Just Who Is That Masked Lady?

What's worse the pandemic or looking hideous in dumpy ill-fitted protection mask?

The answer is...the pandemic!

But never fear, I've found just the person who can make everyone look cool in a mask. Meet Irena Murphy, owner and operator of Stitch Bitch Masks.

Irena-approved style...

Her story hasn't been a simple path to beautifying a pandemic. She lost her job as a hairstylist during the shutdown of Los Angeles and leaned on her two years of tailoring and design skills acquired a lifetime ago and dusted off her sewing machine to craft masks to donate to hospitals. After running out of material and having to buy more it dawned on her that she might be onto something. If she had to buy more, why not do something different, something out of the box. She wanted to curate a look that's "Irena Approved." The Irena-approved look quickly moved to Etsy where she developed styles that alleviated a lot of problems she identified with other masks on the market. Then when her website Stitch Bitch Masks website launched she was quickly (and temporarily) sold out of everything. But here she is and with the world short on masks, Irena Murphy is a mask maker and a business owner.

MEDIA GUY: That's certainly a nice career pivot. Have you always been an entrepreneur by nature?

IRENA MURPHY: I have always been an entrepreneur. I guess being a hairstylist is running your own business. But I've also sold other things on Etsy. I tried a small pinup headband thing for a bit and I used to make homemade lip balm, packaging, labeling selling it online and to local salons.

MG: I heard that your masks sold out immediately, why do you think yours stood out above the others?

IM: My masks did sell out immediately and it was overwhelming. I think there are a couple reasons. One, the world was seriously out of face masks. There was a call to action article in Forbes magazine last month asking seamstresses to donate to hospitals because they were out or short. Well, guess what? Regular people couldn't get masks either. Bigger companies were starting to sell them but they were sold out too. Buying from independent people like me meant we had it on hand and were shipping out sooner than later. But there's a ton of sellers on Etsy, I think mine did so well because they're cool. I buy specialty fabric and I'm able to source some designs that you can't buy at regular fabric places. I also add wire in the nose to make it more form fitting and the elastic I started using is thinner and you can tie it to adjust. I think everyone is scrambling to supply the demand. It's like the Gold Rush now. But these companies putting out masks are not necessarily designers and they're putting out masks that are baggy, plain, thin, generally not made well and I think people are catching on.

MG: To get everything going, you hired models for the visuals? Where did you find them?

IM: I've been modeling everything because of the stay-at-home order. I have to be my own model. I've started using a few friends, popping over and shooting them at a distance. I figure we're all in masks so it's a bit better!

MG: How has the transition from stylist to seamstress been?

The Stitch Bitch Ninja Mask

IM: Honesty, it’s been rough. I’ve never worked so hard in my life. (Laughs) I’d get up and start sewing and wouldn’t stop till midnight. But that’s because I’m building something new; both in learning to sew the best mask out there and also learning to grow this as a business. I finally started hiring people to help and it’s been going better! I love creating so the transition with that is easy. Creating new hair as a hairstylist, designing new masks, or creating a new business. As long as things are new and exciting I can handle it well. It’s the monotony of doing the same thing I don’t do well with.

MG: Does this give you aspirations to work on other clothing items?

IM: Yes, my God, yes! I’ve always wanted to go into fashion design. It’s the whole reason I took tailoring to begin with. I just didn’t realize how easy it was till I was pushed to do it. I haven’t had anything mass produced yet but I’ve talked with manufacturers and put together tech packs and tutorials on my sewing techniques and it’s honestly not that hard. You just need money. (Laughs) I really want to focus on masks right now and as long as that’s a need.

MG: Tell me about this vintage van you're single-handedly remodeling.

IM: aaaahhhh hahahaha! Yes! The Dream Machine! Vanlife baby! #vannin haha! I got so obsessed with van life on Instagram. There's something about running away and also being at home that just hooked into me. Although I'm not doing a full build out, my plan is to do a rad shagin' wagon retro conversion that also just doubles as a sort of glamping mobile. I went down the rabbit hole of YouTube videos and learned how to do the flooring and insulation and now I'm reupholstering the walls. I was gonna work on it during the quarantine and then...started a mask business! So it's on hold. Every now and then when I want to get away and I can't I just go sit in there and drink my coffee. It's nice to get out of your house, even if that means going to sit in your car. It's also nice to have air conditioning, a rad stereo in your car and a fold out futon in your car :)

#VanLife

MG: You have done everything it seems—actress, writer, screenwriter, model, hair stylist, director, and now a seamstress—which is the most rewarding career choice?

