Style: Amanda

Today I (Jessica) get to introduce you to one my favorite young women I've met here in Idaho, my friend Amanda. This gorgeous girl and I met when I complimented her dress...she was wearing a floor length formal dress in a very casual setting with low-key accessories and was pulling it off. My kind of girl! And that kind of style takes guts when one is only seventeen and living in small town Idaho, and I do like my friends to have some guts.

As it turns out, creative fashion is kind of her thing. She's always rocking either fun, quirky clothes, daring makeup, or both. So when we decided to do a "back to school" post, I knew I wanted to showcase her independent style.

This dress was her favorite, because of the sheer black overlay, a slightly different take on the current high/low hem trend. "I LOVE it!" She told me, "It's so simple and elegant." I loved that she added her signature fun eye makeup art, it kind of looked like a butterfly heart to me. Gorgeous!

To make it more casual, she threw on a black cardigan and flat sandals. Because why not? Now it's something she can wear to school!

I knew when we started shooting, that I wanted to photograph her in front of this awesome mural of a mustached man, which is on the side of the Puffy Mondae's building in downtown Nampa, Idaho. This was so perfectly Amanda, quirky and fun. This outfit is about as basic as Amanda gets, which is to say not basic at all!

I had to get the combination of the gigantic eyeball in the background and her creative eye makeup.

This last dress was my own favorite, because it's a dress after my own heart! She found this black dress with white embroidery at a thrift store, but it had terrible boning in the top, and was an unflattering mermaid shape. Rather then let such pretty details go to waste, she cut off the top and turned it into a classic knee-length dress instead! She made it more casual with a knit cardigan and knee high boots.

She managed at the same time to look both so sweet and so unique!

I had so much fun shooting this amazing girl! There's nothing I love more then spending an afternoon having fun with good friends, and showing off the talents of people I love. Amanda always inspires me with her choices and her risk taking, and I'm so glad I could share that with you all today!