Photoshoot - Very Pretty Things

This fabulous photoshoot was organised by the wonderful designer and stylist What Katy Did Next and the fabulous photographer Kat Timmins to Launch Katy's beautiful new accessories. 

Katy has always been brilliant to work with, she sends me a mouth watering moodboard and I get designing so full of the inspiration she has given me. I always know her pieces and styling skills are flawless. 

The blue and silver sequinned cocktail dress, the pink liberty print dress and bodice, our classic debby prom dress and the Claudia dress were selected for the shoot and modeled by the simply stunning Jazmine, Beth and Sophie who did a perfect job.

All dresses available to order in the online shop. 

This was the first time working with Kat and wowsers, she's good, very good and taking a look around her tumblr damned cool, I like this a-lot. I adore what she did here, taking the sweeter than sweet edge off (which is always needed with our dresses) the mirror reflections are gorgeous the glossy US Vogue look that I am never sad to see. Love every shot here. 

Above are the close ups of Katy's collection, the hand cut silk roses with glass beaded leaves, the 1920's cascading bugle bead comb in silver and dusky pink and my favourite romantic blue feather hair ribbon encrusted with crystals and pearls. Each as beautifully handcrafted in pure luxury as the next. Available to order here.

Kat Timmins Photography
What Katy Did Next - Designer bridal accessories

Photo shoot - Enigmatic Stripes by Laura Power

Photography by Laura Power

Back in February when the weather was still freezing our favourite photographer Laura Power came down to shoot the s/s 13 collection. Packed into my beetle with hot water bottles for Natalie and a Laura's many shaped cameras, we braved the reservoir in the biting wind.
It was a case of run, pose, line up the shot, coat off and look elegant NOT freezing. Natalie did a beautiful job of looking exquisitely serene with the professionalism of a true star fighting the cold with the skills of a diva.
The resulting images of our deco striped maxi dress styled with a simple swathe of ivory silk captures  the pre-50s film resort romance that I envisioned. All thanks to Laura and Natalie x

Katy's Pretty Things ....

The Betty Dress in Fushia Silk with Blue Trim. Photography by Sally Thurrell

Thimble and Bobbin padded heart, Photography by Sally Thurrell

The Betty dress, made to order Photography by Sally Thurrell

 This gorgeous shoot was taken in May and styled by the wonderful Katy Howieson of What Katy Did Next.
I always love to see how Katy styles our dresses and her attention to detail is always second to none.
I love the way Sally Thurrell, the photographer has captured the shape and colour or our Betty dress and Katy's sequin shoes clips and blush blue bow work brilliantly to finish the look. The padded heart from Thimble and Bobbin is gorgeous!

Elsie Hairband by What Katy Did Next.

Elsie Hairband byWhat Katy Did Next. Photography by Sally Thurrell

 Katy always gets lots of people involved in her shoots so that everyone can share their wares. Sending the dresses up to Cumbria is really exciting as I never quite know what the photos will look like even though Katy goes to great lengths planning her shoots with moodboards carefully selecting what will compliment each other.
The dress above is our Tropical floral dress teamed with a bright turquoise cardigan and Katy's blue pearl hairband.

Our Pink Elephant Dress

The 'Red Dog' print dress

Our elephant and dog printed dresses available in the online shop with new bright prints coming soon.

Our Soft Tulle prom dress and Dorothy Hairband by What Katy Did Next

Our tulle prom dress

 And our dove grey tulle prom dress studded with rose swarovski crystals and tied with a ribbon belt. I love the use of the scarlet red with the grey, a great team together.

The Grey Stripe dress and prom dress worn with the Betty and Dorothy headpieces by What Katy Did Next

The Grey Stripe dress and Betty headpiece by What Katy Did Next

Last but not least our charcoal grey stripe dress, this was a dress made from vintage shirt fabrics and the mustard yellow of Katy's hairband and ribbon make it really pop.
A HUGE thank you to Katy and her team for producing these fabulous images.

Credits:
Styling: Katy Howieson
Photography: Sally Thurrell
Hair Accessories: What Katy Did Next
Models:  Beth Dooley & Pippa Welch
Cushions and treats: Thimble and Bobbin
Venue: Bousdale Farm
Make Up: Make Up By Jo
Hair: Vintage Tinsel

Fabulous Photoshoot .... Intro

Photography by My Fabulous Life

Photography by My Fabulous Life

Photography by My Fabulous Life

We recently sent some of our dresses to a photo shoot at Muddifords Country House to be shot by the lovely Becky of My Fabulous Life.

These are just a sprinkling of the gorgeous photos Becky took that day, the styling was brilliant and they whole day looked like so much fun. I will be sharing more soon and more about the dresses, yes these adorable little dresses will be coming to the shop soon too!

Adult Dress: Alexandra King
Little Dresses: Anna Vickery for Alexandra King
Photography: My Fabulous Life
Styling: My Fabulous Life
Venue: Muddifords Country House
Hair Accessories: Head Full of Feathers and Crown and Glory

What Katy Did Next

The 'Olive' steam punk hair piece.

Our tweed dress with the 'Queenie' large fascinator hat

Our Harris Tweed princess coat.

