FD Company: Winter Wardrobe Preview
This week marks 5 months of “digital abstinence” from social media. It’s been quite enjoyable - even therapeutic - to write and create galleries on this blog of mine, rather than quick blurbs on social media. It’s felt intentional and forced my fast paced brain to slow down. Words are my love language too. Here, I can share as many words and paragraphs and photographs as my heart desires. It isn’t trapped in the confines of social media’s quick fix. My life feels much more private now, which is both a strange and liberating feeling. I’ve liked it. I’ve also felt more creatively challenged than ever before.
Photographing movement makes my soul feel on fire. There is something so gritty and beautiful about watching people in the grit of their sport. I was delighted when Lena of Family Dance Company (FD) asked me to photograph her winter collection. I have had the pleasure of knowing Lena and her family the last two years. We first met at a ballroom studio in Greensboro, NC, where she and her husband became my teachers, after I took nearly a decade hiatus from the performing arts. It was both exhilarating and terrifying. They are some of the loveliest people to know and I am grateful for them. Lena is a fiery and fierce woman with the softest heart. I think her sixth sense is seeing into people’s soul and understanding exactly what life is like in your shoes. As Jo from Funnyface would say,
“That’s empathy!”
She reminds me of a Ukrainian Jennifer Lopez and is the epitome of “Soft and strong” all in one. She’s a wife, mother of three beautiful girls, and a force to be reckoned with on the dance floor.
Two years ago, my heart found refuge from the chaos of my personal life at their studio, as they and several other families found refuge in us from the war. It felt like a hiding place of sorts. It felt like balm to my soul to be surrounded by so many beautiful, slavic accents. I’d recently returned from a cultural exchange in Russia, just before the war, and struggled with reverse culture shock. I missed the slavic culture, rhythm of life, but especially my beloved language teachers turned sisterhood, and my roommates. It was an indescribable connection and bond that ended too soon. Returning home to the USA, I felt so lost. I felt disconnected. I felt sad. Suddenly, a little studio in Greensboro brought such a beautiful culture to my hometown. It brought a peculiar solace to the chapter of life I deeply missed. It felt like I was somehow there again, while also being home. Was this a dream?
I was fascinated by all these gorgeous Ukrainian people. Anthropology is a great love of mine and can be a dangerous pair with my chronic inquisitiveness. The Ukrainians were different from most people I encountered. I think that’s why I was smitten with Lena’s designs before I even knew she was a designer. Among a room full of bright colors, flashy designs, sequins, and shiny things, my eyes migrated to a simple, black dress on the hanger. It looked like something a mid 20th century star would wear. It was classy and mesmerizing to my nostalgic palette. I saw an “FD” logo on it. It just felt different from everything else.
One day, I was given a stash of them to try on. Out of all the colors, strings, and feathers on the rack, I was instantly drawn to another black dress for smooth dancing. On it, there was also an “FD” logo.
“That’s my dress!” Lena said, as I pointed to it.
At first, I thought she meant it was quite literally one she owned and was just renting out. I soon learned she was the mastermind behind the dress and entire company itself. I love the nostalgic yet eclectic punch to her designs. They feel timeless, elegant, and fierce, but don’t scream for attention. They remind me of a woman who simply exists in confidence and doesn’t have to prove it. She doesn’t puff up or shrink down. She just exists in who she is. FD Company designs have this way of saying, “I am here,” without any words at all. It was a joy to photograph her winter collection, featuring one of her three beauties, Liza.
