Vintage Fashion Shoot

This is an unashamed  opportunity to talk about some of the amazing people who worked on Grace's first fashion shoot and brought the range to life. If you’re anything like me, you’ll  love seeing and hearing about what went on behind the scenes.

The Modelling Team  (in no particular order because we love them all)

Holly  Student and daughter of Genette from our Make-up Team

Annette  Author, Speaker, Black Belt Mentor and Aspirational Strategy Coach, Positive Business Philosophy for Conscious Entrepreneurs   http://www.annettekingsley.com/

Clare  from front of house at Sally Montague http://www.sallymontague.co.uk

Abi from ModelZed Promotions, Leicester http://www.modelzed.co.uk/

Clare, trained actress, now runs http://fancykidsparties.co.uk/ and lead singer with vintage swing band Swingtime Songbird and the Sophisticats. 

As you can see, we worked with one professional model and four other talented real women. I’m sure they won’t mind my mentioning their ages ranging from teenage to twenties, thirties forties and sixties…all beautiful.

On the day, everything kicked off with hair prep and the talent behind the hair design and creation is Chris Gregory. He is Creative Director at The Sally Montague Salon in Belper, Derbyshire.

Then up to the make-up team at Esteem Beauty Therapy at Sally Montague,  where skilled make-up artists Genette and Nicola apply gorgeous vintage make and nail colour inspired by the forties. 

Nicola and Genette in action in their salon and Abi’s finished make-up…love the strong brow, neutral eyes and red lips!

Back to have hair finished with Chris and over to Nourish at No44 for the shoot.  Nourish is one one of Belper’s latest restaurants; bustling café by day and candlelit bistro by night. The owners generously let us borrow their premises under the watchful eye of Chris Gregory, baker extraordinaire....wait, surely Chris did the hair! Yes, Chris divides his time between beautiful hair and scrumptious cakes.

Chris's deliciously stunning cakes and biscuits are sold at Nourish at No44 and I know that they're yummy as we all sampled them at the end of the shoot. Find Nourish at 44 King Street, Belper, Derbyshire.

All hair and make up done, cakes set up around the restaurant and over to Sarah, our artistic and expert photographer...I could tell you a lovely story about Sarah but I'll save that for another blog...

Find Sarah at http://www.sophotographydesign.co.uk/

The modelling team wearing tops from Grace's range and enjoying afternoon tea and cake at Nourish. A huge thank you to everyone who helped me so very generously.

No longer a Project but a Brand called Grace - For Real Women (with real bodies)

As discussed in the previous blog after planning and research and pondering on aspects that I didn't like about the fashion industry during twenty years plus of working in it, my own business was to encompass all positive developments and changes in clothing design and manufacture.

Body Image

Caryn Franklin was one of the many people to inspire me. Franklin, along with Debra Bourne and Erin O'Connor formed 'All Walks Beyond The Catwalk' which launched at London Fashion Week in 2009. Their voluntary campaigning questions the press and fashion industry about the use of models who promote the idea that people should conform to unrealistic body ideals. They campaign for the use of a diverse range of body shapes and models of different ages.Their work now includes parliamentarian campaigns and initiatives to promote diversity and individuality. They are also involved in educating young designers to design and fit garments on a range of body sizes, not just on the smallest sizes or the dreaded size zero.

It's Personal

Their work makes so much sense to me as I clearly remember standing in my own college's design studio when I was a 17 year old fashion student and being passed over as a suitable candidate for fellow students to fit onto, as my healthy size 12 frame was considered too big. I can clearly pinpoint this as the moment my own body hang ups began. From this little put down came a lifetime of small weight battles and inevitable weight gain. I know that I am not alone with the constant internal struggle to accept myself as I am. I have heard plenty of slim, attractive women complain about different aspects of their bodies. I was, however stunned to read that Cindy Crawford who is famous for being one of the original super models is hoping to be able to accept her own body by the time she is fifty. Wow, what hope for the rest of us?! We are bombarded with images of extremely slim models, actresses, celebrities and presenters. We are so used to seeing super slim women in the press, that we don't even notice that this is not the norm for most women. Instead, we think that our own bodies are too big whatever our size. How often do we hear women describing certain foods as naughty?

We often see curvier role models in the limelight but what happens to them? The press and other celebrities highlight and sneer at their healthy curves and all too often these ladies are pressured into losing weight. I could name names here but that would be joining in with an unpleasant attitude. I try and teach my children not to make any comments about  anyone's body whatever their shape. Of course a woman's size is her personal choice and good health should be a serious consideration but I can't think of more than a couple of positive female role models who are more than a size 10.

The Future for Body Image

Thanks to the work which Caryn Franklin and the All Walks team continue to do, we are beginning to see some shift in attitude. Their message has influenced brands as diverse as Lanvin and M & S.

Grace designs for real women and we fit and represent real women. When we searched for a curvy model to represent the Grace brand, we were shocked to see model agencies placing size 12 girls in the plus size bracket. Many agencies don't have models bigger than a size 10. Size 10 is three sizes below the national average, size 16.  We have no prejudice against women who are very slim and healthy. We're also not too keen on plus ranges where curvier ladies are given polite 'big' labels and branding. How does that make a curvy lady feel? Well it says you're big so you're excluded from the mainstream but here's some XXL for you. There are so many perceptions which really should change in our opinion. Let's give women their self-esteem back by representing them with models in real shapes and sizes! Grace  design and fit size 6-8 up to 22-24.

The next blog talks about our first shoot, our lovely real women and the talented professionals we worked with.

Note about sizes. The sizes I discuss here are from the British sizing system. For example a UK 12 is a US 10.