aestheticcontradiction

Dolls Kill project

If you’re into current and quirky fashion, chances are you’ve heard of Dolls Kill.

The thing that appeals to me the most about the brand is the fact that they have dolls/muses that represent the styles they cater for. I decide on the items I put into production for my own label in a very similar way!

dollskillLinks to the dolls and their current ranges can be found here.

I was approached about selling some of my products, that had a Dolls Kill vibe, through the site so I made a board with a selection of Eustratia products for each of them.

Mercy.

Mercy

Willow.

willow

Darby.

darby

Coco.

coco

Outfits to fit each doll’s style were then selected and I created illustrations to show how they would look together.

mercy & darbywillow1coco1

I then went on to create the garments!

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After a lot of faffing around with couriers and customs the garments finally arrived and were added to the site.

Screen shot 2013-02-06 at 20.08.18 Screen shot 2013-02-06 at 22.40.00 Screen shot 2013-02-06 at 22.41.24 Screen shot 2013-02-06 at 22.41.34There is now only one outfit left on the site and hopefully they will stock a small range of Eustratia products in the near future.

I don’t usually do such “worky” posts but it’s something I’m thinking of introducing so let me know what you guys think. I would have loved to be able to read about other people’s projects while I was at uni. so I hope others will find this useful.

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Opulence Collection

Those who follow my work will already be familiar with the Opulence collection that has been showcased that the Manchester Alternative and burlesque fair as well as London fetish weekend as part of the Avalonia fashion show. There is also a wonderful set of photobooth images by Tigz Rice featuring the outfits which can be viewed here.

The official Opulence look book images were shot by the talented Katelizabeth photography who did a great job of realising my vision and adding her own touch without upsetting the balance of the overall feel.

Models Sevensin & Biomechanina

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I’m really pleased with how it all turned out. I was originally worried the weather might ruin it for us and I must admit it was a rather muddy, and at times cold, experience but luckily this doesn’t show in the pictures. I had a great team that made every effort to get the best possible results and if any one of them didn’t believe in the project it wouldn’t have been possible.

I’d like to add a special thanks to Charlotte who isn’t credited as part of the creative team but really played a big part by assisting with pretty much everything and assuring the models’ safe passage to and from the set. She also took some behind the scenes footage which I hope to be able to include in a future post.

An insight into this collection and the influences behind it were published in the last issue of Rebelicious magazine which you can view online here and is also available for free download.

rebelicious opulenceImage: Sevensin by Toria Brightside who also edited together this write up from my interview.

To shop items from this collection please visit www.eustratia.co.uk

The chainmail collar was provided by www.richardayres.co.uk

Images from my second collaboration with Katelizabeth photography are due to be released in a couple of days so keep your eyes peeled! A preview images can be view on the front page of my site!

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Dark unicorn

For a while now I’ve wanted to step away from the classic theme of the white unicorn, with its purity and rainbows and give it a bit of attitude. I thought that this was quite an obvious thought process for someone creative with a dark edge and unicorns seem to be everywhere at the moment so I was surprised by the lack of relevant images online when I decided to do some research.

This was ultimately good news as it meant there wasn’t much I had to tick off the list due to someone else having done it before. I still wanted it to be quite an abstract interpretation of the unicorn as opposed to a full on pony costume with a horn and as always I couldn’t decide on just one way to style it so I portrayed it in 3 facets. Pretty unicorn, warrior unicorn and queen unicorn.

I thought these were all likely characters for the dark unicorn to take on and Jamie Mahon did a great job bringing them to life and create the right atmosphere. I also borrowed some beautiful taxidermy accessories from Sophie Adamson to complete the looks. The wardrobe/styling was provided by Eustratia and the chainmail by Richard Ayres, as usual.

We also took the opportunity to shoot some other bits on the same day but I’ve decided to include them in a different post.

I wore a revised version of this outfit to Torture garden for Halloween and added ears to the headband which I thought looked much better.

For those of you who are unicorn fans, the selection of unicorn themed items on my site is growing! Grad yourself something at www.eustratia.co.uk

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“Reflections” collection launch

It’s really exciting to finally be able to launch the “Reflections” collection! As those of you who follow the Eustratia facebook page may know, these items were actually made around 6 months ago but with waiting for publications and working hard for shows, this is the first opportunity I’ve had to get it all sorted.

Though the situation wasn’t ideal for someone who ultimately needs to sell stuff, it did give me the opportunity to design a lookbook for the collection, which I didn’t get the chance to do with the previous ones.

There is also a fashion video of the shoot. You can also see the latex earrings which aren’t visible from the other photos.

The original images were published in Vanity magazine #16, the ambition issue, which can be bought here.

The gallery has been added to the “Collections” section of the Eustratia site and all items have been added to the online store.

Some extra behind the scenes shots from my phone:

Working with such bright colours and bold designs was quite different for me but I really loved the concept and was pleased by the outcome. I’d love to hear what more people thought of my version of bright mirror prints so feel free to comment.