Fashion photography for a start-up clothing brand: models, a beach and a muscle car

Name: La Lente Photographer
Address: Epping, NSW, 2121, AU
Telephone: 0414 442 440
Price range: $

A start-up clothing brand wanted attitude, not a studio. Two models, a beach, a blue muscle car and a cigarette or two later, here is how it came together.

By Paul D’Ambra · May 2018

Home - Business - Fashion photography for a start-up clothing brand: models, a beach and a muscle car

Woman in sunglasses and a pink fur top with a nude tulle skirt standing in beach dunes, a lagoon and headland behind.

Woman in a sheer nude maxi dress with white lace appliqué walking barefoot on the sand.

Woman with a cigarette in the driver's seat of a blue car, her nude heels up on the door.

Woman in cat-eye sunglasses and a pink fur top with both arms raised behind her head.

Woman in a pink fur top, lace mini and nude heels stepping out of a blue car.

A taste of the shoot. More photos are in the full gallery further down the page. Click any photo to see it large.

Mermaids Cowboys and Indians was a start-up clothing brand with a cheeky style. They needed fashion photography to show off their new clothing lines, on social media first and on their website later, once they had the budget. So we went outdoors with two models and a car, and I made photos that feel a little edgy and gritty, with attitude, rather than clean studio shots.

The brief: every outfit, with attitude, and no studio

The brief had three parts. Photograph each of the outfit samples. Show the models wearing them in different poses. And make the photos feel natural and candid, not staged and not like they were taken in a studio.

For a new label, that makes sense. Lookbook photography on a plain backdrop shows the cut of a garment, but it says very little about who the brand is for. Product lifestyle photography on location can do both jobs at once.

An outdoor clothing shoot with two models and a car

The client organised the two models and the vehicle. My job was the creative side: choosing where to put people, working with the sun, and getting a look that suited the brand's target audience.

We used two settings. The first was a beach with sand dunes and a lagoon, with open sky behind the models. The second was a blue muscle car with white stripes, parked on a grassy street.

Woman in sunglasses and a pink fur and tulle gown facing the camera on the dunes.

Low-angle shot of a woman in a pink fur top and tulle skirt looking up at a clear blue sky.

What I photographed

A pink faux-fur bandeau with a long nude tulle skirt, on the dunes.
The same pink fur top with a white lace mini skirt and nude heels, in and out of the car.
A brown faux-fur bandeau with black pants.
A sheer nude maxi dress with white lace detail, walking on the sand.
A black top with a hot-pink tulle skirt, in the back seat of the car.

Each outfit got full-length shots, so you can see the whole garment, plus closer crops that show the texture of the fur, the lace and the tulle. I shot in portrait and landscape, so the brand had photos for a social feed and for a wide website banner.

Couple in the back seat of a car, the woman in black with a pink tulle skirt looking at the camera.

Woman in a black top leaning on the car door while a man sits behind her in the back seat.

Making clothing photos a little edgy and gritty

This brand wasn't after polite catalogue photos. The car scenes lean into that: a cigarette as a styling prop, heels up on the door, a couple sprawled across the back seat. The see-through lace dress on the beach fits the same theme. Those choices matched the people the brand was talking to.

Edgy still has to sell clothes, though. Even in the moodiest frames, the outfit stays the hero. The fur, the lace and the tulle are always easy to see, and you can tell how each piece sits on the body.

Woman in a brown fur top sitting in a car with smoke drifting across the back seat.

Woman in a brown fur top looking down in a car seat, holding a cigarette.

I also kept a mix of close-ups and wider frames in the car, so the same outfit could carry a whole run of social posts without looking repetitive.

Close-up of a woman in gold sunglasses and pink fur behind the wheel of a blue car.

Woman in cat-eye sunglasses, pink fur top and lace skirt looking out of a car at a man.

Where the photos were going

The photos were for the brand's social media first, to show off the new product lines. The website was the next step, once the budget was there. Shooting with both in mind from the start means the same set can move across when the site is ready.

Tips for clothing brands planning a lookbook or lifestyle shoot

If you run a small clothing label, this is what I'd plan before the day:

Bring every sample, and know which outfits matter most.
Pick settings that suit your customer, not just a pretty view.
Get a full-length shot of every outfit, then the details: fabric, trims and accessories.
Shoot both orientations, so the same photos work for posts, stories and your website.
Use props that fit your brand. Here it was a muscle car and a cigarette. For you it might be a bike, a coffee or a dog.
Choose models who look like they belong in your clothes.

For a different look from another clothing shoot, see the Ao Dai clothing photography post.

Fashion photography for clothing brands in Sydney

I'm a Sydney photographer, and I photograph clothing and products for small brands on location. Business photography starts at $495 for up to an hour, with up to 10 edited photos and a commercial licence. See business photography in Sydney for what's included.

Shoot details

Client
Mermaids Cowboys and Indians

Industry
Start-up clothing brand

Where
On location: a beach with dunes and a lagoon, and a grassy street

Photographed
Two models wearing each outfit sample, on the beach and with a blue muscle car

Used for
Social media first, then the website

Business photography in Sydney →

The full gallery

Close-up of a woman in cat-eye sunglasses and a pink fur bandeau, hair blowing against the sky.

Man leaning into a woman's neck from behind as she wears a pink fur top and tulle skirt under a blue sky.

Woman in a pink fur top and long tulle skirt with a hand on her hip, looking away into the sun.

Low-angle shot of a woman in sunglasses, pink fur top and tulle skirt, face turned to the sun.

Woman in a pink fur top and white lace mini skirt sitting in the driver's seat of a blue car.

Woman in gold sunglasses with one hand on the steering wheel of a blue car, legs out of the door.

Woman in gold cat-eye sunglasses looking over her shoulder from the driver's seat.

Woman in a brown fur top leaning out of a blue car window with a cigarette in her mouth.

Woman in a brown faux-fur bandeau standing beside a blue car, a cigarette in her mouth.

Woman in a brown fur top and black pants relaxing across the front seat of a blue car.

Man leaning over a woman lying across a car seat in a black top and pink tulle skirt.

Woman with eyes closed lying in a car with pink tulle, a man's face beside hers.

Close crop of a woman's brown faux-fur bandeau, gold necklace and pink nails, a man leaning in.

More photos from the Mermaids Cowboys and Indians shoot. Click any photo to see it large.

Need photos of your clothing range?

I can photograph your outfits on models, on location, with a look that suits your brand and your customers. Business photography starts at $495 for up to an hour, with up to 10 edited photos and a commercial licence.

See business prices →

More stories

Tim Storrier's bronze Wayfarer seen between two visitors' hats, Sculpture by the Sea Bondi 2026

October 2026

Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2026, with the camera I had in my hand

Photos from Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2026, the exhibition’s 30th year, shot midweek on a phone after I left my memory