Inside HONOLULU: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at our Fall Fashion Shoot

Runway to ranch.

September 24, 2018

Stacey Makiya, Brie Thalmann,

Spur of the Moment: Photographer IJfke Ridgley gets down and dirty to get the last shot of the day.

Photos: Louis Scheer

Rodeo Drive

We wanted to find a location to contrast and highlight the luxe and lavish silks, velvets and leathers we saw on the fall runways. Kawailoa Ranch, the former Meadow Gold Farm, is now a boarding house for 80 horses. Owners Ashley Kirito and James Quitan recently purchased the North Shore ranch to preserve the paniolo culture. Little did they know, their new home was a perfect spot for a fall fashion feature. Its rustic barn doors and horse trailers, mossy boulders and sunlit fields were perfect backdrops.

Runway to Racks

With two days to go, big boxes from New York fashion houses including Fendi, Dolce & Gabbana, and Jimmy Choo arrive at our office. They usually contain runway fashion samples (pieces run from $150 to more than $15,000) we requested or a fabulous surprise just back from a Vogue editorial. As stylists, we sift through it all and mix the samples with clothing and accessories (usually more than 75 pieces) borrowed from top-tier fashion stores and specialty shops. Love the belt on page 52? We got it from Paniolo Trading Co.

Easy rider Chester getting shiny and white before his big debut.

Meanwhile, Back At the Ranch

The photo shoot is scheduled from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. We leave our homes before dawn with nine full bags of clothes and accessories. Then it’s 12 hours of prepping outfits, hair and makeup, dressing and redressing the model in heavy fall fashions, making sure she doesn’t burn out in summer’s heat, setting up shots and doing it all over and over.

Sh*t Happens

Fashion shoots always have small and big hiccups—one time the fire department was called to put out our fog machine. But, besides our model discovering she’s severely allergic to hay (she nailed every shot despite intense hives), our art director Louis Scheer stepping in manure, and friendly horses photobombing shots, things on the ranch ran pretty smoothly.