Tezza Barton Talks Trend Week, Picture Filters And App’s New TezzaCam

We could know the Tezza photograph enhancing app for its celeb credibility. The fashionable filters have been a go-to for celebrities asserting their milestone moments, like Kim Kardashian (who used it for her birthday publish) or Bella Hadid (who used it at her boyfriend’s rodeo).

“It is all the time so particular once I see these people utilizing our edits to inform their story,” mentioned the app’s co-founder, Tessa “Tezza” Barton.

The app has widespread recognition, having over 20 million downloads, and a pair of.5 million month-to-month customers. The app is ranked 53rd on Apple’s prime free photograph enhancing apps.

Tezza has over 40 filters that deliver again the classic, grainy, point-and-shoot period. Some are designed to appear like they have been taken by a Polaroid, Fuji Velvia or Fuji 400 cameras. It additionally has retro movie filters, which appear like they have been taken by retro handycams.

Now, Tezza has launched their very own in-app digital camera, the TezzaCam, which permits customers to shoot in-app pictures and movies with a classic photograph look, making “vogue editorials accessible to everybody,” she notes.

And what higher to check out the TezzaCam than New York Trend Week? The bi-annual occasion runs till February 11 with over 100 runway exhibits throughout town.

In relation to taking pictures runway exhibits, Barton recommends utilizing the Shade filter. “It has a refined, editorial aesthetic, it provides depth and richness, evoking the easy luxurious of designers like Khaite, Peter Do, and TIBI,” she mentioned.

If a runway present is colourful, nonetheless, attempt the Butter filter, which is heat and has classic tones. “Suppose Tory Burch, Coach, and Sandy Liang—the place each hue feels intentional and timeless,” she provides.

For backstage pictures, Barton recommends utilizing the Disposable or Novalgo filters. “It captures that contemporary, high-energy documentary-style essence,” she mentioned. “I’ve had the privilege of being backstage at exhibits by The Blondes, TIBI, Oscar de la Renta, and Rodarte. The important thing to translating that power is embracing the candid moments with film-like high quality.”

For those who’re at a vogue afterparty, Barton recommends utilizing the Handicam filter. “Final yr’s Prada social gathering, which was set in a venue overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge, was the epitome of easy cool,” she mentioned. “To bottle up that nostalgic, cool-girl power, the Handicam filter offers you that genuine, home-video aesthetic—one thing you’ll wish to maintain onto perpetually.”

For avenue model, use Tezza’s Cocoa filter or Kodak Gold, each of which add a wealthy, cinematic depth to your content material. “It enhances pure mild and texture whereas holding the vibe effortlessly cool,” she mentioned. It isn’t simply smartphone pictures, both.

Skilled photographers can add their DSLR pictures to the app, too, particularly for the Dime, Bebe, or Fling 35 filters. “Dime offers that high-fashion, editorial crispness, Bebe softens and warms the picture with refined grain, and Fling 35 mimics the character of traditional 35mm movie—good for capturing motion and uncooked power within the streets,” mentioned Barton.

“Avenue model is all about storytelling, and the correct filter makes the second really feel much more iconic.”

Tezza, a substitute for Adobe Lightroom, is ideal for content material creators who depend on their cellphone. “The style world and vogue editorials have all the time been on the coronary heart of Tezza’s DNA,” mentioned Barton. “My past love was vogue design, and it wasn’t till I picked up a digital camera to {photograph} my first assortment that I noticed my true ardour was pictures.”

Storytelling is on the coronary heart of any good vogue editorial, and Barton discovered the ropes from again problems with Vogue and W Journal. “I used to be captivated by the way in which pictures may remodel a fleeting second into one thing timeless,” she mentioned.

“When creating Tezza, I wished to channel that very same feeling, the dreamy lighting, cinematic moods, and a curated expertise you’re feeling in one of the best vogue editorials, whereas making it accessible to everybody.”

Barton has a background working for manufacturers as a photographer and counts star vogue photographers Annie Leibovitz, Peter Lindbergh, Helmut Newton and Man Bourdin as inspiration. She noticed the shift from creating shoots for seasonal drops, to each day content material creation.

“I watched as creators rapidly tailored, embracing social platforms to champion new concepts and push inventive boundaries in collaboration with vogue manufacturers,” she mentioned. “It was an thrilling second—once I realized we weren’t simply creating content material; we have been actively shaping the way in which social media regarded and felt.”

Barton’s favourite journal archives are again problems with Vogue from the Sixties and Nineteen Seventies, “the place high fashion met massive social adjustments, each web page seems like a bit of artwork,” she mentioned.

She additionally counts problems with W Journal from the Nineties as one other favourite. “The pictures have been daring, edgy, and effortlessly cool, mixing vogue and celeb like nothing else,” mentioned Barton.

For the corporate’s 2025 rebrand, Tezza collaborated with inventive company Saint-Urbain, who felt Tezza “felt extra aspirational, however with mass enchantment,” mentioned company founder, Alex Ostroff. The redesign was impressed by vogue magazines and their editorial layouts.

This vogue magazine-forward look is a part of Tezza’s distinctive, unique ethos. “What began as a ardour mission rapidly reworked right into a motion, and we realized it was time to refine and elevate how we inform our story,” mentioned Barton. “Our rebrand is greater than only a new look, it’s a press release of who we’re, what we stand for, and steps into our full potential and creating one thing that conjures up, connects, and empowers on an entire new degree.”

It additionally exhibits the place social advertising and marketing goes in 2025, as creators have gotten integral to model messaging. “Being a creator has modified a lot through the years, and we’re lastly in an period the place creativity is taken severely as a profession,” she mentioned.

“We’re shaping industries, launching careers, and serving to small manufacturers acquire visibility in ways in which have been by no means attainable earlier than. It’s not nearly one sort of creator anymore—it’s comedians, cooks, moms, fishermen, dancers, photographers, stylists—you title it. There’s room for everybody.”

For the reason that app launched in 2018, Tezza’s merch line has expanded, too. It began with cellphone instances, then sweatshirts, hats and luxurious totes. Now, they’re introducing candles. “House is the place we wish to really feel most inventive and releasing scents which are impressed by our most coveted filters within the app will likely be one other strategy to deliver a bodily expertise to our digital product,” she mentioned.

That product is greater than Instagram filters, that are nice for fast edits, however lack depth and customization.

“I’ve all the time believed that enhancing is an artwork type in itself—it’s about extra than simply enhancing a picture; it’s about making a temper, telling a narrative, and crafting one thing that feels deeply private and distinctive,” mentioned Barton “It’s about empowering individuals to create one thing that actually displays their imaginative and prescient.”