Our black lace cocktail dress worn with black lace bunny ears and the 'Lena' petite hairpiece

Our mint silk taffeta cocktail dress available made to order.

Our Floral bodice with the gorgeous grey underskirt from Doris Designs and the pink shoe clips!

Our Mint Silk taffeta cocktail dress worn with the Julia hair piece

'Alice' wearing our blue velvet princess coat and tweed dress with the Amelia beaded head band.

 We recently lent out our dresses to the wonderful and super talented Katy from What Katy Did Next for a shoot all the way up North. Once I had viewed Katy's work I was more than excited to have my dresses shot with her beautiful accessories and completely trusted that what she was going to do, would be fabulous. The shoot revolved around the theme of Alice in Wonderland, with the two stunning models playing the parts of Alice and the White Rabbit.
Sally Thurrell photographed Katy's 2012 collection which is made up of the prettiest accessories that you could wear to any occasion as well as for a wedding. My favourite has to be the Florence below, I love the pale blue, feathers, lace and the fact that it is a giant super gorgeous bow!

The Florence hair bow

HUGE THANK YOU'S TO KATY FOR ORGANISING THIS FANTASTIC SHOOT! 

Accessories: What Katy Did Next
Bunny Ears: Talulah Blue (we love these so much!)
Underskirts: Doris Designs 
Photographer: Sally Thurrell
Styled by: Katy Howieson and The Whistling Bunting Travelling Tea Party
Hair and Make Up: Beautiful bride makeovers
Models: Katy Marie Clarke and Nathalie Johnston aka Lily La Rousse


 Business Note ....

We have quite a few requests for dresses to be borrowed for photo shoots and as all you indie designers know, it can be a little bit of a hit or miss thing to do. Firstly you have to pack up all your garments and have them couriered to the shoot, trust that the stylists know what they are doing and in some cases after all the expense and risk of sending out your samples they don't even get used!
A few things I have learnt so far about lending out samples is ......

-check out the people organising the shoot thoroughly along with the other designers involved. If you don't like what they do just say no.

-Insist that they send you at least a few shots of your garments being used even if they don't make the final cut as this will pay for your efforts of sending your garments to them for free. If they don't use them they need to pay you.

-get insurance, if all your samples go missing or come back in a mess you would be devastated

-use wardrobe boxes, it's so much easier.

- give clear instructions of how you would like your garments to be shot and what can and can't be done with your garments. If necessary send clips and pins as there is nothing worse than getting photos back to see your designs not fitting right.

- organise the courier to return your garments yourself so they are not hanging around too long.

- be grateful that you have been asked, when it works well all the people involved get something great including you, so most of the time it is definitely worth all the effort. Especially when you get great shots of your work like the ones above. Remember the people orgaizing ther shoot are doing most of the work xxx

Boho Bride Shoot

Our Astor Dress

Our Blush Floral Dress

Sarah at Boho bride and Dressed with love contacted me a few months ago to use some of my dresses for a photo shoot she was planning. This was the first time I had lent my dresses out to a stylist but Sarah was so lovely and reassuring (plus had a super pretty blog and was working with the amazing wedding photographer Rosie Parsons) that it was immediately a risk I wanted to take.
I can be a little over protective about my dresses sometimes as so much work and planning goes into them that the thought of a dopey courier loosing them can get a bit nerve wracking.

As you can see from the images this was a good decision to make and seeing it all on Rock My Wedding with the other shoots was fantastic! huge Huge HUGE THANK YOU to Sarah and Rosie! The models were a real life couple and the fabulous hair by Claire Mathers and make up by Eve Ashby. 

Sarah's blog is filled with all the inspirations for her own wedding (congratulations for last weekend! ) and tonnes of great styling ideas for weddings and parties. She is also a wedding stylist based in the Southwest UK and can make your day the gorgeous affair you have dreamt of and take away the stress of trying to everything yourself. Go check it out!

Our Astor wedding dress is available made to order from our website here 
Our blush floral dress is also avaible made to order or to buy ready to wear on ASOS

New Photos for June

Anna very kindly managed to organise me enough to take some more photos of dresses and did a great job styling and directing the lovely Kim. 

Kim has a stunning and super striking, gamine look with her beautiful jaw line and willowy figure. I did ask her to be a little somber in mood to contrast with my girly dresses, she's very smiley usually!

The English rose garden was the perfect setting, there's nothing more beautiful than roses in summer and they complimented this floral dress. I then needed to tone down the sickly sweetness, I love Cath Kidston's whole English country style but I need to do it in my own style with a more darker tone. The big sheers and the Erwin Olaf influence worked out really well. This one below is my favourite.

I have also discovered more about how I adore really girly things, hour glass figures, flowers and tulle. But I do expect the girls to be wearing them to be feminine feminists to the core : )

Erwin Olaf has been a major influence with these pics, the book is just gorgeous. 

The blinds add some vintage drama to this scene and I love the way the light just catches the silhouette of the dress.

The final picture with Scrumpy, Anna's adorable parsons Jack Russell who went wonderfully with the print, shame you can't see the dress but they both look lovely.