Collection Launch At Bubble London

Our debut collection has finally been launched !!! It was launched at Bubble London at The Business Design Centre earlier this week. It was a totally amazing experience.

On the day before the show, we (DH and I) set off to the venue to set up our stand. Feeling reasonably calm and relax ... until we arrived at our stand. All of a sudden, I realised how important this was. This was the moment of truth. Are we doing the right thing ? What are people going to think of our collection ? Will they like it ? What if they don't ?!

Anyway, we did what we could over the next couple of days to stay calm and it all turned out very well. We had a lot of interest, from both buyers and editors. The responds was incredibly. I felt so pleased ! I have been working on this collection for months and now, finally having it all in front of me and getting the responds that we did was the most amazing thing ! Can not wait to start designing for the next season ! But way before that, I have to make sure that this collection will be in some fabulous stores next summer.

A few cool stores have already placed their orders and I have a few more meetings set up to discuss others over the next few weeks. But I can not tell you more at the moment, you will have to wait until next year to find out more about our very exciting stockists !

Ps. thanks to all my twitter friends, for popping by our stand to show your support !

S/S2010 Collection Photoshoot

Been trying to organize photoshoot for Jakeandmaya's S/S2010 collection for weeks but had to cancel several times, due to bad weather conditions but we finally managed to do it last week.

The weather looked a bit iffy to begin with but cleared up quite nicely towards lunchtime, thankfully.

We all woke up early to drive up to North London to meet the team, ie. seamstress, stylist, photographer and assistent. Conveniently, the chosen location, a beautiful allotment, was within minutes walk from my PIL's, so we could all meet there for breakfast.

All samples had just been picked up that same morning so it was a bit like Christmas for me, unpacking it all. It was the first time I saw the whole collection together....what an amazing feeling ! I had been working so hard for months to get this collection finished and here it was, right in front of me, all done !

Every garment was checked, making sure quality and details were up to standard. I would say it was about 99% ok, just a few details that needed changing here and there but overall it was perfect !

The stylist and I then put together about 10 outfits together for the shoot (very exciting to see how the different garments worked together) and then we headed down to the allotment in search for specific locations. Flowers were in full bloom, produce was growing... really cool !

After lots of walking back and forth we were set to start shooting. Model nr1 (ie. my DS) was called to location. He was changed back at PIL's and carried down... which turned out to be a bit tricky as his clothes quickly became creased ! Along with him came all freshly pressed (kindly by my MIL) outfits.

I am slightly/very biased but the first outfit looked amazing on the model ! The shoot started. Model nr1 was like a pro ... until I noticed we had placed him on a red ant hill !!! The poor boy had big bites all over his leg (I discovered later) but being the professional that he is, he bravely carried on ! Needless to say, he wasn't as keen to move on to the next shoot, plus he was by now very tired after an early morning. We soon realized there was no point pushing the poor boy, as he was exhausted and needed his late morning nap. So, off we went back to base and he was cuddled to sleep. Bless him. Model nr2 (ie. my DD) was already sleeping.

Not much we could do without models, so MIL organised coffee and cake to be brought down to location for everyone ... and this is when we not only lost the models but also lost majority of the outfits !!!! The photograper's assistant spilled an entire cup of strong black coffee on the clothes !!!!! Arghhh... I must NOT panic... must NOT swear... I could not believe it ! Coffee ALL over the clothes !!! DH calmly removed all clothes and took it to nearest dry-cleaner. I prayed that it will all be ok. So many things could go wrong at this point... may not be able to remove stains, may shrink, colours may bleed etc. They were my only samples made and Bubble was only a few days away !

In the meanwhile, the little models woke up from their beauty sleep and we had to continue the shoot, despite what happened, as the window of their available work time is quite short... We did what we could with what was left. Model nr2 was amazing in front of camera. Very natural, very cute and extremely professional ( LOL).
We got quite a few shots done with Model nr2 before we called Model nr1 back again. He still wasn't keen but nothing that a little bit of bribery with food couldn't fix but then a new problem arised.... how can we hide the large pita bread/apple/sandwich/tomato etc. in the shoot ???

Anyway, cutting the long story short here. The shoot went very well. We all had fun, incl. the models and the clothes all came back from drycleaners completely stain free !

Ps. it was such an amazing day, not just because we did a good shoot (the team was amazing) but I also realized how lucky I was to have such a lovely family. DH was there to help, BIL went and fetched last minute props for us, PIL pressed all clothes, baby-sat, made tea/lunch for us... I felt very blessed. Things would have turned out quite differently if I didn't have them all around.