People often ask me…where do you get the girl’s clothes?  I’ve decided to write a series of blog posts on how I style my girls in the hopes that this will help you with styling your family, especially for photo sessions.

Like almost everything I offer at the studio, I try it out on myself or my own family before recommending to others.  This summer, I stumbled across Elestory,  a brand that I quickly fell in love with.  After a little research, I was even more excited to find that Elestory is also based out of the San Francisco Bay area.  We are neighbors!

From the moment we opened up the package that arrived in the mail, these Lilac Ballerina dresses were a hit.  My one-and-a-half year old actually giggled when she realized that she and her older sister were matching.  The cotton and the tulle are both thick and soft and the moon and stars that give the dress a gold and silver sparkle are really embedded into the fabric, which is huge since my 5-year-old who loves all things sparkly tried to pick them off immediately.  Thankfully, she gave up once she realized that they were actually embedded in the fabric, rather than merely ‘stuck’ on.

Elestory’s tagline…’because childhood is a special occasion,’ really struck a chord with me.  Not only did I take the girls out specifically to photograph them in these gorgeous dresses, but they wore them for an annual religious observance which is something our family looks forward to every year.  The dresses were also comfortable enough for them to wear for some sightseeing at the state capitol building in Sacramento.  Why not look adorable while out and about on a family field trip?  Of course I loved these dresses as a professional children’s photographer (see below for ‘twirl factor’), but as their mom, I also loved that complete strangers who passed us by on the street commented on how adorable the girls were in these dresses.

While the dresses were pretty enough on their own, the matching hair accessory really gave the coordinating look extra polish.  I love tucking my daughters hair into casual updos and the hair accessory was the perfect piece to cover up the rubber bands and hair pins with a strong alligator clip which stayed securely in place…even as this energetic 5-year-old danced her way through the park.

Of course, as a professional children’s photographer, I am always thinking about how I am going to display the photos of my children.  This smoky purple tone works great for the gallery walls we have been building over the past few years in our home.  However, I just noticed that Elestory came out with a new series of colors for fall.  I am crossing my fingers that one of you will like the new Peacock Blue as much as I do and choose that for your next photo session.  The jewel tones would look amazing with fall colors.  You can check it out the Peacock blue here.  They also have coordinating clothes for moms here.  Talk about taking the guesswork out of what to wear for your fall family portraits.  Don’t forget to use code:  sky910 for 10% off at www.elestory.com.  

No monetary compensation was received for this post.