As a makeup artist and a vintage lover, it’s always a pleasure when I can combine two things that I love- being on set and vintage style, especially when I can involve my friends! My friend and long time colleague, photographer Ian Spanier, saw all of my vintage event pictures on Facebook and asked if he could shoot me and some of my friends in the style of some 1920’s mugshots that have recently surfaced on the internet.  These mugshots are not the kind we’re used to, but filled with various personalities wearing their own clothing, sometimes with a brief description of the crime they’ve committed.

I invited my (not at all shy) vintage-loving friends and we gathered on a Sunday morning in a studio in Brooklyn, and Ian went to work.  The end results speak for themselves. My otherwise kind and gentle friends were transformed into mob bosses, gangsters, wise guys and madams.  I could hardly believe just how much of a badass some of them appear to be in their photos.  Matthew received a black eye by me (done with makeup!) and supplied a sling to complete the look of a guy who probably lost the fight but is still making back-room deals, and I wore one of my few true 1920’s dresses and put on my meanest face (crime to be determined- what do you think I’m in for?).  Perhaps not means the most flattering picture of me, but it’s always fun to see what I would look like as a criminal in the 20’s!

I hope that we can do a shoot like this again, with an even larger cast of characters!