Technicolor Fall

I wore this outfit to the Carla Fernandez show and I really wanted to do an outfit shoot for the blog because I loved it so much. There is also an interesting story behind the jacket. A very sweet woman named Heidi gifted me this stunning piece along with a bunch of other garments she was not using/wearing anymore. She messaged me one day and said she kept getting this feeling like she needed to give me this stuff. I had never met her in person so it was nice to have lunch and chat. She has AMAZING style obviously and this jacket was actually given to her but she said it was a bit too colorful for her. Even I thought it was a bit too colorful but I knew I could make it work somehow and I did! I think?! It's actually handmade in Lebanon by a company called Atelier Nanou that creates pieces that take you "back to a space and period of time in the Arab world." Sounded right up my alley and it also reminds me of hippies which I love! I was in a witchy mood so I paired it with mostly black. I added the touch of pink at the waist and some colorful new rings I just got from Avizeh and Zamarut Jewel. I've been on an jewelry high lately. It's the only thing I ever splurge on because it's my weakness! Everything else is basically thrifted.

Have a wonderful festive weekend! I'll be staying in watching scarrry movies and eating food.

Much love and PEACE OUT!
Feda

Summer fun with my niece Ayah and Anthony!

Continuing with some older posts because I'm a bad blogger! I'm finally getting some time to blog so forgive me while I post, post, post.

Over the summer I did a special shoot with my fashionista neice Ayah. She is such a talented little artist and she got the fashion bug like crazy. This girl has given me so many makeup transformations and she is always painting/drawing/creating!!

I had an idea to do an outfit shoot together and she loved it. Of course she put together her outfit herself and I helped her with the boho turban. Funniest thing is she somehow convinced my husband Anthony to join us! Anthony has a sense of style but he's very lazy when it comes to clothing so me and Ayah picked out his outfit to match us. So his outfit is a joint work of art ;)

Yes, we're silly!!! Hope you enjoyed!

XO

It's all about the bling!

I was recently sent this beautiful headpiece by the UK company Avizeh jewelry. I've always been in love with ethnic jewelry so you can imagine how giddy I was when I had this piece in my hands! I'm still pretty obsessed and I've had it for a few weeks now.

"Avizeh is company which is born out of the love and culture of ethnic Afghanistan. Avizeh translates jewellery in Farsi. This unique name speaks for what we cater for and the rich cultural heritage of jewellery making which dates back to thousand of years ago and at time of when great trading routes flourished through Afghanistan. These rare Jewels of the east still remain and are carefully hand crafted by a nomadic tribe called Kuchi."-from their website

The piece itself is beautifully made. It has signs of being a vintage piece, there were one or two bells missing and some stitching done on one side with the connector pieces, nothing you notice unless you inspect it up close like me :) I doesn't detract from the piece at all and I actually felt it added to its charm. I asked Avizeh about the minor imperfections and they said they rework/restore these vintage pieces, some gems are added etc.

What I really loved was that this is basically a one of kind piece. What I love about thrifting is that you're buying and putting together things that are not necessarily still in stores. This headpiece feels like a vintage treasure and I like that we all won't be clones next week! I'll definitely be picking up some more treasures from their site. I've been eying the beautiful cuffs and necklaces. The prices are great for what you are getting. Even when you convert the pound to dollar (If you're from the US and have traveled to the UK you know how expensive it can be with the pound being almost double the dollar!).

I actually had a hard time styling this! Especially with the turban. I wrapped this thing a few times and finally settled on this turban creation. I also wanted to dress it down because I think it would be hard to wear this baby out without dressing it down a bit. I decided to wear simple jeans and these flip flops I got from my trip to Nantucket I've been wanting to wear now that the weather is a bit nicer (although it is still freezing every other day here in Boston). I'm not totally sure about the red accents I added. I had painted my nails red the day before so I had to incorporate it somehow. There were little red accents on the headpiece and shoes so I thought it would fit in.

