brand & content
– using creative direction, storytelling, and experience design to draw out thevalues and nuances of a brand that, when articulated in this way,
are resonant one’s daily life.
ALFIE Paris
An introduction to comfort as a way of being
ALFIE is a Paris-based brand making unique “collectables” from deadstock luxury fabrites (think a denim cargo made from deadstock Alaïa), and was one of thes brands curated in the Cool And Thoughtful Concept Shop. This feature draws out how dressing can be a gateway to presence. An editorial shoot and accompanying essay brings to life how the sense of comfort that is innate in the intention of each ALFIE collectable is - regarldess of which garment specifically - an enabler for being free, at home, and connected to life and others.
[photography, art direction, storytelling, editorial production]
Mortimer
An alternate ethos of beauty
Mortimer is an American luxury designer specialing in one-of-a kind silk pajama sets. This longform feature weaves together elements of Japanese sneaker culture, the values of a Montessori education, and how the attention to detail that the team of nine sewers brings to a Mortimer set to showhow Mortimer embodies an understanding of “beauty” that connect us to the univerasl human experience rather entrench us in a place of narcissism.
[photography, storytelling, interview design, photography]
Soulection Radio
A Manifesto for the world-positive brands we need
Soulection is a internet radio show produced by the namesake independent music collective. Today they have a feature show on Apple Beats 1 Radio, a worldwide concert tour, and over 1M followers combined across Instagram and Soundcloud. This feature articulates how Soulection synthesizes productive values and a signature aesthetic to champion social good in a way that defies predictable models of social change: “in a moment when brands are advocating for social change by taking a stance on a particular issue and calling for direct action, Soulection instead offers a way of thinking and acting that’s applicable to any domain.”
[thesis by Kerrin]
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Proenza Schouler
The PS1: Love Letter from a Cool Girl
In 2008, Proenza Schouler released their signature bag, the PS1. Designers Jack McCullough and Lazaro Hernanadez “wanted [it] to be really anonymous…the Anti-It bag.” This feature brings to life a love affair with Kerrin’s PS1, starting in inception back in 2012, sharing eleven years of bag snapshots to accompany a love letter that’s about more than the bag: “Her lining is all torn, there are holes in her seams, I’ve lost more decorative vintage brooches than I care to count (for she is always adorned), and even with a vintage Chanel bucket bag in the mix now, my PS1 is my favorite for two reasons: because of our stories together, and because I still feel like an original Cool Girl when I carry that bag. In this way, my PS1 bag expresses the kind of tastemaker I strive to be: vibrant, courageous, kind, and true, which is what being ‘an original Cool Girl’ means to me.”
[storytelling, photography]
Steph Flockhart
A luminary of an aesthetic approach to consciousness
Steph Flockhart is creating a new modality of “aesthetic wellness” in which spiritual development and beauty rituals go hand-in-hand. “Trained as a cosmetic acupuncturist and having built a powerful online platform, she draws on a wide range of personal and spiritual development disciplines. She helps people unlock their subconscious mind and expand beyond what they think is possible–in both beauty and life.” In this feature, Steph’s training, interdisciplinary persepctive, and general grace come to life through a longform interview and photo essay.
[art direction, interview design, photography]
On Originality: Virgil Abloh
A meditation on assumptions and an homage to Virgil Abloh
For Art Basel Miami in 2022, ARCHITECTURE, the design think tank that Virgil founded alongside Nike, offered a stunningly vivid three-day retrospective of Virgil’s work and life, “VIRGIL ABLOH, THE CODES.” The experience concluded on the last day of Basel with the Abloh Invitational, a skate competition at Miami’s Lot 11 as in real-time homage to Abloh’s skate culture roots and to what he’s known for: being pioneer of accessibility, exuding warmth, and creating electricity. This feature is a photo diary of the three-day experience, with an accompanying essay inquiring into what it means to be an original: “You have to not take anything for granted, and that requires a kind of groundedness, presence, and willingness to be in the gap between the known and the unknown. You have to be willing to think freely.”
[storytelling, photography]
experience design
– creating community-building events that feel like fashion experiences, while helping people practice mindfulness in daily life.
Mindfulness Workhop @
Melody Ehsani Soho
It felt like fashion but the experience was one of mindfulness.
The Cool And Thoughtful Mindfulness Workshop is designed to help us be optimally present in our daily interactions. As the architect of this exerperience, Kerrin has led the workshop online, for fashion brands, in collaboration with social impact consulting firms, and at her concept space in NYC.
The mindfulness workshop offers four different strategies for practicing mindfulness in our daily interactions, bringing to life the Cool And Thoughtful thesis that personal mindfulness and inner peace take full flight when they are in service of being present and kind with others. Each workshop is designed to enable safe sharing and authentic community-building no matter how well participants do (or do not yet) know each other: after “shaping the container,” Kerrin walks through what we mean by “an emotional reaction” before facilitaing paired and group sharing.
In the Melody workshops, women of all walks of life, from a mother-daughter duos, to a long-time brand champion who drove three hours for the event, gathered to experience the kind of authentic connection that happens when we come together to share ourselves authentically and connect in our shared humanity. As with every workshop, attendees leave as new friends, and with a follow up guidelist of strategies for practicing the kind of mindfulness that we workshoped together as a group.
Learn more here.
[Workshop design, facilitation, project management, attendee strategy, art direction]
Hot Girl Walk + Talk with Hot Girl Walk Los Angeles
Connecting, reflecting, and creating community with HGWLA.
“Over the course of 10K steps, we’ll dive into a facilitated conversation about how to be Cool And Thoughtful in your daily life, with others who care about being positive and proactive. You will leave with a tangible way to be mindful throughout your day, a new group of friends who have your back, and a breath of fresh air as you set out into your day.”
In a collaboration with Hot Girl Walk Los Angeles, our intention for this experience was to create a safe space for connecting and reflecting, for people to feel at ease and at home, and to create a meaningful sense of community.
Drawing from the library of Cool And Thoughtful Daily Practices, Kerrin facilitated a light-touch for women to reflect on what it means to “be a yes,” and how this open-minded way of being can create momentum for you, and how to recognize where “no” is a healthy limit versus a stance that might be holding you back in some way.
We subsequently featured this experience in Issue Nº3 of COOL AND THOUGHTFUL Magazine. Learn more here.
[Concept development, facilitation, logo design, art direction]