Heartbreakers Collection Entry 2: The Cupids' Progress

Thought I’ve give an update on the collection so far, showing the piece and the technical drawings I’ve come up with. 

The results have been mixed. For example, Look 1 with the draped lace overlay came out brilliantly! 

However, with Look 2, I wanted to take a break from the cup bodice foundation. But the halter top draping wasn’t flattering enough, and didn’t quite come across as lingerie. I may scrap this design entirely. In addition, the layered ruffled skirt is a bit of a constant in my past designs, and perhaps is long overdue to be put aside.

Look 3 came out just plain boring, and even borderline kitsch. It did inspire me however to consider longer night gown shift style dresses-sketches to come soon! 

Look 6 was inspired by a long trailing ruffle bustle in the back that gave a simple cropped bodice and miniskirt a more burlesque feel, which was fun and different, but at the same time I didn’t want to turn these cupids into can-can dancers. This is probably as 40’s nightclub as I’ll go. 

So, still working away at it. I know I said I’d use more Valentine’s Day themed colors, but honestly, the black lace overlay with red right now seems too burlesque themed for this concept. But it’s refreshing not to be tied down to only 4 pieces for the entire collection, and a fun way to spin ideas around a concept.

Heartbreakers Collection Entry 1: Chocolate and Victoria Secret Angels

Happy New Year everyone! In light of the 2013 dawning, I’ve been doing some hard thinking about what’s next in store for Punkee Pixie. I’ve been so focused on Christmas, now it’s time to look at other occasions that call for greeting cards. And with February approaching, the idea of a Valentine’s Day collection (shudder) came up.

I’ve hold a long loathing for Valentine’s Day-or what I refer to as ‘Single’s Awareness Day’. Seriously, there is no need to go all tacky and superfluous just to prove to your significant other how you feel! Once at University, I saw a guy standing outside his girlfriend’s dorm room, a pack of balloons practically blocking the hallway. Did he really need to raid the helium supply at the local party store just to give his girlfriend something that would deflate in a few days time? 

However, this occasion does give me the opportunity for a Victoria Secret inspired collection that I’ve been harboring for some time. The new Bond Street store is amazing! The black marble floors definitely gives the brand an edgier feel to it’s pink stripe designs back in the States. I love their runway shows, how they combine costume elements, such as the massive wings and added details, using their retail stock as a foundation underneath. 

My concept came from the idea that the Angels left the runway show still wearing their lingerie and went to a nightclub. There is a thin line between a fun cocktail dress and a piece of sexy nightwear-heck, I once went to a party in a baby doll pink chiffon shirt and got mixed compliments! The Heartbreakers stand for the reality of relationships-love can occasionally hurt, but at the end of the day, would we still go through it? Heck yes!

My ‘Fallen Angels’, in the spirit of my work always reflecting that each project is a cohesive concept, will have common elements featuring traditional lingerie design; black lace, laced up ribbons etc. but in uncommon places. I want to remain true to the Valentine’s Day theme by using it’s honorary color scheme of pinks, reds, whites and lilacs. My mood board features pictures like models with bubblegum pink hair, red nail polish and lipstick, and even a heart shaped box of chocolates! And of course, I’ve drawn inspiration for the patterns of each look from Monster High dolls, the girls who showed me the wonders of color blocking. 

This is also a great opportunity for me to show everyone the creation of my collections, offering my inspiration and thought process instead of merely presenting the end product.

12 Days of Christmas Collection: 2 Turtle Doves and 3 French Hens

2 Turtle Doves, probably the one look I least time preparing for, actually turned out to be one of my more popular cards of the collection!

Very simplistic with a black back drop, the colors made a nice change from a more traditional palette, and is one of my favor color choices-black, white and hot pink. The outfit was brought together simply by going through my selection of old pieces, though I fixed up the bonnet. Erika in this look reminded me of a Victorian girl shopping for christmas after dark. 

3 French Hens, on the other hand, was another shoot from last year that I wasn’t satisfied with for the final selection. The image was warmness in the winter, using soft hues of red, orange and gold for a farm yard setting with a girl collection eggs from the hens. I hated the fact that in the original picture, you can clearly see the doll stand between Jaime’s legs! 

So the second try of the shoot, I buffed up the set with a fake tree I had to get, since it was the perfect size (I know I’ll be using it for future shoots). The background was a forest scene printed onto a sheet of wrapping paper. The hen coops were actually small boxes I saved when working in a boutique 2 years ago, the packaging used for christmas ornaments. The straw and eggs were crumpled up pieces of paper and oval shaped white zhine stones. The outfit itself was tweaked up when I added more layers of crimson fabric to the skirt.

Despite my efforts in creating the set, though, I was heart broken that when uploading the image to be printed, it kept trimming it down so you missed a lot of the details. It just didn’t do the look justice in the final photo! I’ve got to remember to not be so afraid of catching details that weren’t part of the set into the photo, and stick to cropping it on the laptop.

12 Days of Christmas Collection: Partridge in a Pear Tree

This was my Christmas collection last year, that became my major stock for the exhibition. Inspired by the number of birds in the 12 Days of Christmas, I thought of doing a shoot for each stanza of the song, and use origami to make all the different kinds of birds.

Since I was a little rushed for time last year, so instead of creating completely new outfits, I decided to go through my boxes of previous pieces and mix and match for different color palettes. It was great to learn how many pieces I’ve made over the years that can be reused again and again.

The ‘Partridge in a Pear Tree’ look had a gold and green color scheme, used from an dress I mocked up inspired by the Ghost of Christmas Present from A Christmas Carol, but I made a new headpiece. Originally I took the pictures in my kitchen, putting the origami partridge in a houseplant on the fire place mantle piece-it was pure co-incidence that the sun shaped clock got in the shot. But when I was selecting the pictures to get printed into cards, I wasn’t satisfied with this particular shoot. I decided to go back and give it another try.

