVID-19?
Shaina Ehrlich: I wasn’t really sad. We were always doing so much work. And working and shooting all the time is great, but we never really had a boundary of, “Okay, maybe I should just take the weekend off.” I feel like the mentality of a freelancer in New York City is to work because we want to be able to survive here. So I feel like with COVID, I was like, “Okay, cool. So things are going to slow down.”
TV: How do you stay safe while on set?
SE: I get tested for COVID four times a week, sometimes more. Makeup artists and hairstylists and nail techs, we’re all super clean. We have to be — we need to know basic sanitation. Everything always gets wiped down. Everyone has their brushes separated. I also show people that I’m spraying everything down, even though it’s already clean, I’m cleaning it again because I want people to see that I’m cleaning!
Lamar David Mackson, COVID compliance officer
Teen Vogue: What was it like during the early days of COVID-19?
Lamar David Mackson: Oh, man, I was a mess. I was scared. It felt like the end of the world, watching the news and hearing the reports; it was scary. But over time, once I started to take my certifications and study, my fear lessened. And then once I started to get on set, I understood my place. I understood, all my years of preparation of working in different facets in the film business and then all of this coming together in a perfect storm, I felt comfortable. I felt like I was supposed to be in this role. I’ve always been a sort of caretaker for my crew and my people, so I feel like I’m that person, just 10 times more now.
TV: How are you staying motivated during this time?
LDM: I try to meditate. I try to work out. I try to look after my own personal health. I try to get enough sleep. I only really go out for necessary things or work. I continue to feel empowered that I’m helping people. I’m keeping members of my industry and community safe. And the expression of gratitude that people show me as I leave or while we’re working, “Thank you for keeping us safe. Thank you for being here for us.” Those little moments are empowering and those are the things that give me fuel to get up, to be excited, to keep moving, because I know that I’m making a difference at the end of the day.
TV: What changes would you like to see remain once COVID-19 is over?
LDM: I see health supervision and compliance for crews and productions being a long-term position. I also think people are going to be much more sympathetic, empathetic, towards one another. There’s been a lot of vitriol in the public about COVID and politics, but at the end of the day, I really think that this has worked on our psyche as Americans and as humans. That can be one good thing, is more unity, more togetherness, and more understanding in the human community. That’s what I think. But I could be totally wrong. I hope not.
Andy Jackson, photographer
Teen Vogue: Did you have a period of time when you weren’t working?
Andy Jackson: Right before COVID, I had just left my full-time job right so I was already struggling because I was starting my freelance career and no one was really biting. Then when COVID-19 hit, it was a spiral moment because I didn’t know what to do next. But then a friend of mine sent a bag of film, and then I just shot personal stuff all spring until summer.
It was a rejuvenation moment. And that was an important step in my career because I started to strengthen what I wanted to do. I think that’s what led me to all these opportunities, and now I’m doing things I wouldn’t have imagined.
TV: What changes would you like to see remain once COVID-19 is over?
AJ: Diversity. I think a lot of people are finally able to have their chance to show their work. It’s unfortunate because a lot of people had to experience a lot of negative things to be seen. It’s been a very moving moment because now we’re starting to see the creative ability of a lot of Black and Brown creatives. Of course we’re all going through and still trying to work through trauma right now, whether it’s from COVID, whether it’s from Black Lives Matter, or even recently with stopping Asian hate. I think that also reflects through work as well, especially when working with clients because it is business and you don’t want someone to feel uncomfortable, but also you want to feel that your voice is heard as well.
Yohan Yoon, director and producer
Monique Kamargo, producer
Teen Vogue: What was it like during the early days of COVID-19?
Yohan Yoon: I think during peak quarantine, everybody felt that life was so trivial. The things that we were worried about were so trivial because now the matter of life and death was at hand, and so for me, I spent a lot of time cooking, spent a lot of time working out, spent a lot of time getting into botany, plants systems, natural-wine drinking, and biking. I picked up biking as a new hobby. I just made space for my own mental health, I suppose.
Monique Kamargo: I’m grateful that I’ve been able to maintain my job throughout COVID, but there were a lot of days where you just didn’t know if things would ever pick up again and if our industry would make it through. A lot of projects that were meant to be shot in person were canceled or pivoted to digital, which meant producing all virtual shoots and working with more 3D artists and illustrators on content.
TV: What changes would you like to see remain once COVID is over?
YY: Remote working is awesome. The company where I’m currently at, we have no Zoom Fridays, so it feels like a three-day weekend, which is so nice. But as a producer, as a director, or being in production in general, you want to be on set, you want to be working with people. It’s tough because I feel a lot of distance. Like masks, you can’t see people smiling on set or being grumpy; people can hide behind their mask all the time. There’s a lot of little extra barriers to do what you’re passionate about.
MK: One of the biggest changes I’ve noticed is the size of shoots and crews. COVID has shown that a majority of shoots that would normally be shot in person can easily be shot at home or with a lot less people, which I wouldn’t mind seeing stay when it’s all over. At the same time, I definitely miss not having to worry about shoot size and executing shoot concepts without COVID restrictions!
Samantha Hannaford and Johnathon Garvey, M&G Foodstuff Catering
Teen Vogue: What was it like during the early days of COVID-19?
