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Love Made Babe of the Week - Silke

 

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Hi! I'm: Silke @ShownToScale
I'm the: "Girl Who Does it All" Photographer/CreativeDirector/Designer according to Nylon Magazine
I'm a: Gemini
I live in: Valley Village, CA
My fav spot in LA is: Smog Cutter Karaoke in Silver Lake
A brand I'm currently diggin' is: Alice McCall
I think the babe with the best style is: Rachael Wang @rachael.wang
The song I can't get out of my head today is: Coming Down by Dum Dum Girls

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What inspired her to start:
Well, I was home-schooled, so pretty much, I knew from then that the only way I really learned was by doing crafts, building, and being creative.. When I was going to college, I knew for a fact, that even just going to class and sitting at a desk drove me crazy - I'm just not that type of person. I need to be creating, I need to be doing a ceramics class or something. I knew from the get-go that being in a creative field was I wanted to do, I just didn't know what. So I took photography classes in San Francisco and I loved it, but I was always working on multiple projects: making videos, building things, reading Martha Stewart, literally crafting. And later on, getting into the clothing world kinda just happened.

I've always worn vintage or whatever I wanted, especially since I was home-schooled, no one ever told me what was cool or what wasn't, I just wore whatever the f-ck I wanted. One afternoon walked into a Betsey Johnson store one day and they saw what I was wearing, talked to me about my style, my life and then hired me on the spot. And that was really into gateway into fashion. Then, I got moved to New York to be a manager [there], then soon after got hired at Marc Jacobs. From there I took over my friends vintage store. Started buying and selling vintage (my passion), then carrying other lines, and soon after created my first label Shown To Scale. It all was trial and error and just going with what you are good at and riding with it. I never knew I would be in fashion but, here I am -and i'm still doing other things I love - as long as they don't involve sitting at a desk all day.

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Her advice to you:
1) If you're creative, just be open-minded. Don't set your mind to "I only want to be a photographer and that's all I want to do and that's the only thing I'll ever do." I mean, maybe that is, but try other things. Just try it. I never knew I even wanted to style until I tried it. I love taking photos, but if you have a good photographer [while you're styling] and you made the project all together, the creative process with multiple people is just as satisfying.

2) Be willing to take criticism. It's hard because when you're creative, it comes from you, it's all from you and your heart, so it's hard to not take it personally - but you can't, especially if you have a client. If it's what you want and you put your touch on it but that's not what they want, just take it, learn from it, let it go and know it doesn't define you, it's just that project. And I think that's the biggest thing, because in the beginning I'd be like, "I suck at everything!" and everyone is like "Dude, it's one photo, just chill." So be able to take constructive criticism and learn from it, so if you have another client like that, you can be like, "Okay, I'm probably going to have to shoot this a little different than I wanted but they'll be happy and I'll get paid and get more jobs. And you know, the best paying jobs are usually the shitty ones anyways. So just take 'em, but still do creative stuff on the side.

3) I always try to find groups of hardworking, creative girls - not excluding men, just empowering women and getting girls together. Working on projects together and getting hyped. Not being competition, hyping each other up to do cool stuff. If we all help each other, we're all gonna win.

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P.S. Did you know she is launching a new clothing brand this fall called Misc. Short Trips! She will be releasing 1-2 styles a month, all designed from recycled vintage fabrics. Also, she is curating a gallery show of photography with painter Zio Ziegler that will be happening in the new year.

For more from Silke, check out www.ShownToScale.com and @ShowntoScale

 

XO, @HasAlexandra_

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