Pari at the Douglas Melini exhibit at Eleven Rivington, wearing Tory’s Torrence dress, photographed by Hannah Thomson
Pari at the Joan Mitchell exhibit at Cheim & Read, wearing a Calypso St. Barth dress, photographed by Tylor Hóu
Pari at the Todd Eberle exhibit at the National Exemplar, wearing a Mary Katrantzou dress, photographed by Jason Gringler
Pari at the Joan Mitchell exhibit at Cheim & Read, wearing a Calypso St. Barth dress, photographed by Tylor Hóu
In less than two years, Pari Ehsan has gone from interior designer to Instagram star, who, under the handle @Paridust, coolly merges the worlds of art and fashion with curated looks set against gallery backdrops. Here, the Indiana-raised, New York-based Pari — a CFDA nominee for Fashion Instagrammer of the Year this past June, wearing Tory’s Torrence dress above — shares her tips on upping your Instagram game.
The backstory behind the name Pari Dust…
The name alludes to a kind of magical fantasy world where all my favorite things swirl together to create something whimsical and free.
And the initial idea to combine fashion and art came from…
The desire for a more creative outlet to the interior design and architecture I was doing at that time. Fashion and art are my original loves and I think it had been on my mind for a long time to find a way to explore the intersection between the two.
My very first Instagram post was…
Against some street art in Williamsburg wearing a white jumpsuit.
I’ve found that my most popular posts always…
Are reflections of an outfit that looks like it was born from the art. People also seem to like very graphic pairings.
In the evening, between 6 PM to 8 PM.
The key to taking a good Instagram photo…
Is to find subject matter that speaks to you and then capture it from a unique vantage point. Use your surroundings or the geometry of the architecture to create a frame or focus on a detail to create an abstraction.
When it comes to lighting, angles, etc….
Experimentation is necessary to finding the best lighting and perspectives. Take multiple shots and play around with different zooms and positioning to arrive upon the ideal image.
One mistake I learned early on…
Is that it takes time and consideration to create an interesting image.
I really do love more abstract imagery where the entire scene isn’t revealed and there is an element of mystery.
The key to good Instagram captions…
I am very careful about documenting the artist and designer so the image can also be used as a resource for discovering something new. Beyond that I think describing something in your own voice through tags or emojis (my favorite) can be a creative way to give more meaning to the visual.
My favorite Instagram accessory apps…
I love Snapseed for photo editing.
My favorite Instagrammers…
@_roomonfire for architecture and design imagery. @copylab for trending fashion and accessories collaged brilliantly into art-historical imagery. @kunstsammler for great contemporary art roundups. @lucas_lefler for beautiful abstractions.