I first came across Danielle Williams, founder of Dressed by Danielle, while I was scrolling through Instagram one day. A woman, in Israel, running her own business, empowering women, and promoting body positivity?!
It gave me so much joy to see her posts about embracing her own body and how she was helping other women do the same through her gorgeous pre-loved clothing. I immediately reached out and made an appointment for my 10-year-old daughter and I to have a personal shopping session with her. Hitting her pre-teen years, my daughter has surpassed my own height and shoe size, and I wanted to give her an empowering experience where she could find clothing that she loved. The fact that Danielle offered a body-positive environment made all the difference, and over a year later, my daughter still talks about how incredible that day was.
As Danielle and I got chatting, we realized how aligned our values were. We realized that although I am a boudoir photographer and she is a personal stylist, what we do for women is actually very similar. We are both blessed to be able to witness women when they are their most vulnerable and authentic selves and help them actualize the power that is already inside of them. Her with clothing. Me with photography.
And part of that vulnerability is women coming face to face with their bodies exactly the way they are.
We spoke about how we are on our personal body love journeys alongside our clients and that our businesses really helped us grow into the women we are today. That our clients constantly inspire us, and that self-love is an ever-evolving journey. You don’t just wake up one day and love everything about yourself, it’s something that you have to compassionately work on.
And so the idea for a creative collaboration was born in hopes of creating another safe space for personal and collective healing.
Danielle posted after the session, “As we were shooting, I asked Rebecca to get some close-ups of my tummy rolls and stretch marks. If you had told 2020 Danielle that 2021 Danielle did such a thing, she would be shocked. I’ve spent many years of my life hating my body and even editing my photos to hide all the things I considered to be imperfections. But I’ve come to realize this year that you can’t hate yourself into a version of yourself that you love.”
This image inspired us to collaborate further with artist and calligrapher, Malka Klein, who brought these words to life…
Danielle wrote this beautiful letter to her body to go along with the image above,
”Dear Body,
I love you.
I love your stretch marks because they remind me of the time when we shed a massive amount of physical and emotional weight.
I love your cellulite because it reminds me how voluptuous and sexy we are.
I love your hairy skin because it reminds me how we’ve begun to embrace all that we are, as we are.
I love your flabby stomach because it reminds me that someday we will literally create humans inside of us, and that’s freaking magical.
I love everything about you, because you are me. You are the one and only vessel through which I will get to exist and experience life, and for that, I will always be grateful to you.
I am sorry for all the negative things I have said about you.
I love you. ”
Being part of this collaboration and witnessing Danielle in her power, just like we do for our own clients, was an incredible honor.
Special thanks to Rhonda Lev for the beautiful hair and makeup, and my husband and business partner, Yehoshua, for making sure all the working parts of this project came together as they did.
In collaboration with Dressed by Danielle
Hair and Makeup by Beauty by Rhonda
Calligraphy by Malka Klein
Kodak Film // Processed and scanned by Panda Labs