IM: I have done a bit everything and I'm really hoping it all amounts to something some day They are all very useful skills in different ways. But what kind of rewarding are we talking about here? Financially rewarding or emotionally rewarding? They are usually different. I wish they were one in the same. But emotionally rewarding has to have been filmmaking. It's something I never thought I could do and then I did it. Having an idea, a feeling or even a moment and being able to communicate that in a way that's exactly how you feel is an amazing feeling. It's like poetry, or maybe I'm just not the best with regular words, but when people see a film and say, "that's how I feel!" or "I get that" or "I've had that conversation." It's all those things that connect us as people that become profound and there are so many moving parts to capture that. It's a pretty big accomplishment. Financially rewarding? That's yet to be seen and I really must keep this mask business going, right? So far designing something and making a company around that is like making a film. There's a lot of moving parts. If I can keep the plates spinning It might take over as the most rewarding thing I've ever done.

MG: Launching a business in the middle of a crisis can't be easy in the middle of a pandemic - what were your biggest obstacles?

IM: It's been crazy and I'm a crazy person for doing it. The biggest obstacles, of course, have been that everything is closed and no one can help me. Seriously! Fabric wholesalers or even consumer fabric shops are closed. I can order online but it's been a guessing game as to when the supplies will actually arrive. I've just had to be creative and really dig for different suppliers and ultimately I've had to pay a lot more in both shipping and the cost of fabric and then just wait and make do with what I have. It's also been hard because I'm picky and want to do everything. But then I tell myself something like, "Bill Gates didn't create a huge company by demanding that he build every single computer himself..." or something like that. Plus, the world is bonkers crazy right now. These are just some of the problems with trying to grow a business in a pandemic.

MG: Staying sane during all of this - what's your blueprint?

IM: I am not sane through any of this, let's get that straight. I wish I had a blueprint. I used to mediate twice a day and you'd think with all this time I would be. I go to sleep with a million thoughts and I wake up with a million to do's. I guess in a way what's keeping me somewhat sane is that I have something else to focus on other than the crazy mess that's going on outside. I rarely go to the grocery store or anywhere. I just make masks. It might be making me a crazy but in a better way because it's given me a something to talk about and keep my brain turning with creative ways to run a business given the limitations. All of which are not the big overwhelming elephant in the room: The Pandemic along with the depression from loss of income, uncertainty of the future, inability to connect in person. All that isn't on my mind because my focus has been designing the perfect mask and figuring out how I might be able to grow a business from my home.

MG: Where do you want to see this business go?

IM: I've worked consistently for months and put a unreasonable amount of money into this business so... I want to see this business go as far as it can! I could see this being in stores like Urban Outfitters and boutiques. And I'd like to get more sales over seas where mask culture already existed before. I've also made video tutorials on how to sew my designs so I could see making that available. I think it'd be so cute to make some mask and matching outfit combinations one day. But for now my immediate goals are to get out all the designs for masks I have in my head and make them available. I still have a lot of ideas for making "Summer Masks" and a retro series and even some different cuts I think would work well with different elastic combinations. So there's a ton of possibilities!

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Connect with Irena... 

Website
Instagram

Reigning Badass of the Pet Portrait Scene

She shoots her darkly creative, kitschy and oddly historical painting-esque pet portraits in her Downtown Los Angeles studio. She has a unique self-awareness that makes each portrait one-of-a-kind. Working with custom Victorian and 60’s wallpaper-style backdrops, as well as 1980’s double exposures, her finished products seem to span centuries. She shoots for movie studios, big brands, movie stars, and your neighbor next door, all with a distinctive eye for high style.

Two badasses: Danielle and Panton, the cat.

Quite simply she's the reigning badass of the pet portrait scene.

She's Danielle Spires.

For half a decade, I've worked closely with Danielle at my day job. Need an award-winning photo shoot staged and completed in a snap? She's the one to go to. Have two thousand photos that need to be curated and produced into a four minute movie in a day? Yep, she's the one. Need a photo of a star sagely photoshopped so that three-inch nose hairs disappears? Ditto: Danielle.

Yes, I know a lot of the stories, but now it's time for more to know her. It's time for all of you to plan your pet portraits ... once we are allowed out of our houses of course. If not to honor your best buddy, do it for the cool experience you'll have during the photo shoot.

MEDIA GUY: Pet portraits? I didn't know that was a thing. How did you know it was a thing?

DANIELLE SPIRES: It’s surprising how many people think I’m kidding when I say I’m a pet portrait photographer. I’ve always known since I was young that I’m a childfree DINK kind of girl, therefore cats have always been my roommates. So as I progressed through the years as a portrait photographer, I naturally turned to my cats as muses. I was greatly influenced by Pre-Raphaelite paintings of people with their animals, and just instilled that in my personal projects. Eventually I decided to turn it into a business after I offered pet portraits as a fundraiser to help with my cats’ veterinary bills, and the response was overwhelming.

