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.

A Trip to Worcestershire

We set out bright and early Monday morning to travel up to Evesham in Worcestershire for our 3 day course The car was packed with the equipment we needed to make our three tricorns.

First was a blocking board we needed for the felt Tricorne, this had caused a bit of stress for my dad who was making it as he needed to find something strong, not heavy and that we can push pins into.  In the end he found floor insulation board which he stuck together in layers.  As you can see once we got there we had to cover it in cling film as blocking involves the use of a lot of water.  With hindsight we would have painted this board with PVA so that it was water tight.  We also had three polystyrene blocks which we used for each Tricorne.

This is how the felt one started out

It is called a capeline and we bought it from Baxter Hart & Abraham and you can see below how it changes once it is blocked and shrunk.

The silk one had blocking net as its base which was blocked and stiffened,  

It then needed to be topped with domette and finished with silk.

     

and here is the brim, stiffened, neatened and ready to stitch

The velvet one had a base of double sided buckram and its brim although smaller was much the same as the black mini hat

Here are all three ready to be transformed into Tricornes

The mini Tricornes are nearly finished but you can see how lovely they are   

We had a lovely three days working with Janie at her School of Millinery and would recommend her as a tutor, in fact we are going back  and next time we are going to learn how to make bonnetts and a Watteau hat.

Hats Hats Hats

I have wanted to learn how to make mini Tricorne hats for a long time and at last it is going to happen.

We have arranged a three day course with Janie Lashford at Janie Lashford’s School of Millinery,Evesham, Worcestershire. I attended her school a few years ago and learnt couture techniques for making fascinators, she is an excellent tutor and is well versed in couture techniques. There are just two pupils, me and my mum and it will be an exciting but tiring few days as there is a lot to learn.

We are making three hats each, first one in felt and these are the bases we bought from Baxter, Hart, Abraham Millinery Supplies.

The second one is in velvet

The third is silk dupion

And then we needed trimmings

Monday morning we leave home at 6am for a prompt start at school at 10 am and by Wednesday evening we should end up with 6 hats which look like this but ours will be sweet Lolita, classic and steampunk inspired Tricornes to bring home.

I will keep you updated with my progress over the next few days on my facebook site http://www.facebook.com/pages/Shinkurose/593986427294641