SEE: Barneys Lookbook Shot By Brooklyn Teen Photographer

RED HOOK, BROOKLYN — The lookbook for Barneys New York's latest women's collection was shot by a photographer right here in Brooklyn — a 16-year-old photographer, that is. Red Hook high-schooler Denise Hewitt recently was awarded the honor of shooting new label FiveSeventyFive, which came out earlier this year.

Hewitt was chosen through the company's "Perfect Shot" program, which partners Barneys nonprofit foundation with Red Hook Labs Education and Jobs Initiative to give students real-world experience.

Red Hook Labs and the Barneys New York Foundation chose five young photographers and eventually selected Hewitt, who pitched a photo collection inspired by her great-grandmother, a Caribbean immigrant who made a life for herself in Brooklyn.

"When I began looking at the FiveSeventyFive pieces I was working with, I thought of what story I could tell," Hewitt told Barneys in an interview after the shoot. "Immediately, I was reminded of my great-grandmother and her impeccable attire when going to church every Sunday...I wanted to show the striking elegance of a successful, self-made Black woman."

Hewitt explained that her great-grandmother worked "tirelessly" as a seamstress and domestic aide and was eventually able to buy her own home.

The Barneys team liked the idea and helped Hewitt with casting, lighting and setting up a shoot at her great-grandmother's brownstone. The 16-year-old said it all sunk in when she saw her great-grandmother's street transformed for the photoshoot.

"On the day of the shoot I remember turning the corner onto the block of my great-grandmother’s brownstone and seeing that the usually car-packed block was empty," she said. "As I got closer and closer, I realized that space was reserved for the shoot. Seeing the huge mobile dressing trailer for the first time, and the Ryder pickup truck stationed outside and seeing Zack unloading some strobes, it hit me that this photo shoot was about to be intense."

Hewitt, who goes to Red Hook's BASIS Independent Brooklyn private school, said that she was first drawn to photography through Pinterest.

Her love of the art form grew when she started learning at Red Hook Labs, she said, where mentors like founder Jimmy Moffat helped her gain confidence.

It was clear from the feedback of Barneys and Moffat that that confidence showed in the Barneys shoot.

“Denise is 16 going on 32," Barneys Creative Director Matthew Mazzucca said. "The level of professionalism she exemplified from the initial meeting and throughout the shoot is so impressive.”

Lookbook photos by Denise Hewitt / Behind-the-scenes photographed by Sidney Bensimon.