Photoshoot: 'Beautiful Pink Fantasy in Central Park' ft. Reason To Be Pretty + an Interview with Designer Nophar Haimovitz

Forest Fantasy from sgiabrao on Vimeo.

Photographer: Jennie Barst

Designer / Stylist: Nophar Haimovitz (Of Reason To Be Pretty)

Video: Sagie Baron

Model: Anamae Gilroy

MUA: Alejandra Caicedo of Nina MUA

Have you ever seen such an ethereal masterpiece? This stunning shoot was captured by Jennie Barst and features fashion label Reason To Be Pretty.

Nophar Haimovitz is the talented designer of Reason To Be Pretty and we were amazed to learn that the delicate hand embellished couture silk, fringe jewellery and garments were all handmade by Nophar for this editorial. Nophar has a couture embellishment and embroidery background, and she now works and creates in Harlem NYC.

Nophar explains: "The 3 looks are: The Black Swan - a long bias silk dress, 3 layers of fringe necklaces in different lengths, embellished with hand dyed silk flowers with a matching headpiece. The Garden dress - A beautiful nude silk dress embellished with silk flowers and Swarovski. This dress took about 2 weeks to make. The matching headpiece is made of flowers and pearls. And lastly The White Swan, icy crinkled chiffon shirt, layered tulle tutu skirt, with a fabulous mix of fringe necklaces in many lengths and a snowflake sparkly earring."

Not only was Nophar generous enough to share this editorial with us, but she also offered her time to answer a few questions about her career and label for us to pour over here on the Whim website!

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Q: When did your love of fashion design first bloom?

A: I’m not sure, growing up I was always the best dressed (usually overdressed) kid, even as a girl scout I used to match my socks to my headband, drawing princess dresses etc. the regular girly stuff, but I wanted to be a journalist or a Disney illustrator. Then like every good Israeli citizen, I went to serve the army, and thought I’d have a career there. Anyways, I ended up studying engineering, hoping to be an architect, then interior design, and finally, to my surprise, I got into a great fashion school. Turned out not only did I like it, I was really good at it. Funny thing is, I was the only one surprised about it, everyone else always thought I should be a fashion designer… Couldn’t they have told me sooner?

Q: How would you describe your brand in just three words?

A: Pretty, Comfortable, Pink.

Q: When it comes to your fashion designs, what inspires your creativity the most?

A: I’m obsessed with flowers, colours and beautiful materials, as a designer specializing in embroideries and embellishments; I try to get that beautiful bloom essence into my work. Prettiness is everything to me, and I spend my life trying to prettify everything around me including my customers.

Q: What does an average day in the life of Nophar involve?

A: For a self-employed person with no kids, I wake up pretty early. Drink my coffee in bed and start my day at the studio. As a designer I try to play and design as much as I can, as a business owner, there are a lot of technicalities you have to attend to, so it's a mix of a lot of computer work (website, etsy, PR, sales, bills etc.), a lot of order making (dyeing fringe and cords, hand making pieces, shipping) and some designing. I try to make at least one new idea I have a day. In the afternoon, I’m going back to be a loving wife, cooking and baking for my (also a jewellery designer) husband. Than, back to the studio until bed time. Work is never over when you are a small business owner.

Q: Please tell us a little about the experience you had whilst working on this series of images, 'Beautiful Pink Fantasy in Central Park'?

A: This has been an amazing experience for us. As my brand is very PINK in it’s essence, Photographer Jennie Barst had the vision of creating a pink forest as a background to our Reason To Be Pretty items. We started by picking up the looks, and I knew exactly the perfect spot for shooting, living in Harlem I walk in Central Park a lot, and one of my favourite spots is The Loch. Very raw and edgy spot not a lot of people know about. I took Jennie and videographer Sagie Baron there, and they fell in love. But as any good project is, though we were there location scouting on a sunny August day, the shoot ended up happening on a cold and rainy October day, with wet mud everywhere, leaves that were almost yellow and a freezing model wearing nothing but a thin layer of silk. That makes us even more proud about how the project turned out, as it is just fabulous.

Q: Lastly, what do you hope to achieve with your gorgeous fashion label in the not-too-distant future; Do you have any exciting upcoming plans that you would like to share with us?

A: Reason To Be Pretty is here to spread prettiness everywhere you go. I am doing a Holiday POPUP at NYC’s Soho and we have a few sales coming in different websites. We are already in the work of our Spring Collection, so stay tuned for some color and beauty.

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Thank you so much to Nophar for taking the time to partake in our interview, and we encourage all of our readers to find out more about the label through visiting Reason To Be Pretty's website, Facebook page or Etsy shop. You can also keep up-to-date with the label by following on Instagram (@RTBP). Enjoy!