Wednesday, March 28, 2012

The Lollipop Parade is finally here~

Yesterday I officially opened pre-orders for Lollipop Parade! I've been breathing and thinking nothing but this line for the past few months, and now that's it's finally out I'd like to take some time to reflect back on how I got here. 


I suppose it all really started back in December, when I wrote out my New Year's Resolutions. I'd stated that I wanted to design and print my own fabric. I guess that's where the idea really started brewing in my head, and later on in January I actually started sketching out designs for it. (I decided to go the Sweet route instead of my normal classic/gothic style. I wanted to try something totally different, and at the time I was really coming to terms that I, myself, might actually be a Sweet Lolita - or at least have the desire to wear that style part time.) I began by sketching out desserts... my original idea was to have ice cream and mousse and a cascade of delicious sweets. And then I thought maybe I should do something more simple for my very first design. And for some reason, the name Lollipop Parade entered my head almost immediately, and I worked off of that. The next few videos do a pretty good job of showing my exciting journey in designing fabric.





Fast forward a month later, and I'm scouring on Model Mayhem for models. I'd already talked to Rachel about working together and shooting this for me. It was her suggestion that I start looking there - and I'm so glad I did. That place can be super sketchy, but I'm finding that's it's terrific for networking. I've already got a few other shoots lined up! During my search for the perfect dolls, I found that I'm a lot more shallow that I originally thought, haha. Or maybe it's just because in essence I'm searching for representatives of Elegy, and wanted the perfect dolls who could pull that off. They had to be short, and they had to be small. Not only is that good from a manufacturing perspective - less fabric/materials used, the better - but in my head I have the perfect image of a Lolita doll, and I was trying to find that through my models. But I also wanted diversity. I'm aware of the stigma people have about modeling, and the "idealistic" female figure that's fed to us through the media, and I didn't want to leave part of my clientele out, which is why I also chose to include a plus size model. I'd intended on using a black model too, but that fell through at the last minute, to my complete and utter dismay :(

Now that the models were chosen, I had to actually meet up with these people. Which was no big deal - there's nothing more exciting than meeting strangers off the internet, lol. Seriously though, that's something I've done more than a few times so it was totally okay with me. I basically wanted to meet up to discuss the shoot and get everyone measured. (Made-to-measure clothing is what I do best, after all.) The models I ended up going with were NenoGinaDaninnn, and Sarah (who was also our very talented makeup girl). I don't think I could've chosen better models - not only did Rachel and I get along with them well, but they all had great chemistry together, and worked very well off of each other~

Next - the location. We ended up shooting at this abandoned Drive-In in Heath, Oh. I had no idea it even existed, let alone that I grew up about 8 minutes away from it. There was also a house on the same property that was used. I did a bit of "behind-the-scenes" filming the day of the shoot, so have a look for yourself: 



Overall, the shoot was fantastic! I've started an album on my facebook page that shows the photos. Right now there's only a handful, but there should be more coming this weekend/early next week!


And that about sums up my Lollipop Parade journey. But I suppose it's just now beginning, since it's finally up for purchase in my shop. Right now Lollipop Parade is just available for pre-order, because the fabric is pretty pricey, and I'd like to wait and see how many people are interested so I don't over/under purchase fabric. I'm also including a free limited edition gift with every pre-order:



^^Lollipop 2-way clips! They can be worn either in the hair, or as a brooch on your blouse/dress, etc. They'll be made to match whatever it is you order, and they may look slightly different than those pictured above (but for the better!) All my models were wearing these to match their coords in the shoot as well.

Hopefully I'll be updating the blog more regularly than in the past, but I've honestly been so busy I sorta got lazy and forgot about it /: Until next time..


MissChubi

Saturday, March 17, 2012

All the work adds up to this~

I literally just got in the door from working on a shoot all morning/early afternoon. I'm super tired, so I'm making this short: just a little glimpse of my first actual shoot, for my first official line, Lollipop Parade.



MissChubi