I’ll admit, I’m not much of a fashion connoisseur but I can’t say I didn’t jump at the chance when I was asked if I would cover Clinton Kelly’s visit to the Towson Town Center Macy’s. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Clinton Kelly is 1/2 the team on the popular TV show, What Not to Wear. The show specializes in revamping everyday women in outfits that bring out their beauty, all shapes and sizes. This past Saturday, Clinton came to Towson Town Center to give some advice to Baltimore area women on how to look and dress wearing clothing from Macy’s. Kelly is also the author of several books including Freakin’ Fabulous: How To Dress, Speak, Behave, Eat, Entertain, Decorate and Generally Be Better Than Everyone Else and Oh, No She Didn’t!: 100 Styles Mistakes Women Make and How to Avoid Them. Self confidence is key.
I was so happy to see that Macy’s used models of all ages, shapes and sizes. They all looked beautiful in clothing and styles that really worked for their body types.
“There’s something about teenage girls, preteen girls, when they’re in that development age – they hang on to anything negative that you say to them for the REST of their lives. So if you have a young girl in your life and you think that her pants make her butt look big just shut your mouth, SHUT UP, don’t tell her that because she goes through the REST of her life thinking, “oh my mother said my butt looked big when I was twelve” and she can’t get it out of her head. It’s almost impossible to extract that negative message from her head so it’s best to just BE QUIET. Then there’s another thing. Someone said something really stupid when you were young, like “Oh you shouldn’t wear yellow, you look terrible in yellow.” You have to just forgive the idiots for being idiots. That’s the thing about life, you have to forgive people for being stupid because you just can’t argue with stupid people. They’re too stupid to know how stupid they are. You can’t let them win. ” – Clinton Kelly
I really loved what he had to say. It’s very true, especially in this society. Everyone, not just women, tend to hold onto the negativity that others project onto them. For every one compliment you remember, it seems that there are ten negative criticisms that you can’t seem to let go of. Please be more mindful of what you say and how you say it. Sometimes, honest opinion is needed but that doesn’t go without saying that it can’t be done in a positive manner.
In order to make this relatable to my blog, I shot the event in film. This posed quite a few challenges. I used a combination of Kodak Portra 400 speed film for half and then switched to 800 speed. I also had a plastic fisheye lomo camera with me, which had only 100 speed Ektar in it. Not so good when shooting indoors. They turned out better than expected! Not too bad for using three cameras at once.
Kodak Portra 800
Ektar 100 / Fisheye Lomo
Kodak Portra 800
Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra 800
Ektar 100 / Fisheye Lomo
Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra 800
Kodak Portra 800
Ektar 100 / Lomo Fisheye
Kodak Portra 800
Kodak Portra 800
Kodak Portra 400
To make sure I got everything I needed, I also shot some digital to have as a backup. I was pleasantly surprised by the film turnout. As usual, I shot with a Canon AE-1. I also shot with a Lomography Fisheye 2. It always blows my mind the difference between film and digital even though by now I should be used to it.
Book Signing
Book Signing
![This cute little girl asked Clinton if he and Stacy [What Not To Wear] were friends.](https://120pearls.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/img_5821.jpg)
This cute little girl asked Clinton if he and Stacy [What Not To Wear] were friends.
Fierce Shoes
Clinton critique.
Happy fans
Beautiful models
This adorable model was only sixteen.
Book signing
Another lovely model showcasing print and bright color.
Lime green pants gave the audience a glimpse of the 80’s.
Thanks for reading! Please check out more of Clinton Kelly’s work, quite the interesting man. Also, don’t forget to check out Macy’s new spring line with brands such as Calvin Klein, INC, Ralph Lauren, Jones New York and Michael by Michael Kors.
Visual Individual 
Loved the article. I think his message was awesome and needs to spread all over. Maybe if people would stop & think a lot of young girls would become more confident & then grow up to be women with wonderful self esteem. I also loved the photos. They captured so much of the mood of the event.
Thank you! And yes I agree. People hardly realize how hurtful their words can be when discussing someone’s appearance.
I love this piece. I especially love Kelly but it was awesome to see him so down-to-earth! The photos are awesome! I especially like the last one. The sound bite was also awesome. Good use of multimedia. I really think he had a good message to send. I agree 100%.
Thanks Amy 🙂 Me too, he was such a nice man. He gave everyone a great message to leave with. I’m so glad I was able to get that soundbite, it really encompassed what his mission was about.
Hi Kaitlin! I love your blog! I just started shooting 35mm a couple years ago and reading your articles inspires me to keep working at it! I often shoot in Kodak Portra 400 as well. The pictures in this post are great! I was curious about your use of the 400 speed indoors. When you used it, did you have the ISO at 400 still, or did you set it higher? I’ve often been able to set the ISO of Portra 400 to 1600 when shooting indoors and still get good results, but I’m not sure that I’ve ever actually had the ISO at 400 when I shot inside. Love the results I get outdoors from Portra 400 though. Thanks for posting!
Hi Flora! So happy to hear you read my blog and that you shoot 35mm, my favorite. I kept the 400 at 400 still, I could have pushed it to 800 (1600 indoors with low lighting would have been a bit too much grain and contrast for me). I didn’t push it because the 400 roll was already five frames in and I didn’t want to ruin them. I used 800 after which seemed to work fine without needing to push! I like to push 400 outside though, in natural light it gives pretty pastel colors 🙂
Watch Clinton Kelly on What Not To Wear whenever I can. Wonderful article…I loved his message to everyone….sort of like….if you can’t say anything nice don’t say anything at all……also like how down to earth he sounds. Again awesome pictures by an awesome photographer. Great coverage!
Yes! Very down to earth and very nice. Thank you!
Love his message, pictures are great and some of the outfits are fabulous, as always, I love your work Kait 🙂
Thanks! and yes there were some pretty great outfits. I was a fan of the lime green pants.
Love it. If only more fashion shows were run by such positive and uplifting personalities. Incorporating all body types into a show should be a no-brainer. Thank you Clinton Kelly!! And thank you Kait for the awesome coverage of the event. So proud
Thank you!!! And yes, I was so happy to see all shapes and body sizes presented. It was really great that there were outfit choices for every shape. Clinton was pretty honest about what works and what doesn’t.
Pingback: My Hectic Life: Baltimore Sun Interning, Class and Turning One | 120 Pearls