It’s a bird, it’s a plane — it’s a flying dress.
The train of Adriannea Smith’s canary yellow dress flowing within the wind might be seen for miles as she posed with the backdrop of the Aegean Sea and whitewashed rooftops and blue domes in Oia, the coastal village on the Greek island of Santorini.
“I’ve had this on my bucket list,” Smith told The Post. “I planned this trip with the shoot in mind,” Smith, of Atlanta, Ga., said of the Greek island cruise she took last month.
Travelers are saying “yes” in massive numbers to the flying dress photo, with gowns soaring in photos from idyllic destinations just like the Greek islands, Dubai, Cappadocia in Turkey, and even the Brooklyn Bridge.
The photographs – which generally take just over an hour to shoot – are gaining 1000’s of likes and popping up throughout Instagram and TikTok as the last word vacation status symbol.
The hashtag #FlyingDress has 52.6 million views on TikTok, and photographers in a few of the most sought-after vacation destinations are cashing in on the trend.
Smith, a travel agent and travel content creator who runs the account @StandByAdrie, says the shot was meant to present her followers travel envy – helping her promote her business and, in the method, serving as a “treat yourself” moment. The video showing the shoot got 20,000 views on Instagram and 481 likes.
The photos, she says, will last a lifetime.
“I definitely felt like a supermodel,” Smith said of the $605 shoot. She booked it through GoddessSantorini.com, which bills itself as a “premiere flying dress company.”
The corporate Flying Dress photo has a package for around $1,680 that features transportation to and from the shoot, hair and makeup, dress, a two-hour shoot, editing, retouching and ownership of the photo rights and video.
That also includes an assistant to assist the achieve the dramatically long look when the topics pose and waltz in videos.
Smith said that while the photos appear to be a breeze, it’s a heavy lift behind the scenes. For the reason that photos are typically taken barefoot, she recalls comically having to jump over hot cobble stones with the heavy dress prefer it was effortless.
Meanwhile, within the Dubai desert on a recent all-girls trip, Keisha Nelson and 7 of her girlfriends got in Flying Dress formation – for a cool $4,200. That included dresses, makeup, roundtrip transportation from the hotel and camel cameos for the two-hour shoot, which incorporated solo and group shots.
“We desired to do something glamorous and fun … we were planning this trip for over a 12 months and thought this was certainly one of the activities we could do collectively that fit our personalities and vacation vibe,” Nelson, 43, a managing account supervisor who opted for a green halter dress, told The Post.
While the photos look aesthetically airy, Nelson, of Manhattan, says the mercury rising brought major heat to the shoot. Still, she says it was price every penny — posing with an actual camel, she said, was priceless.
“I felt beautiful, regal and empowered,” she said.
Her friend, Recent York City-based publicist Rashidah Timothy — who opted for a blue hued gown within the photo — eagerly posted the group shot on her Instagram to the tune of 272 Likes and 69 comments, Nelson said.
“I’m considering of framing one [photo] for my husband for our anniversary this 12 months,” Nelson said.
In Recent York City, photographer Leo Cabrera began shooting flying dress photos after seeing an influx of the train shows wafting through Turkey and Santorini on Instagram. He began incorporating the shoots into his biz at first of 2022, averaging he says 100 shoots per 12 months, locally on the Brooklyn Bridge and around Central Park and flying out to Dubai and the Dominican Republic to get the shots.
“I attempt to do not more than two shoots a day,” Cabrera told The Post, of getting to cap the demand since the shoots are labor intensive. His packages include a 1-hour photoshoot, dress rental (dresses, he says, are designed by a stylist in Turkey), 15 photos edited and retouched and placement scouting for $400.
“Normally the photoshoots are done very early within the morning to avoid crowds and in places with enough space to work with the dress,” he told The Post.
A bit of vanity fanfare comes freed from charge: Smith recalls feeling like a celeb, with on-lookers gawking at her shoot.
“Tourists walking by are saying, ‘Oh my god, you look so pretty.’ It was definitely a very good moment. I used to be like, ‘I’m looking good and feeling beautiful — although I used to be sweating,” she said.
