A flying dress photoshoot empowering women and femininity

Elena Sullivan — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 00:08:16 +0000

I’ve proven many times in my life that something miraculous happens when you let go and embrace the flow. And this was about to happen for me once again.

On the morning of January 11, 2022, I boarded a flight from Cancun to Mexico City, a city with over 24 million people. Although I’d traveled there before, this was my first trip in the role of a model-photographer, and I carried three pieces of luggage. One of them was a large turquoise suitcase, which I checked in with an extra fee for being overweight. I paid it willingly, without hesitation, inside was something priceless and beautiful.

Usually, when I fly, I spend the time reading, sleeping, or working on my MacBook. But this flight was different. For the entire 120 minutes, I listened to music and occasionally gazed out the window, watching the clouds shift into endless shapes, playing a game with my imagination. I became fully absorbed in this daydream until the pilot announced our imminent landing at Benito Juarez International Airport.

By the time I arrived at the Hotel Geneve CD de Mexico, it was 2 p.m. I had only two hours before meeting Olga, a photographer I’d hired for my first personal branding photo session in the city. I was drawn to her genuinely elegant artistic style, which aligned perfectly with my own photography and the vision behind my new project, Fine Art Lifestyle, where I planned to use these photos.

The session went wonderfully, and we met again the next day for a second shoot. That’s when I finally unpacked my big, heavy suitcase and let the magic out.

The “Flying Dress” photo session is a liberating experience.

Inside wasn’t anything mysterious or supernatural, it held twelve dresses, but not just any dresses. They were special Flying Dresses!

Four of these dresses were set aside to make four women shine in a collaborative photo session scheduled for the next day in Mexico City’s downtown (more on that at the end of the article). I had brought all twelve dresses to ensure we’d have backups. At first, I hadn’t planned to wear one myself. But on that plane, watching clouds drift and imagining endless creative possibilities, I thought, Why not? I’d love photos in a Flying Dress too! Since I had extras, I asked Olga to add a Flying Dress session to my second shoot.

Red, one of my favorite colors, is timeless, vibrant, and passionate, perfect for a liberating Flying Dress photo experience.

On the second day of my creative journey, I met Olga at 10 a.m. in the historic Zócalo. Drawing on our shared photography expertise, we chose a sunlit street with soft shadows and playful morning gleams for the session. And that’s when the creatively liberating process began.

When I was preparing for this trip, I hadn’t planned on doing my own Flying Dress photoshoot. Yet here I was, surprising myself by stepping into that moment. I came to Mexico City to free myself from past wounds, release worries about the future, and fully celebrate my life in the present. My red Flying Dress became a quiet, powerful companion, sharing the magic of its color, bravery and courage.

As a photographer, I’m at ease helping others with posing, but standing there in a stunning red dress on a busy street with a camera pointed at me was intimidating. “Stop hiding, stop running away, stop feeling invisible,” I told myself, and stepped into the spot Olga had pointed out.

Then, as she counted to three, I began to walk in my Flying Dress: chin up, back straight, smiling as I took in the scene around me. Step by step, breath by breath, that’s when the magic happened, and my fear melted away.

You don’t sit and wait for life to happen; you step forward. Even with doubts and voices that say, “You can’t be this, you don’t deserve that,” you make things happen. You, and only you, hold the magic to create the life you deserve. And yes, you absolutely deserve it.

Flying dress photo shoot empowering woman and femininity.

At the age of forty, I finally embraced the wisdom shared by so many: life is not about following someone else’s plan, but about creating your own. Nobody has all the answers, and no one knows the “right” way to live life. With a population of 8 billion people, around 10,000 religions, 195 countries, and about 3,800 cultures (according to some scholars), each culture has its own understanding of what is considered appropriate and acceptable behavior. So, can there truly be a universal way?

Given these numbers, it’s clear that the concept of empowering femininity will be interpreted differently across cultures. To me, empowerment is the process or set of actions that makes someone stronger and more confident.

