Mexico City Through Our Photographer's Lens

Wednesday Walk Issue 8: A Confession

I never made it to Mexico City. The Embers Collection did. Here is the city through our photographer's lens, and the three pairs I would have packed.

Confession: I didn't go to Mexico City. Not this time. Our team did. Photographer Paulina, her crew and the models, all based in Mexico, with the new Embers Collection packed in their suitcases. I stayed home in Takoma Park, where my two boys had just started the new school year, and waited for the files.

When they came in, I felt like I did as a kid picking up my film from the drugstore. (Remember that feeling?) It's one of my favorite moments of any launch. I settled in at the kitchen table with a homemade iced coffee and told myself I'd do a quick skim first, then go back for favorites. I always say that. It never happens. Two hours later I was still scrolling, zooming in on doorways and street corners, and texting Paulina things like "I just fell in love with Mexico City ALL over again!"

So this week's walk is borrowed. Here's Mexico City through her lens, and the three pairs I'd have packed if I'd gone with her.

Sipping · Wandering · Gathering

Sipping: before the light

The team's days started early, at a café in the Hipódromo neighborhood, before the city woke up and before the forecasted rain rolled in. A 6am call time beat both. You can see it in the first frames of each day: soft light, empty sidewalks, a city still stretching.

The Miu Tennis was in the very first shot of the morning. This curious feline design looked like it belonged prancing along the iron gates of that balcony.

Wandering: chasing the shot

Mariposa means butterfly in Spanish. In a few weeks, millions of monarchs will finish their migration to the forests a few hours west of Mexico City. Our Mariposa Chelsea Boot just got there first.

Paulina walked until she lost count of the miles, and you can see it in the photos. Every few frames there's another wall or doorway I would have stopped for, too.

Gathering: after the cameras stopped

Not every frame came from Mexico City. We shot part of Embers in Miami too, and the last photos on the card are from a backyard there. They're the in-between moments, the ones where everyone is laughing between takes, and they're some of my favorites. That's the feeling Embers is named for: the part of the day that keeps glowing after the fire burns down.

Florence has been the most-loved design in the collection since launch, and the Florence Trekk Boot shows why. This design made it from the first sketch to the last frame.