This time, the shoot was much more theatrical, as if Jaime were strolling through a garden and came across the partridge in the tree in passing. I used the Stitcherella set, and mounted a branch borrowed from a local florist trimmed in print outs of pears with the origami bird perched on a branch. 

It was refreshing to take the pictures from a completely new angle. The final photo really draws in the viewer, and has more of an atmosphere than most of my shoots. However because of the closeness of the tree to the camera lens, I was disappointed that some of the branches came out so blurry.

Christmas Bazaar Afterthoughts

Well, after months of preparing Punkee Pixie made its debut yesterday at a school Christmas bazaar. 

Even though I sold very few cards, the reaction my work received was great! Everyone who saw the 90 x 60cm poster smiled. Several of the younger children were delighted by the name Punkee Pixie. Several snippets I caught were ‘fascinating’, ‘nothing like this right now’ and ‘so original’. 

Though one teenage girl stated how she felt the dolls were ‘kind of creepy, like they’re starring into your soul’. Hey, I still take that as a compliment-they’re supposed to have a little edge to them.

So, it wasn’t quite the sell out I had imagined. I can’t lie about my disappointment-I know I have a product here, I just need to find my market. I refuse to stop loving this past time that I’m passionate about. 

So whether this works out or not, Punkee Pixie is here to stay, folks! 

Twisted Fairy Tales Collection: Goldishocks

Goldilocks is a heroine who is genuinely not so sickly sweet. The original bad girl herself, she commits Break and Entry, causes property damage, and even has the gall to take a siesta in a bears’ bed!

Patchwork and rustic charm were the foundations of this design. Inspired by the bear characters, I wanted to use animal fur shades for Goldi's frock-honey and dark browns and blacks, trimmed in black lace. The central piece lay in the apron, the prime piece that gave this the urban girly look, fashioned as a partial bodice around the waist. I really wanted to play on a darker vision of the bear, with the creepy teddy bear face on the apron. The red of the glaring eyes really stand out!

  I wanted Erika, my model, set lounging on the bed, to set the atmosphere of the cosiness of the cottage with its rustic beauty through woodwork and patchwork cloth. The bed (a shoebox) was paneled with downloads of dark hardware floors, and laid out with an orangey color tweaked up with felt patches of green and red. The ceramic bowl, showing the porridge Goldi has just wolfed down, came from an Asian paint set. Finally her teddy bear is a tiny token with my birthstone, a garnet, made a brilliant prop-especially since it’s darker reds played well to the palette of the shoot.

It was great to have several strong horizontal shots, with Erika lying luxuriously across the bed, unlike my previous shoots that all were primarily vertical shots. Also, it was refreshing to do a dress that was shorter-though her legs stand out a little too much. Only afterwards, I had the idea of checkered tights! But I’m thrilled that so a small piece, the details maintain an equally punchy impact.

Twisted Fairy Tales Collection: Stitcherella

Ah, Cinderella-one of the ‘Big Three’ of Fairytales, along with Snow White and Sleeping Beauty! What I love about this story is the number of images that relate to it-the pumpkin, the glass slipper, even the mice! Second the character of Cinderella can be represented in two phases-her housekeeper stage in rages, to her princess debut in riches! For this design, I wanted to combine the two.

There are a lot of theories behind how Cinderella gets dressed for the ball. I’ve heard one where she borrows one of her step sisters’ dresses. In the film ‘Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister’ she wears her mother’s wedding dress. 

I was really taken by that moment when Cinderella is fleeing from the ball in mid transformation as her dress vanishes-and even hints towards her real character (I always wondered why she didn’t just stick around after midnight regardless of her rags-the Prince finds out she’s a servant eventually, so why bother delaying the truth?).

Stirring away from the typical fairytale princess look, I wanted something more down to earth, more urban with the feeling of being homemade-like perhaps she made the dress herself, quickly sewing it together, standing out at the ball for her natural beauty and innovation. Hence ‘Stitcherella’ was born!

Blue has always been Cinderella’s color, but to stay clear of the traditional glitzy look and to remain true to the ‘rags’ twist, I complimented blue with browns, from chocolate tones to bronzes. 

I used a slim, glamourous silhouette and long trained skirt, and applied my ‘leaf’ technique I’ve been using for years, cutting up random pieces of various colored fabric scraps and stitching them into the skirt, in different shades of both silk and cotton, from royal blues to antique toned silvers. To further add to the homemade feeling of the dress, on the foundation bodice I flipped the seams edges on the outside. I wanted the dress to be as raw yet elegant as possible.

The setting is the courtyard of the castle as Stitcherella disappears into the night. The brick background for the floor and the archway I downloaded from a template from an amazing artist (and my true inspiration for this whole project), Cynthia Von Buhler, author was the incredible picture book ‘But Who Will Bell the Cats’ (www.butwhowillbellthecats.com). 

Taken advantage of the amazing prop opportunity, I printed an antique clock at midnight. Originally I imagined Stitcherella stepping on it as she ran from the ball, shattering it’s glass frame, but it looked better mounted in the background, as if reminding her of the urgency of the situation. The glass slipper was a piece from a key chain, which I spruced up with the skull beads that have been a reoccurring element throughout this collection. Finally I found this plastic mouse, that looked so cute in the palm of Erika’s hand! 

This shoot took almost a week to prepare for. But was it worth it-heck, yes! I had so much fun positioning Erika, swapping the props about, and had a hard time choosing one image to have printed for cards.