Empowering women and femininity, therefore, means nurturing feminine qualities to help women become more confident. In this article, I focus on my own journey, where a significant part of my empowerment after my second divorce came from reinventing myself as a feminine woman through the power of the dress.

Dresses have a rich history. The first known dress, the Tarkhan Dress, was discovered by archaeologists and dates back to ancient Egypt, around 5,100 to 5,500 years ago. Since then, the dress has become one of the most iconic symbols of womanhood.

You don’t sit around and wait for something good to happen; you go out into the world, and despite all the doubts and negative thoughts telling you that you can’t be this or that, or that you don’t deserve something good, you DO IT.

You make things happen. Only you can do this!

You have all the magic within you to create the best life for yourself, because you deserve it.

For me, wearing a colorful dress gives a sense of visual abundance, whether I’m at home, out in public, or anywhere I go. Even during my photo sessions in Cancun, I wore a casual dress that allowed me to move easily while taking photos.

I chose to do an empowering flying dress photo session on the streets of a big city because it symbolized liberation from the fear of being judged. Until recently, I lived in fear of what others thought of me, often responding “I’m fine” when, in reality, I wanted to cry. I hid behind the perfect image of success and achievement. Now, I realize that none of that matters.

Elizabeth Gilbert writes in her book “Big Magic”:
“Long ago, when I was in my insecure twenties, I met a clever, independent, creative, and powerful woman in her mid-seventies, who offered me a superb piece of wisdom.
She said: ‘We all spend our twenties and thirties trying so hard to be perfect because we are so worried about what people will think of us. Then we get into our forties and fifties, and we finally start to be free because we decide we don’t give a damn what anyone thinks of us. But you won’t be completely free until you reach your sixties and seventies when you finally realize this liberating truth — nobody was ever thinking of you, anyhow.’ They aren’t. They weren’t. They never were.”

And here I am, in one of the largest cities in the world, walking down the main street in a red flying dress. I am letting go of the limiting thought, “What will they think of me?” and in doing so, I nurture my spirit.

And you know what? People didn’t care. Some stopped for a moment, others glanced quickly as they passed by, and many kept walking, trying to avoid being captured by Olga’s camera.

I realized that most of my fears and insecurities existed only in my mind, and the people around me weren’t actually judging me. They might glance at me, like my recent Instagram photo, and then go back to living their own lives. Time is limited, there are only twenty-four hours in a day, and most people are too busy managing their own lives to focus on others. Scrolling through social media may be a distraction, but it doesn’t allow time to dwell on someone else’s life.

This kind of magic, the liberation from my fears and the empowerment of femininity, is something I truly embrace.

Even writing this article has been a breakthrough for me. I’m no longer afraid to be vulnerable and share my personal experiences. I don’t want to follow the empty ideals of perfection or high achievement that lead nowhere. A truly abundant and happy life has little to do with marital status, job titles, number of followers, likes, cars, diamonds, or material possessions. It’s not about the quantity; it’s about the quality.,

Empowered femininity isn’t about power or manipulation; it’s about kindness, creativity, unconditional love, nurturing, tenderness, sensuality, warmth, beauty, intuition, grace, and support.

Go out there and embrace the beauty of life, don’t let the question, “What will they think of me?” hold you back. People won’t be focused on you, and you might just find yourself feeling happier than ever.

That day in Mexico City, I allowed my dreams to soar once again, and the flying dress became a symbol of my mid-life rebirth. Sometimes, it’s not about therapy or self-help books, sometimes it’s as simple as wearing a beautiful dress. And suddenly, life becomes much more joyful. When a busy, productive lifestyle isn’t working, it might be time to explore alternatives. So, why not embrace the Italian way of life – “La dolce vita”?,

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A flying dress photoshoot empowering women and femininity

The “Flying Dress” photo session is a liberating experience.

Flying dress photo shoot empowering woman and femininity.

Peony Dreams III

Peony Dreams II

Peony Dreams I