I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside

Having already looked behind the scenes of my latest photoshoot I would like to showcase the official photos by Guy Wood of Sirius Art (https://www.facebook.com/PhotoArt.By.Sirius?fref=ts).   Guy is backed by the Princes Trust like me and it was a pleasure to work with him.  He understood my thinking and worked along with my storyline adding his own twists as we went along.

Story so far –

Once upon a holiday time ………….

Arriving at your destination is always magical, the anticipation of a holiday, and the much needed rest and recupuration from the daily stress of life is looked forward to.

                             

Sitting in reception waiting for a room.

Exploring the hotel is always fun and revolving doors especially so.

Quick peep in the mirror

Wistfully looking through the window, hopeful that the weather will cheer up.

All dressed up and nowhere to go

Finally outside enjoying the beautiful view despite the rain.

Spa treatments are always good on holiday.

And what about a paddle in the inside pool.

A break in the clouds and the outside beckons, Sandbanks is so beautiful.

The sea looks inviting.

 

Typical English weather but still having fun, an evening walking on the promenade despite the rain.

Finally the rain proves too much and it is back into the hotel.

Birds of Paradise

South Coast Fashion Week is coming up fast, it is on 9th, 10th and 11th May and as well as showcasing our garments we want to promote our accessories therefore a photo shoot was needed.  This time I wanted to direct a little more so I contacted the AUCB and found Tara a photographer who wanted to expand her portfolio. To show the kind of look  I wanted for this photo shoot, I prepared a photo mood board using Pinterest (search for Emily Braz or miimiikins and you will find all of my pin boards) and here are a few photos I pinned.

         

The next step was to find models and I was really lucky to have Chloe and Stefani who were both perfect for this shoot.  They looked amazing and were game to having big hair adorned with sticks.

All photo shoots are a team effort, my sister Jessica is our hairdresser and is always willing to try anything, I could not imagine a photo shoot without her help and my mother, Debbie, is chauffeur, collector of sticks in this instance and can always be relied on to notice when something is out of place during a shoot.  My mother is also my business partner, does a lot of the basic sewing and is always researching new and better techniques to improve our garments and accessories.

You can see we work as a team, I am putting on Chloe’s makeup as my sister completes her hair (Jessica was really good to come this time as she had a very busy day herself and you can see had to come in her rollers), my husband is in the back ground as he acted as a chauffeur as well, picking up Stefani early in the morning and my mum is taking the photos.  These are not the official photos, my mum usually takes the photos for this blog so as to tell the story of the day.

The location was Bournemouth gardens, halfway between Coy Pond and the Square, a beautiful place both to take photos and just generally walk.

          

Originally I thought that bare shoulders would be a good look but you can see from these photos which we took whilst waiting for the photographer, that the girls just look too naked.

 

Fortunately this had crossed my mind the night before and I had packed some tulle which really softened the look and either made the girls look like the Birds of Paradise or as my husband said ‘angry woodland nymphs’, either works for me.

We moved along the gardens following the sun.

Adjustments to the tulle and hat changes were needed, although I did layer up the various crowns and fascinators to get the look I wanted.

I also added a few fresh flowers and leaves at times.

Photographic direction:-

  

Reflectors were needed now and again:-

We finished with two very different small hats :-

I love this last photo, I think it reflects the great time we had and I can’t wait for the official photos to arrive.

Enchanted

A spectacular event in any Kawai lover’s calendar is happening on April 5th in London – Enchanted Event and Tea Party. Unfortunately I was both unable to get a ticket to the event or be a vendor as it is such a popular event but I am pleased that I can participate in a small way by offering a prize for the raffle. We at Shinkurose like to make to order so that each dress is totally individual and fits its owner well  so we have offered a made to order JSK in colour and size of choice for the lucky winner. The JSK is a dress made to wear over a blouse and this one is made in a cotton drill which is great to wear and stays looking good even after washing.  We used the same embellishing techniques as we did for our returning customer, Holly, pin tucks and lace but this time used a contrasting lace.  The back of the JSK is elasticated for both comfort and good fit. Suzanne the lovely owner of Elsie Harrhy in Westbourne allowed us to take our photos in her beautifully decorated vintage style coffee shop. You can see in the above photo the great little leather crowns we make, these can be in any colour and decorated to order, they are light, easy to wear and stay in hair well. I love this fireplace and the comfy chairs are great to sit in and enjoy coffee and cake (look at that derp face though, not my best photo!).  We did have some great Victoria Sandwich cake but it seems to have all gone here! You can also see my gorgeous red shoes, they are by Irregular Choice one of my favourite brands, I have over 25 pairs and am hoping to add to that collection this year. Tilly came to supervise, Elsie Harrhy’s is her favourite coffee shop she told us and you can see she is right at home.  At the back of the cafe is a reading area where there are great books and here you can see Tilly’s favourite selection.  Now she is at school she misses her outings with her mum. As an independent coffee shop Elsie Harrhy specialises in wonderful homemade food.  The soups are made ‘like mother used to make’ full of vegetables and served with doorstop sandwiches or chunky bread.  Breakfast paninis are filled with freshly made scrambled eggs, bacon etc and the cakes are delicious.  Above is the menu for Mothers day and you can see the different types of cake that are available in this superb cafe. A Lolita teaparty would be great here and I would love to organise one, watch this space.

Designing my Sallopettes

I wanted something casual and yet pretty to wear this summer and this old pattern gave me the starting point for a new design.

During my research I also came across this old photo which I love.

To speed things up and get the shape of the bib correct I purchased a pattern and traced off the relevant pattern pieces.

 

 

Then as I usually do, I made a toile so we could see where alterations needed to be made.

You can see from the photos below that the bib needed to be narrower and by making this alteration the garment becomes much more flattering.

  

We also streamlined the back and took some fullness out to make it fit better.

 

My first pair of sallopettes in the making, you can see here I have added a skirt to the bib : –

 

Made in cotton and lined in cotton the sallopettes are both comfortable and yet pretty.

 

After making mine, I made a blue set which are for sale in this colour on my Etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/ShinkuRose, or can be made to order in a colour of choice.

A Recipe for a Sweet Lolita Outfit

INGREDIENTS

1. Pretty fabric in pastel colours or girly pinks and blues.  Or choose bright clear colours like I have here and what is good about this fabric is that it could be used for a Fairy Kei or Harajuka style outfit.

2     JSK pattern made to fit but with shirring at the back for comfort

3. Some finishing touches – in this case three pretty yellow bows, lace and ribbon detail along the top of the bodice and a yellow frill on the hem together with waist ties which tie at the back in a bow.

METHOD

Put this together with a frilly blouse and a strawberry bag, topped with a bow headband and pretty stars equals a gorgeous Sweet Lolita outfit