‘Goodbye, Porpoise Spit!’

There’s an Australian movie list I have to tackle. The list is based on the recommendations of Deb Mascia (Mu’umu’u Heaven owner) and Emilia Perry, two Australians in Hawaii. When you get them in a room together, stop talking, sit back, and watch a live Aussie sitcom. Hence the title reference from Muriel’s Wedding, it’s at the top of the list because they quote this movie on the regular. 

Before I met Deb, Emilia told me she had dresses from Mu’umu’u Heaven that she wanted to shoot underwater. Except when she told me about the idea, we didn’t inform Mother Nature. Two weeks worth of rain and brown water followed. Can’t stay brown forever, can it? We finally got a day where the stars aligned and we were able to shoot. She had 3 outfits from Deb that she wanted to take into the Pacific. 

Some background on Mu’umu’u Heaven. A number of years ago, Deb was volunteering at a thrift store on Oahu; she saw muumuus and aloha shirts being thrown in the trash. She decided to start saving the clothes by reconstructing them into unique pieces. That idea took off and led to her boutique, Mu’umu’u Heaven.  

Emilia and I were greeted by a blazing summer morning with a few clouds dappling the sky. She showed me her clothes as we prepped on the beach: a Midas gold dress, a va-va-voom Mexican top-skirt-combo, and a perfect plum pantsuit. I instantly liked Deb solely based on these vibrant outfits alone. 

Back to the shoot. There’s a lot more that goes into an underwater session than, “Look pretty.” The model needs to have their eyes open (pose dependent), not blow bubbles out their nose, and move gracefully. It seems simple enough. Imagine though you’re the model. Your eyes, when you open them in salt water for prolonged periods of time, start to burn. When water goes up your nose because it’s inevitable, more burning. A weight belt under your outfit helps you to move more gracefully since you’re not fighting to float; but really, it just translates into model-assisted drowning. Add in some wet fabric and I’ve convinced 93.8% of the people with romantic visions of underwater shoots to stay on land. 

Outfit donned and weight belt in place, Emilia and I take to the sea to celebrate Deb’s creations. Which we did. We also fully celebrated when Emilia wasn’t holding onto my arm between poses to prevent her drowning. Despite Emilia’s grace and how the photos turn out, that situation is not idyllic (consider yourself warned when you’re entertaining the idea of an underwater shoot). But for now, please pretend with me all the glitter, sunshine, and ease for the sake of my twinkly turquoise conclusion.

Let’s Funk Together, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!

Dear Reader, that catchy closing line is under construction as it sounds not subtly inappropriate ruining the innocence of its reference or it may endure the test of time, stay tuned, dun dun dun!