Avenue of Angels

It’s official. I’m finally a resident of Los Angeles, CA, and for exactly two weeks now. It’s crazy how much things can change in such a short amount of time. For anyone that cares, I now live in West Hollywood, right on the border of where WeHo meets Beverly Hills. Pretty crazy, huh? I live with my best friend, Priscillia, whom I’ve known since 4th grade, which is pretty awesome. We are practically siblings so moving in together has never been easier. I mean, until she gets sick of me asking her to help me take photos for this.

I’ve had quite the eventful weekend this past Friday until today. My (new) friend, Drew, who happens to be a photographer, or as he likes to call it, a visual storyteller, came down from Northern California to collaborate on a few shoots with me. Three to be exact. We’ve been in the talks of working together on shooting, where I style the models and he photographs, but it hasn’t come to fruition until now. Drew went to my high school and is two years younger than me, so when I was a senior, he was just making his name big around my school for being the go-to photographer. Ever since, I have watched from afar as his style and eye have done nothing but improve. You can see this evolution on his Flickr account here.

As mentioned, Drew and I collaborated on a few shoots, which we have both been recently featuring on our Instagram accounts. I don’t want to give too much away, in terms of the looks we put together and the actual photos (considering they are still being sorted through and worked on), but let me tell you, they will turn out awesome. I will definitely be doing individual blog posts on them as they come. Either way, I am beyond stoked on them and can’t wait for all of you to see! But one thing that we have also been somewhat planning is working on my blog. Drew just has a way with photographing his peers and I have always been jealous of seeing all these great photos, skillfully taken and edited, of my friends on Facebook and I told him that in exchange for letting him crash at my place, he would have to help me out. So while location scouting for our upcoming shoots, Drew and I took some time to explore LA while he took photos of me. They turned out great, and since I know you are all sick and tired of reading this little essay, I present to you my first look as a LA citizen.

These photos were taken on Melrose Avenue, hence the title of this post. Although LA is the City of Angels, I would definitely say that most of those Angelic residents can be found swiping their black cards on Melrose. There is something about this outfit that I absolutely love and speaks true to my style. For those of you who are new followers, I am a huge fan of mixing the comfort and effortless look of the beach with the sharp and clean aspects of prep. The hat was purchased specifically for Coachella (shoutout to Pharrell) and has definitely got more use out of it than I originally thought. My pride and joy of this outfit though is my pair of Louboutin Dada loafers. I purchased these last month as a “Congrats David, you graduated!” and I absolutely adore them. Hands down, my favorite pair of shoes, except they are the ones that I try to wear pretty sparingly. Regardless, I love them, and am happy to finally own my first pair. Key word: First. I’m looking forward to this new chapter in my life and I am excited to see how my style changes from here. Stay tuned for more photos taken this weekend!

Photos taken by: Drew Osumi

T-Shirt: J.Crew, Pants: J.Crew, Loafers: Christian Louboutin, Hat: OBEY, Watch: Burberry, Bracelets: Assorted (Hermès and Giles & Brother), Sunglasses: Ray-Ban