OC Member & Fashion Photographer Blake Bonaparte talks red thread - literally - with folk artist and Fashion in Concert alum Jordan Chavez and his husband Clayton.
Jordan and I had a date lunch after the gym at @bigbirdchicago ! Had to share a review because it’s a new favorite of mine:
“This place is a new favorite of ours! Such a great find. So much attention to detail and everything is just so cute!
We love the menu selection and quality of food. Everything tasted perfectly seasoned, fresh, and made with love. Even the freakin’ miso soup tasted top tier!
The service was so friendly too; despite getting very busy over the course of our visit, it never felt like we were really waiting and our server stayed so friendly even though she was the running the whole place.
Cannot wait to come back! 🦅”
What an honor it was to not only document a collection for my beloved, @inbetweenbranches , but also this entire event that @karentraceyofficial planned, hosted, and shared with her community! Thank you to everyone who helped make it a success. It was a glowing reflection of everything KarenTracey has done these past 10 years, and I’m proud to have been part of it!
Here’s a short film I made highlighting the event and all it offered. All photos are also available. Contact KarenTracey for the link or visit my website here: clients.luxeverlasting.com
See someone you know? Tag them in the comments!
Stay grateful. 🙌
Over 200,000 of us gathered peacefully here in Chicago yesterday to protest Trump and his anti-American actions. Maybe somewhat unexpectedly, I feel a deep sense of patriotism attending these protests. It’s a physical, real, face-to-face reminder that we still have so many intelligent, passionate people in this country that truly care about its future.
No Kings Protest, 10/18/25
After 26.2 miles, 5 hours 57 minutes, I’ve completed not only my first marathon ever but also… THE marathon, the Chicago Marathon… one of the Global 7!
This city has taught me the definition of grit, resilience, and so much more. This marathon encapsulates these teachings.
Accomplishing this has truly altered my brain chemistry forever. Not only in having to cleanse my body of substances for me to train properly, the reset back to baseline dopamine levels I experienced as a result of this; not just in the physical transformation and the level of fitness I am now at; and not just the race itself and being able to finish within my goal….. But also… something that happened during the race that I can only describe as a moment of synchronicity.
Far too unlikely to be a simple coincidence, in the last few grueling miles of the race, I found a simple bracelet on the ground that read “Never Give Up”. This was a phrase my late father (grandfather) and I shared. In his final years it became so much more than just a phrase, more like a lifelong mantra and ideology for me. And even as the Alzheimer’s slowly ended his life, he truly never gave up… He stayed with us as long as he could.
I firmly believe he delivered this to me in a moment of the race when I needed it most. A race with over 50,000 runners and far more in attendance, I happen to run across this bracelet despite the width and length of this course, the sea of debris throughout and around it, and all other countless factors that may have prevented me from receiving it… I happen to see it on the ground and recognize it as something of importance.
There is so much more to this world than what we think we know or understand. Set goals, achieve them. Love you all.
I am beyond proud. My husband, @inbetweenbranches , has been working tirelessly on this show for the past several months. Every day he has been conceptualizing, sewing, building, and even burning these looks from scratch… And last night we finally got to see it all come together.
I am beyond proud of him, and I had to share all his looks with you here.
This collection, as with all of his, goes beyond fashion. It is about true art. As he stated in his collection synopsis:
“I’m planning an emotional journey through time that visits the foundations that society is built upon as well as the soaring heights it’s reached. As our nation faces a rewriting of history I am pulled to create a collection that doesn’t run from the truth, but instead champions it. A collection that doesn’t cover up the wrongs of our culture but instead acknowledges them in the hopes of growing.”
Towne ‘N’ Country, Fall 2025
Special thanks to…
Visionary & Host:
@whynotpetites and @britneywittes
Models:
@chauthecurator@brooke__ashley@official_avagrey@mcqueenly@ian.willing@thesanarehman@nedraikhumen@jonfranc1s@paris_global@oliveroliverofficial@maggiegewgew@arthydao
Helios Eyeliner Stickers featured on all models:
@shopfleeky
❤️
I am so grateful and honored to get to work with these two again tomorrow. Their wedding day is finally here! And I am beyond excited. It’s gonna be so perfect. ✨
