MOONGLOW

If anyone had told super model Rena Hilst she would find true love and happiness with someone twice her age, she would have laughed them out a window. Yet, there she was, at 22, living her dream as one of the fashion industry's top talents, in passionate love with her 43-year-old manager at Moonglow Model Management, Shell Dawes. From the outside, no cracks in the crystal of their relationship were apparent save for something on Rena's part:

Other women.

Rena never really hunted for people to cheat with but being far away from home on jobs with the most beautiful and interesting people on the planet occasionally led her to party too much and end up in another girl's bed. In fact, Rena repeatedly promised herself to stop straying on Shell. Then, at a fashion & celebrity elite gala, she meets Koko Dean and Lilly Morgan, 18-year-old best friends on the path to stardom in their own rights; Koko, an up-and-coming fashion model and Lilly, a musician with a knack for fashion design. Koko and Rena hit it off right away, which puts a damper on Lilly's plans of finally telling her best friend she loves her beyond the boundaries of friendship.

Rena finds herself wedged between an inclination to get to know Koko better or finally stay true to Shell. Feeling it's about time to change her ways, she opts for the latter but temptation won't let her off the hook that easily. Booze-fueled circumstances put her in line to stray yet again; this time, with her childhood best friend, Shannon Sadoveanu, a socialite who recently lost the love of her life by tragic means.

Shell had always put Rena's flings aside, chalking it up to necessary life experience for someone so young and free-spirited. She rationalized them as indiscretions of youth, fully believing that nothing -- especially a few meaningless affairs -- could rupture their love and bond. However, when she finds out what happened with Shannon, the crystal cracks. Something about it doesn't seem so meaningless. She feels the loss of Shannon's girlfriend may have opened the door to a hibernated love with Rena. Not sure how to deal, Shell wonders if she is to blame for tolerating Rena's occasional bouts of horseplay. For the first time in their four-year relationship, Shell questions the promise of "happily ever after." Together, they must finally confront the skeletons that have hung in their closet for far too long.

Set against the eclectic fictional cities of Moonglow, USA, and Utsukushisa, Japan, MOONGLOW will titillate your imagination, strum your heartstrings and prove that -- no matter what era we live in -- love is our strongest ally.

If anyone had told super model Rena Hilst she would find true love and happiness with someone twice her age, she would have laughed them out a window. Yet, there she was, at 22, living her dream as one of the fashion industry's top talents, in passionate love with her 43-year-old manager at Moonglow Model Management, Shell Dawes. From the outside, no cracks in the crystal of their relationship were apparent save for something on Rena's part:

Other women.

Rena never really hunted for people to cheat with but being far away from home on jobs with the most beautiful and interesting people on the planet occasionally led her to party too much and end up in another girl's bed. In fact, Rena repeatedly promised herself to stop straying on Shell. Then, at a fashion & celebrity elite gala, she meets Koko Dean and Lilly Morgan, 18-year-old best friends on the path to stardom in their own rights; Koko, an up-and-coming fashion model and Lilly, a musician with a knack for fashion design. Koko and Rena hit it off right away, which puts a damper on Lilly's plans of finally telling her best friend she loves her beyond the boundaries of friendship.

Rena finds herself wedged between an inclination to get to know Koko better or finally stay true to Shell. Feeling it's about time to change her ways, she opts for the latter but temptation won't let her off the hook that easily. Booze-fueled circumstances put her in line to stray yet again; this time, with her childhood best friend, Shannon Sadoveanu, a socialite who recently lost the love of her life by tragic means.

Shell had always put Rena's flings aside, chalking it up to necessary life experience for someone so young and free-spirited. She rationalized them as indiscretions of youth, fully believing that nothing -- especially a few meaningless affairs -- could rupture their love and bond. However, when she finds out what happened with Shannon, the crystal cracks. Something about it doesn't seem so meaningless. She feels the loss of Shannon's girlfriend may have opened the door to a hibernated love with Rena. Not sure how to deal, Shell wonders if she is to blame for tolerating Rena's occasional bouts of horseplay. For the first time in their four-year relationship, Shell questions the promise of "happily ever after." Together, they must finally confront the skeletons that have hung in their closet for far too long.

Set against the eclectic fictional cities of Moonglow, USA, and Utsukushisa, Japan, MOONGLOW will titillate your imagination, strum your heartstrings and prove that -- no matter what era we live in -- love is our strongest ally.

Backstage at the La Perla L'eau Swimwear Fashion Show. © Steven Forster, photographer. Times Picayune New Orleans, 2010.

Models backstage at The Art Institute of Portland 13th Annual Fashion Show at Pure Space in Portland.

Back Stage & Front Row is an all-access pass to the heady world of fashion and glamour, via the eyes of Gauthier Gallet. For almost ten years, Gallet scanned behind-the-scenes and the front-rows at the ready-to-wear and couture shows in Paris, Milan, New York, and Tokyo, as well as some of the most star-laden parties of the past decade. Uncontrived, personal images, his photos show fabulous untouchables to be surprisingly human. These images are documents of our times, a compilation of encounters, and a continuous expression of Gallet's great talent. His uncalculated photographs reveal the strength of his subjects and capture, in a split-second, the "now," the moment. His unique working relationship with models, designers, and celebrities and their mutual trust is reflected in this collection of beautifully reproduced and timeless images. Back Stage & Front Row is at once a documentary of Gallet's work and a testimony to his great talent.