A Wizard of Oz-inspired shoot this month was a no-brainer with Oz the Great and Powerful coming out, emerald being named Pantone’s color of the year and a plan set into action for an “Emerald Necklace” of parks along the L.A. River—giving me the idea of turning the concrete channel into a post-apocalyptic Dorothy’s path to Oz, and juxtaposing the rocky road with emerald and rainbow red carpet gowns. We wanted to give our Dorothy one of the many shopping carts from the river in place of a basket. But when rain was (accurately) predicted before our scheduled photo shoot, we had to quickly scout out a new location, which turned into developing an adjusted concept: Dorothy, along with the scarecrow, tin man and the lion, in the opulent Oz of Los Angeles.

Check out the inspiration board below with images of the L.A. River site, and then watch our behind-the-scenes footage from our shoot at Tony Duquette’s Emerald City of an estate.