As always much love,
Feda

Outfit Details:
Scarf/turban: TJ Maxx
Black shirt: gifted from my sister- from H&M
Cardigan: thrifted- Vince
Jeans: recent thrift- Joe's Fit: Best Friend
Red bangles: thrifted
Beaded bracelet: Sisco Berluti
Flip flops: Bodhi Tibetan store in Nantucket, MA

Bag: TJ Maxx- Brand: Cardamom + Coriander
Rings: Gifted and from random carts

Grow A Garden

The journey to creating these images was quite interesting. I had found this amazing handmade floral dress at my local thrift store. I was staring at different floral editorials for the last few months, mostly inspired by the amazing Frida Kahlo and then this dress just showed up in my face! I went home and played around and it went perfectly with this Russianesque scarf and shawl I also thrifted a while back. I stuck some flowers in the scarf and voila! I took these on new years eve and the first image in this series was photo 365 for my Project Life 365 photo series.

So the shoot actually was very difficult to do because it was freezing outside and it almost turned out terrible until the last 10 minutes. I will explain...

I went to my go to farm in the blue hills area to get a nice neutral backdrop for this bold dress. I walked out into an area with a big field and it was really creepy because there was not one human out that day. I set up my camera on the tripod and adjusted the settings and did some test shots. The camera was just not focusing. I tried and tried, changed a few things a bunch of times, and still it was just not working. It usually takes a bit of effort to get right. I move the focus point to match where I'm standing so when I press the remote it focuses on me, but this time it just would not focus. Meanwhile I couldn't feel my fingers and my nose was dripping all over the place. To top it off I kept hearing something in the woods nearby. I know deer frequent the area but they are generally not out to get you. I was just nervous about whatever else lives in the woods. I was actually hoping to see a deer because I think they are really majestic creatures. One time I spotted one on a hike. It just stood there in the middle of this golden field of tall grass with the mountain as a backdrop and just looked at me with such poise. It had huge antlers and it was like I was in some dream/movie. It wasn't frightened, it was just IT! It was a magical moment that I still daydream about. I'm convinced it was some sort of spirit/animal guide speaking to me and now I just really love deer!

Sooo, I kept trying because I didn't want to give up. I came all this way and I was all dressed up. So I moved into another area thinking the camera would have a better time focusing with a different backdrop and that didn't work either. At that point I really couldn't feel my body and I think it was getting dangerous, so I had to go back to the car and warm up. After I warmed up a bit I decided to try my luck in another spot near the car as a last attempt. It was still having trouble and then this thought popped into my head to use the camera in LCD mode with the screen because it does a pretty good job at detecting people, and it worked!! I was able to get in a few shots and hopped back into the car to go. Just in time to see inmates stroll by picking up trash along the street. I did not want to be stranded in the middle of an abandoned farm with prison inmates nearby.

While driving away I was literally beaming! I was proud of what I could withstand to get those shots, proud of not giving up, and grateful for the powers above for helping me learn a new technique for taking self portraits. It's sooo much faster now and I wouldn't have figured it out if I didn't sit there and struggle with it. Which got me thinking...this was much more than a shoot...I was cultivating a habit of determination and drive and learning through DOING.

sort of like growing a garden...
We're all given these life experiences. Some beautiful and others incredibly traumatizing. It's hard to let go of the ones that are not so great but when you start to realize that YOU, your true being, are not defined by any of those things. If you let them, they can, but you can also decide to use them like seeds to plant your own garden.

Gardens take time to grow. They need to be watered, nurtured, and brought to life with patience, care and love. They go through stages of birth and decay and recreation over and over just as we do. We evolve and change constantly and need nourishment to sustain ourselves through each stage. Are we nurturing our souls enough? Because we should all take time to grow our own gardens. Peel back the layers and get to the root and plant it firmly into the ground and let yourself flourish. I've been doing a lot of this lately. There are so many layers to peel back and so much left to nurture and grow within... and I'm loving being the watcher of it all.

So you plant your garden and decorate your own soul.

-Veronica Shoffstall

Much love, water, and light
Feda

Fall Vibes Editorial

Through our stages, we learn to live like warriors. 

Our lives lived in layers.. 

A story of decay and transformation.
 

This story was created by a talented team of artists:
Model: Tayla Fernandez
Styling: Nicoletta Lyons of Lolas Urban Vintage
Makeup: Joy Granara
Hair: Gianna Gennari
Photography and Concept: Feda Eid

My favorite work to date! This was my first time arranging a team for a shoot. I don't why it took me this long to do. They did an amazing job and the teamwork really shines through these images. Each element adding to the overall picture. THIS is what I love to do!! Let me know what you think and as always much LOVE,
Feda