You must be very considered when pinpointing location options for an autumn-winter fashion shoot. The shoot date is a summer month, and the clothes will inevitably be autumnal, so the weather and shoot backdrop need to be consistent with this. Wool high-neck jumper, £1,500; beaded silk mirrored skirt, POA; metallic leather ankle boots, £1,250, all Louis Vuitton.
Fantasy tweed wool coat, £8,730; glittered fantasy tweed jacket, £8,560; glittered fantasy tweed skirt, £4,690; stretch fabric boots, £1,720, all Chanel boots, £1,720, all Chanel I had landed on the idea of The Great Outdoors for both the fashion and mood, planning to incorporate eclectic and layered combinations of rich textiles, hues and textures, which I had noted at the February fashion shows. So the journey began to find a fitting landscape..
. Faux-fur coat, £325, Guess. Three-layer Storm System linen sleeveless jacket, £2,870; silk top, £900; Jarett silk trousers, £3,495, all Loro Piana.
Buckled leather Brooklyn boots, £1,325, Jimmy Choo. I have long had the Faroe Islands in the back of my mind as an intriguing and otherworldly destination, so I researched to understand its climate and see what the landscape might look like in June. As it happens, temperatures remain relatively low in the Faroes, and daylight hours are at their longest during this month.
With landscapes of epic proportions and unique natural features (grass roof houses, fjords, sea stacks, waterfalls, lagoons), this seemed like the perfect place. Woven coat, £3,870, Max Mara. Silk and linen blend jacket, £3,000; silk organza oversized shirt with bow-scarf collar, £1,800; wool trousers, £980, all Giorgio Armani.
Fishnet virgin wool jumper, POA; wool and silk Bermuda shorts, POA; calfskin thigh boots, £2,190, all Dior. Each day was a road trip . Plotting out the daily routes to incorporate the key elements of the Faroe Islands in the pictures meant all-day travel.
Ensuring every backdrop and location is different is no mean feat, but these islands have diversity in spades. We endlessly weaved in and out of the island's long tunnels beneath the sea connecting one island to the next. The vans housed all the looks and also doubled up as a changing room as we were mostly in very remote places with nowhere to change.
No people, no phone signal, nothing, just wonderful wilderness. Almost every spot in the Faroes is extraordinary and unforgettable. From its staggeringly vast landscapes, unfathomable cliffs and precipices – not forgetting the grassed roof houses and delightful, innumerable churches (there is one in almost every village).
The Faroes are islands of great charm. Wool jumper, £1,000; wool trousers, £1,000, both Loewe (loewe.com).
Leather belt, £205, Max Mara. Baby cashmere coat with lambskin details, £9,530; wool jumpsuit, £6,560; calfskin boots, £2,190; funnel-neck cashmere collar, £620; calfskin belt with palladium-finish buckle, £860, all Hermès. Shooting beneath Fossa in Streymoy (the tallest waterfall in the Faroes) required a tricky hike up and some very precarious manoeuvers.
The water drops in two levels and is within very dark basalt walls. It was rocky terrain but worth the challenge. Due to the deafening, unending water tumbling, the model could not hear what the photographer was saying, so this picture was done entirely via hand gestures.
Crewneck jumper (around shoulders), £450; sleeveless jumper, £380; Priscilla embellished dress, £685; studded belt, £230, all Rag & Bone. I hadn’t fully anticipated how wild and windy the islands can be – really, really wild and windy. This was particularly challenging when we were on precipices where the wind (and rain) rolled in off the sea.
So, tackling the weather was the greatest difficulty. Although the layers of clothes – Chanel, Hermes, Armani – certainly helped, we kitted our model Ilana out with thermal tights, leggings and a hot water bottle. Ensuring the clothes – and hair – looked good when being blown at a rate of 50km per hour was challenging indeed.
Wool coat, £3,800; wool pullover with hood, £1,350; leather boots, £2,450, all Fendi. The number of puffins and sheep greatly outweighs the number of people residing on the Faroe Islands. So it was without question that sheep had to feature somewhere, as they had on my mood board, which I had prepared months earlier.
Day two’s agenda included Gamla Hoyvík, which offered a superb vast ocean and sea stack vista where a flock of sheep gathered hillside. A very curious brown and white sheep appeared right on cue, just behind the model as we photographed her in a brown Fendi coat. It was a perfect and fitting moment.
Model: Ilana Hansen at Storm Hair and make-up: Andrew Gallimore Casting director: Silvy Vignola On-set production: True North Photo assistant: Ryan O’Toole Fashion assistant: Jessica Miller With thanks to Visit Faroe Islands . The team travelled on the new Atlantic Airways direct flight from London to Vágar and stayed at Hotel Brandan ..