MG: First of all, what's a DINK girl? Second of all, cats as muses? Don't they just lay in the corner and act aloof and uncaring?

DS: DINK means Dual Income No Kids. My lifelong vision is me, a life partner, kitties, and a dedication to art. The best part about cats is how much work it takes to make them pose in photos. I admire the emotional intelligence and independence. Not that I don’t love dogs in the studio, they’re so much fun. But cats are a near constant challenge. Cats know no masters, they come into our lives unknowingly enriching them. We should be thankful for the finite time they decide to spend with us, giving us an opportunity for companionship and otherworldly friendship. And should we repay them with ridiculous photoshoots.

MG: Which Pre-Raphaelite paintings spoke to you loudest?

The SAVIOURS Series: Pre-Raphaelite Essences.

DS: I’m always torn between tortured Baroque paintings and the sensual ’slice of life' Pre-Raphaelites. But there are probably two paintings I find myself thinking about often, and I know you didn’t ask about Baroque but "The Bridesmaid" by J E Millais and Artemisia Gentileschi’s "Judith Slaying Holofernes" sit at the top of my list. The Bridesmaid possibly conveys a listlessness to the marriage conventions of that time, while being such a striking and romantic portrait of a woman. And Gentileschi definitely has a way of painting women and telling stories.

MG: Tell me about your favorite shoot?

DS: I have so many favorite shoots, but the series that comes to mind first is my SAVIOURS series I shot for an art show. I shot the whole series a few weeks after my beloved cat Noguchi passed away, in his honor. Each photo is made to look like a Pre-Raphaelite painting of a woman with her pet, and I sourced the weirdest and strangest pets for this. The coolest was watching each owner interact with their beloved pet, and tell me stories about the friendship they have with their snake, hedgehog, cat, lizard, etc. The weirdest was shooting a tarantula named Lily. She was a fuzzy little cute tarantula, and we’d just drop her on her owner’s neck and let her crawl while I quickly took photos.

MG: So what is it that drives your clients to you? Are you unique in this world of pet portraits? Is it your distinctive style that has driven you to the top of this niche? Or do you just have "it"?

DS: Oh wow, that’s a tough question. I’d like to think I have a distinct style that people seek out. Sometimes clients scroll through my Instagram and when they come in the studio, they tell me they want the stoic, stiff posed look on kitschy wallpaper that is prevalent in most of my work. I always tell them to smile for a couple shots, for their mom’s sake. I also love to think I make this experience fun, unique and little weird. How often do you drive to a photo studio in the outskirts of Downtown Los Angeles to take a photo of your dog in a cowboy hat, double exposed to look like the soft focus Olan Mills portraits of your childhood? I guess I can make “unique” obtainable to anyone and everyone.

Let 'em eat...catnip! Royal catnip.

MG: Your dream shoot would be...?

DS: Well, I suppose it's to be hired to shoot the most opulent pet portraits of people and their horses (or any pet). I’m talking Rococo style sets, over the top gowns and dramatic costumes for the animals. Imagine a horse in a custom jabot and headpiece encrusted in jewels.

MG: Without giving away everything, what was your biggest nightmare shoot?

DS: Ha, can I say my biggest nightmare shoot didn’t even involve a pet?  I’m actually going to have to say my own cat Panton is my hardest client. He absolutely shuts down, turns into a bowl of pudding and starts shaking like he’s being taken to the vet. I get about four photos with him before I set him down, which he then promptly forgets why he’s angry after I give him treats. I get literally four shots. I can’t believe my own cat is my nightmare client.

MG: Are famous people's pets more pampered than your average citizen's pets?

DS: Absolutely not! Although I knew a private pilot that was hired to fly celebrities' pets around the country. I have regular clients come in with their pet in a stroller, fresh from the groomer, eating the most expensive artisanal snacks and wearing jeweled outfits. I love it because our pets are our best friends, our comrades, our families…they deserve only the finest.

MG: Do you offer craft services for the four- and eight-legged models? How about Evian water?

Badass self portrait.

DS: (Laughs) I actually do! In addition to fancy water, I always have fresh dog and cat treats—(the good stuff!)—and custom-made cat toys that I hand-sew myself.

MG: How do you bring out the personality of the pet and their human partner?

