Test Shoot with Ireland T
East Village, New York, April 2021New York was open again, barely. April 2021, East Village rooftop, a team that hadn't worked in months and wanted to. Costume designer Matsine Stinson reached out with a simple proposition: let's shoot. She pulled looks from Flying Solo, sourcing pieces from designers Amy Page DeBlasio, J'Amemme, and Kate Barton. Makeup artist Stefani Paige Vivian completed the team. The shoot had no client, no brief, no deliverable beyond the work itself. What it produced was six looks, 72 images, and a set of photographs that went on to appear in Dreamingless Magazine and Intra Magazine. This is what a fashion test shoot looks like when everyone in the room is ready to work.
Amy Page DeBlasio's wide-leg pants in textured navy jacquard are the foundation. The silhouette is architectural: high-waisted, full-length, with a side zipper that reads as detail rather than function. A strapless navy top keeps the palette clean. The orange tulle is the stylist's hand — fabric pulled from Matsine Stinson's own collection, thrown into the wind and shot against a Manhattan skyline. The tension between the structured pants and the uncontrolled tulle is the image.
Amy Page DeBlasio's ruffle-trim pants are the reason this look exists. The ruffles run the full length of both seams — not as ornament but as architecture, a signature detail that has become the designer's most recognizable mark. Paired with a sheer aqua knit top, the palette stays in the same family of cool, clean color. The orange folding chairs on the rooftop were not moved. They belong.
The J'Amemme gown is pale yellow, pleated, and sheer from collar to hem. The sleeves are voluminous. The skirt behaves like a sail. Shot against a rooftop graffiti wall in lower Manhattan, the softness of the fabric and the rawness of the backdrop are in direct conversation. Taro Collection earrings are the only accessory that earns its place.
From Flying Solo, a gold satin wrap dress with a white collar and a tie belt that the wind kept pulling loose. The dress has two registers: composed and in motion. Both are on the page. The rooftop parapet and the Manhattan skyline behind it provide a frame that does not compete.
Kate Barton's pale blue strapless dress is a study in volume and restraint. The structured fabric holds its shape independent of the body — an oversized bow at the center front, panels that extend into an asymmetric hem, a silhouette that reads differently at every angle. Shot from below against open sky, and then again with the Manhattan skyline behind it. The dress commands both frames.
From Flying Solo, a pale aqua sleeveless midi dress worn with a deeper turquoise sheer wrap. The two blues are close but not matching — that distance is intentional. The wrap moves. The dress does not. Shot in the last light of the afternoon against the brick and concrete of the East Village, this is the quietest look on the set and the one that stays with you.