Samantha Hannaford: Going back to mid-March last year, when things started to get serious, basically all of our jobs started to cancel. So March, April, May, it was pretty much nonexistent in terms of our normal catering work. We had two options. It was, do we go home, sit, and watch everything crumble and do nothing about it, or do we hustle and do everything that we can in our power to try and survive and make it work for who knows how long? We had no idea at that time how long this was going to last for. People were talking weeks, obviously that turned into months.
TV: What did you do during that time?
SH: During that time, we immediately started re-strategizing and coming up with an urgent plan as to what we could do with none of our normal work coming in. We started to do home deliveries using our current client list and all of our connections in the city. We also started doing hospital drops. We pulled together our own resources, donations from friends and families and clients, and started doing deliveries every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to different hospitals around the city, like Mount Sinai, New York Presbyterian, Lenox Hill, and NYU Langone. I think we were able to feed over a thousand health-care workers, which was pretty good considering it was only myself and Johnathon, and three or four of the staff.
TV: What changes would you like to see remain once COVID-19 is over?
Johnathon Garvey: We’re part of Tist, a program that works with subsistence farmers in Africa, specifically Uganda. And so every customer that we serve, one tree is planted on their behalf through Tist. That program has been really great, and it’s a way for us to offset the amount of waste.
SH: To be completely transparent and honest, doing everything individually boxed is a really, really difficult thing. When you do it individually, you have to cater for each individual versus our original format of family-style. So that is quite difficult to do and get right while still keeping everything of quality. For the individual boxes, everything is recyclable. But even if it’s recyclable, it’s still a lot of waste. As Jonathan said, Tist is definitely something that we’ll continue to do. Partnering with that organization has been a real positive coming out of this. They’re super focused on climate change initiatives and regenerating certain areas through tree planting in Uganda and Africa.
Beverly Nguyen, stylist
Teen Vogue: What was it like during the early days of COVID-19?
Beverly Nguyen: I was on a job when the lockdown was announced, and I actually, for the first time in my career, walked off set. I was like, “This is not responsible.” I realized that I’m responsible for me and my instinct and my health and my family’s health. [I said,] “I want to see my parents. So I’m going to leave.” Doing something like that in fashion in 2020 is unacceptable, in a weird, twisted way. You don’t voice your opinion like that, especially as a stylist, but that was a huge defining moment for me. And then I didn’t work at all for six months. Zero work. It was really scary, financially. It was really emotionally and mentally straining because I am so used to waking up and doing what I love, and being around clothes all the time. For the last 10 years of my New York life, I’ve been able to go into an office or go onto set or call-in clothes and exercise my interests so much. But it was [a lot of] learning how to wait and be patient and check in with yourself.
TV: What changes would you like to see remain once COVID-19 is over?
BN: I recognized how much weird abuse that I’ve taken on a really deep, personal level. There’s the aspect of a job, being responsible, getting it done, providing your client what you want. And then there’s, “But we don’t have to live in that world. There’s so many things going on.” And I should be spending my talents uplifting people in my own culture, and people that look like me, versus spending time being abused and suppressed by people who don’t even want to acknowledge that I exist. I actually want to be able to live a life where I am doing what I believe in and doing what I’m telling others to do, and it’s so easy to be manipulated and persuaded in New York, especially in a creative way. Now, I’m much more aware of it. I’m not going to let somebody take up my space. I deserve this space — I’ve given myself this space.
Mimoza Nela, Nicole Martini, Laura Rodriguez, Simone Brooks, Natalie Petit-Frere, Condé Nast Fashion Logistics Team
Teen Vogue: Did you have a period of time when you weren’t working?
Mimoza Nela: I have been working pretty much the whole time. We started shooting small stories with limited resources and samples. I started coming to the office and pulling pieces from our closet to send to set. I also handled the coordinations with public relation agencies for pick-ups and returns. It was a learning experience for all of us in the fashion industry.
Natalie Petit-Frere: When New York closed mid-March last year, my department was furloughed. Everything was so uncertain in the beginning, so I was in a constant state of anxiety. For those three to four months, I tried redirecting my focus and challenged myself to start playing my piano again while quarantining at my family’s home.
Simone Brooks: I wasn’t working from mid March 2020 to about June 2020. The early days were frustrating and sometimes scary because of everything being so new and unknown, but I did my best to stay busy in order to keep my mind off of the negative things. I played video games, I tried to establish a workout schedule, and learned how to do Polygel nails!
TV: What changes would you like to see remain once COVID-19 is over?
Nicole Martini: The biggest change has been the way we all interact with each other. Social interaction is limited since many are working from home, and for those of us who come in the office, masks are required, which makes normal communication a lot more of a challenge. But something I would love to see stay is that a lot of events in the fashion industry have become more accessible through online attendance. I’m hoping that becomes a change that we incorporate into the “new normal” moving forward.
Laura Rodriguez: When COVID-19 is no longer a huge threat to our safety, I hope to still see a willingness to be aware of how germs and viruses spread as well as individuals being more proactive when it comes to keeping each other safe at all times.
Credits:
Photographer: Josefina Santos
Photo Assistant: Leo Hsu
Set Designer: Elisia Mirabelli
Set Design Assistant: Ingrid Campos
Groomer: Shaina Ehrlich
Production: Louisiana Mei Gelpi
Art Director: Emily Zirimis
Fashion Director: Tahirah Hairston
Fashion Editor: Michelle Li
