Behind The Scenes: Maria Dolonius
Color! Lots of color! And excitable energy too. That’s what we wanted to convey with this final issue of 2009 and first edition of 2010. With all the crap that happened in the past year, we felt the best way to wrap things up was to give ‘09 a big slap on the face with a celebratory and exuberant themed shoot—and the perfect gal for the job was Maria Dolonius, a bright young thing with as much spunk and determination as sex appeal and an overall joie de vivre .
While the past year has been full of shoots of both the detailed and conceptual kind (Georgina Wilson’s Carnival themed pictorial “Show & Tell” and Pinky Webb’s gumshoe espionage-y “Good Night, and Good Luck”) and moody location type ones (Yciar Castillo in Negros Occidental for “Prelude to a Kiss” and Solenn Heussaff’s “The Dark Side of the Moon” in Bellarocca Resort), we wanted to shake this up and simplify a little by bringing things back to the studio. This time livening up our pages with captivating bursts of enthusiasm and a sense of celebration.
Maria is no stranger to Rogue. She appeared previously in the pages of our May 2008 edition (her half-sister Sanya Smith was our cover girl) in “From Venus with Love,“ a sensual Bond flick inspired shoot that accompanied words by Malek Lopez.
Days before the shoot, Miguel Lugtu and Jay Lara were busy bees painting a portion of our office wall bright orange.
Nante Alingasa’s mastery of beautiful hair was behind Maria’s Valley of the Dolls meets Barbarella do. Make-up artist for Make-Up Forever, Solenn Heussaff totally understood when we said we wanted sexy, doe-eyed 60s lashes.
I’ve always loved Maria’s look. She has that classic bombshell vibe to her. Not pin-up per se but more in line with the sex sirens of the 60s and 70s. Her alluring features and command of the camera remind me of screen siren Ann-Margret…
and Jill St. John as Bond girl Tiffany Case in Diamonds Are Forever.
Maria flaunts a white halter bikini by Charina Sarte worthy of Ursula Andress.
Solenn, fabulous and dedicated in-front of and behind the camera.
A little champagne in the office?! Why not? Miguel Lugtu and the cork tossing game.
Maria looked smoking hot in this purple Charina Sarte number. Add a kitschy zebra and pink bow headband and satin Stella Luna pumps and we’ve got one hell of an outfit. Oh, plus a can of silly string too!
What a coincidence! Found this image of Jane Fonda from her days as Queen of the aerobics videos after the shoot. Miss Fonda rocks my world any day!!!
What’s a New Year’s party without a Neil Barrett tuxedo shirt?
This “Marie” can have her cake…
...and eat it too!
Food Fight!!! Some friendly cake tossing for our cover shoot. This polka-dot mailot by Arlene Sipat for Salsa Trends is perfect for this year-ender/beginner shoot.
What a fun way to end the year! The entire shoot was easy, light, and breezy (save for a little tidying up in the office. READ: Cake, champagne, confetti, and silly string on the floor. Not so easy.)!
For more of Maria bidding adieu to 2009 and an her profile “The Goodbye Girl” by Jade Bernas pick up Rogue’s December-January2010 issue. On newsstands now!
Author Profile
L.A. Consing Lopez
Style Editor
are you kidding me? 60s and 70s bombshell looks? i’m sorry but she has cookie-cutter pretty mestiza looks. she’s a beaut, but not that arresting. nothing too captivating about her.
your jessica yang coverage was great though.