KCFW Adventures | Cruising in Style
Kansas City Fashion Week swaps the runway for the high seas once a year for the KCFW Adventures signature trip. This presents the opportunity for local designers to capture professional photos of their lines in picturesque places around the world. I was beyond thrilled to be selected to join the KCFW group and spend 5 days aboard the Carnival Sunrise ship! This trip included 3 styled photoshoots on the gorgeous beaches in the Caribbean & the once in a lifetime opportunity to travel to the Bahamas with 50+ models, photographers & designers!
Whether you’re a model, photographer or designer, everyone is looking for professional photos to showcase their work.This sailing workshop was a fantastic way to network within the industry and elevate your portfolio while also traveling to new places! All of us had a passion for creating art & fashion and you could feel that energy! Spending 5 days together round the clock is quite the bonding experience & by the time we docked back in Miami so many new connections & friendships had formed! We even had a few couples meet & fall in love. No joke!
After flying into Florida, we spent a night in Miami exploring South Beach. Our hotel, Chesterfield Hotel & Suites was literally a block from the beach & as soon as we were checked in we headed down to the water. Given that we were spending only one night & the hotel was right near Miami Beach, we weren’t expecting 5-star accommodations but honestly the Chesterfield isn’t somewhere I’d stay again… The check-in was delayed well past 3pm and they couldn’t hold our bags so we ended up waiting forever in the lobby. Then once I did get my key, the room was one that entered from the outdoor courtyard & the door didn’t completely close. But we spent so little time in the room, it really didn’t matter too much!
We made the most of our night in Miami, got dinner with an ocean-view, had margaritas in pineapples on the beach & got gelato at MammaMia! It was the perfect start to our trip!
Miami Beach, Fl
We boarded the ship the next morning and departed for the Bahamas. Our first port was Nassau! This was my first cruise & it was honestly a great experience and really opened up another way to travel for me! I learned a lot about how to make the most of your cruise, check out my top ten tips here.
Nassau was our first photoshoot location! We headed down to the beach a few blocks from our port. Nassau is known for the colorful row houses & we captured photos along the way in front of the brightly colored backdrops. For this first shoot, I modeled for K.Made It, an African inspired line by Kenya Martin.
Definitely take the time to explore Nassau! See the Queen’s Staircase, visit the beaches, swim with the pigs and shop in Straw Market. The city itself was a lot more touristy than expected with shops & vendors along the streets. We walked through the shops along the way to the beach and then headed to Senor Frog’s. After lunch and a few drinks, our crew sang karaoke, did a group shot ski & practiced our dance skills. It was a blast (as always with the KCFW crew)!!
TIP: Always keep an eye on the time while in port, the ships will leave you if you’re late back to the boat.
The next day we headed to Half Moon Cay, Carnival’s private island and my favorite port of the trip! When they say white sand beaches, this is where they’re talking about. It was stunningly beautiful and the island was huge! Since Carnival owns Half Moon Cay, we had the whole place to ourselves, which made for some amazing photos!
To get to the island, we boarded the tender boats in groups. This left the ship out in the deeper water and allowed us to have the cruise ship in the background of our photos. You don’t realize just how big the ship is until you see it out in the open water.
This was truly the best day of the whole trip!! We had a lot of time during this port and enjoyed every minute of it! We spent time on the beach, swimming in the ocean and laying in the sun, grabbed lunch and drinks at the bar and had plenty of time for photos.
This styled shoot was a bigger group & we had a fantastic line-up of models! Our group didn’t have a designer assigned to us or any creative direction so we were free to be as creative as we want! We focused on color combinations for our swimwear looks & and paired up for group & couple shots. We had the most amazing, talented and speedy photographer, Vanessa Papesh of Papesh Creative. Seriously if you ever need a photographer, she is the go-to! With Vanessa’s expertise & fast pace, we had time to capture everyone’s portraits too! Seriously how beautiful are these photos!!
The final stop of our journey was Grand Turk in Turks & Caicos. The island was so beautiful and had the most peaceful atmosphere. The beaches were more rocky than Half Moon Cay but there were a lot of restaurants & shops to explore. We did our final photoshoot of the trip on the docks & by the water’s edge before heading to the island’s boutiques to find a few souvenirs. This was probably the shortest port of call of our trip and before we knew it, it was time to head back to the ship!
Would love to go back to Turks & Caicos to explore more of the islands!
Our final day was a day spent at sea. There is so much to do on the ship and we had a blast in the casino & hot tub, navigating the ropes course, enjoying spa appointments, watching the comedians & live performances, and of course karaoke competitions.
3 official styled photoshoots just weren’t enough for us though and we spent the afternoon capturing a few more looks onboard the ship! This was another one of my favorite shoots and you guessed it all credit is due to the talented Vanessa!! I can’t imagine a better way to document your travels than by traveling with your favorite photographers!
If you LOVE photoshoots like I do, then there is no better way to enjoy a working vacation than with 8 photographers snapping photos on and off the ship, designers curating every look and pose experts giving you all the hype & inspo. Truly loved the experience aboard the Carnival Sunrise ship & can’t wait for my next cruise!