DS: There’s such a fine line between bringing out their personality and a highly stylized shoot. I try to balance both. Most of the time, my client has a specific idea or vision when they come into the studio. They meticulously pick out clothing specific to the backdrop and ask to be posed a certain way. Then I step in and tweak everything to heighten the style. That way we meet in the middle, their true personality comes out, and it also looks like a Danielle Spires shot.

MG: What do you do for animal lovers who are allergic but want a hip, once-in-a-lifetime portrait? You know, people like me?

DS: Hypoallergenic dogs! Someday I’ll get you in the studio with a hypoallergenic dog. I expect velvet loafers and a matching pocket square.

MG: What's a metal/goth/satanic version of a queen?

DS: Me...

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Connect with Danielle, especially her IG which is always poppin’ off. 

Website

Facebook

Instagram

The 43 Postcards Project: Bulgaria

I kicked off 2020, by adding intriguing visuals from my lifetime of travels around the world and called it the 43 Postcards Project. So far, my quest has taken me to places familiar and others remote, in 43 countries and counting, from the deep Pacific to the deserts of the Middle East to the snow-crusted landscapes of the Arctic Circle. Here, I'll share a handful or two of snapshots from each country I visit, as I saw them. Enjoy the views.

_______________

Okay, so where am I?

Up until 2007—when they joined the European Union—Bulgaria has never really been on its own. Twenty seven hundred years ago, the Thracians ruled, who were then followed by the Romans, the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman Turks and then, finally, the Communists. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, it took quite a while for Bulgaria to get rolling. Now the country has emerged and casting its own shadows. Where the old Lenin monument stood, a statue of Sofia’s Patron Saint now casts its own shadow of protection. Under her gaze, the dark princess is said to embody the city’s East-meets-West, old-meets-new allure of reimagined Eastern Europe.

After Bulgaria gained its independence in the late 19th century, Sofia was chosen as the country’s new capital. It’s now been capital for 140 years sitting the heart of the Balkan Peninsula.

The city’s appearance today has been widely shaped by the twists and political turbulence of the 20th century. Bulgaria was a parliamentary monarchy prior to World War II. Its architecture was influenced by the examples of German, Austrian, and French. The second half of the 20th century saw Bulgaria firmly entrenched behind the Iron Curtain, dependent on the USSR’s influence and aid. It was in that time that Bulgaria’s architecture and urban planning was re-conceptualized to fit the structure of the communist ideals. Once the Soviet blockade was released in 1989, the country started its transition into democracy and is now a member of NATO and the European Union.

There’s a Bulgarian expression: B мЂтнА вода леcho ca лoви. Which means, “It is good fishing in troubled waters.” Or to the layman, by taking advantage of chaotic conditions one can easily serve one’s own purposes. In short, this think and survivalist mentality united to construct the unique blend of culture and style that personifies the nation today.

The St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is the second largest Eastern Orthodox church in Europe.

Sofia's Patron Saint overlooks the capital.

Lots of Third Reich and World War II memorabilia at the flea markets.

There's a huge farmer's market underneath these ruins.

The National Theatre

Communism sculpture has been replaced with ones of love and hope. 

A photographer's delight.

Momento Park

Fresh fruits at the farmer's market.

Communism buildings and lifestyles still permeate.

Buy a train ticket can be challenging.

Inside the gypsy ghetto on the outskirts of Sofia.

Abandoned market en route to Plovdiv.

The snow closer to the Balkan Mountains can be formidable.

Welcome to the Bulgarian Communist Party Headquarters in Buzludzha, located in the Central Balkan Mountains: Elevation, 5,000 feet. I visited here twice on the same trip: before and after the snowfall. You get two dynamically different views of this amazing journal of Communist Grandeur. Construction began in 1974 and was opened in 1981. It was built by the Bulgarian communist regime commemorating the secretly organized movement by Dimitar Blagoev in 1891 that led to formation of Social Democratic Party, the precursor to the Bulgarian Communist Party.

This building is an example of Brutalist architecture. Raw concrete and massive, fortress like structures were popular with Communist governments and institutions. it was not considered a style but an expression of "moral seriousness.” "Let generation after generation of socialist and communist Bulgaria come here, to bow down before the feats and the deeds of those who came before; those who lived on this land and gave everything they had to their nation. Let them feel that spirit that ennobles us and as we empathize with the ideas and dreams of our forefathers, so let us experience that same excitement today! Glory to Blagoev and his followers; those first disciples of Bulgarian socialism, who sowed the immortal seeds of today’s Bulgarian Communist Party in the public soul!" -Bulgarian Communist leader Todor Zhivkov, at the opening ceremony of the monument.
The collapse of the Soviet Union caused Buzludzha's closure in 1989.