Business Cards Treats

So since designers don't send me rounds of samples as presents I guess I don't blame myself for being giddy over my new business cards from Style Bazaar. Tallulah Doherty, the brains behind the online boutique commissioned a very talented Grant Cowan from Australia to design the cover pages of the site features. And I was very excited to see that my pack of business cards had four of his illustrations on the front of all the cards, making it fun to pull out a card a hand it out to someone not knowing which illustration will pop out. 

Behind the Scenes - Brown Book Part 2

For the Brown-book magazine spread I did my duties of styling the shoot as well as taking the behind-the-scene shots of the images for my selfish blog purposes. Brownbook magazine commissioned me to style a London story, and it doesn't get anymore London than the Southbank. You've got the London Eye, the Thames River, the Skater area under Southbank, tourist attractions in the form of street performances, and a beautiful English model from Manchester called Rozie. This was my first time shooting on-location in cold harsh weather, and not in the studio or in a indoor studio. It was an amazing experience, starting at 10 am in Kentish Town taking the tube to Embankment and then walking up to the bridge (or rather taking the smelly elevator to the bridge) and starting our shoot by mapping out a day in the corners and shafts of the Southbank. What was great about the shoot was the immediate vibrancy of the atmosphere, crowds stopped and stalked us whilst working, the annoying side was finding places to change the model (starbucks toilet, eat toilet, in a tunnel at the Southbank were some of them) and lugging around suitcases and camera equipment up and down stairs. Overall it was an exciting experience, Rozie entertained us with funny stories of Carolina Herrera (who she modeled for) and we had a good laugh at skater boys who were drooling over her. Can't wait for the images to come out! 

Beautiful Rozie 

First shot, over the bridge

Snuggled in her sweater between shots 

The crowds we attracted for our shot - had to pay the clown a fiver to pose

Moisturizing Rozie's legs- ah the duties of the stylist 

Amazing graffiti images in skater corner in Southbank 

Piling our stuff whilst having a warm lunch in Eat ! 

The crowds we attracted while shooting

Silly boys walking into our last shot 

Behind The Scenes of the BrownBook shoot Part 1

Seeing as Brownbook magazine offered me a 14 page spread to style I decided to split the shoot into two parts , one of them being in an industrial warehouse in Kentish Town that has stopped being constructed due to the recession. What is left of the warehouse is a skeleton of a building, half painted, half junkyard, filled with quirky small spaces, and huge storage spaces great for shooting our industrial story. We shot with Angie, the most model I have worked with who moved for the camera and I was comfortable with her seeing as Anna the photographer has worked with her before. Though Angie was not feeling very well she had no problem climbing on top of chairs, ladders, and pianos in beautiful Basso and Brooke heels which Charlotte and I later tried on around the studio during the last portion of the shoot. 

Anna on tip-toes trying to get to Angie's level

Where do your legs stop Angie?

The piano sitting in the warehouse . Forgotten, dusty, and beautiful. 

A little snooping around

Ramby tearing holes in red tights with a key 

Ramby my faithful assistant of the day

YSL inspired 

Angie looked scarily like Kimora Lee Simons in this shot

Masquerade ! 

Glitter lips 

I couldn't help myself

Charlotte trying on the Basso and Brooke heels

Q and A with Style Bazaar's Tallulah Doherty

As I mentioned in my earlier post, Style Bazaar is up and running and I couldn't help catching up with Tallulah Doherty, the editor of the magazine and the creative director behind the the whole concept on the day of our Style Bazaar photo shoot to discuss the hows whats whys of Style Bazaar and how it all went about from a concept to tangible online boutique and magazine. Tallulah is real inspiration and she worked superly hard in the last year to launch her business idea and I am so glad just to be involved and be able to part of the Style Bazaar team.

Fashion Ambition: Where did you study?
Tallulah Doherty: I did a Arts degree then a post graduate course in journalism.

Style Bazaar is now live and running!

FA:Any exciting work experiences that influenced you creating your own brand and online boutique?

TD: I'm influenced by everything around me - pop culture, the arts, street style, books, magazines, people, films. I've always been very drawn to and inspired by fashion magazines when I was younger I'd end up spending all my pocket money on Sugar, Bliss etc. And more recently I've found fashion blogs to be an enormous source of inspiration there's something so fascinating in seeing how a girl from California or Denmark styles herself day to day. I think this is even more inspirational that looking at a perfectly styled model in a magazine it just feels more real.

FA:What do you do now?
TD: I now run Style Bazaar and also fit in some freelance journalism.

FA:What does a day in the life of Tallulah Doherty consist of ?
TD:A day in my life consists of getting up around 7.45 I'm in my office by 9. The first thing I do is check that the website is working perfectly if there are any glitches I send an e-mail to my web developer to let him know.

During the morning I pack and send orders with some help from whoever is free, reply to e-mails and write the blog

In the afternoon I tend to head out to meet with designers who I'm interested in stocking, do research/interviews for the Style Bazaar magazine or meet with investors.

And a couple of times a week I try to fit in either a dance class or a Good Vibes workout with a friend it's this newish exercise craze where you workout on a power plate machine and it apparently helps burn calories faster. It's quite fun!

Video blogging on Style Bazaar - a unique shopping experience

FA:How much time do you spend on the Internet ?
TD: I am a self confessed Internet addict! I spend at least three hours a day online and when I'm out and about I've got my blackberry with me too so I'm pretty much always connected. It's crazy I even watch most of my television on demand on services like BBC iplayer and Channel Four catch up. It's just much more convenient. But 24 on a Monday night will always drag me back in front of the TV.

FA:What are some of your favorite sites other than Style Bazaar of course?

TD:Some of my favourite sites are ones that have an edgy/unique take on fashion like:

www.stylebubble.typepad.com (Style Bubble)

www.shopnastygal.com (Nasty Gal Vintage

www.fashiontoast.com

www.whowhatweardaily.com

www.fashionminute.blogspot.com

www.fashionambitions.blogspot.com

www.fashionistadiary.co.uk

Too many to list!

And for all the salacious gossip it's got to be heatworld.com

FA:When and why did you start Style Bazaar?
TD:I started the boutique because I noticed that there weren't really any boutiques online catering to a mid market consumer like myself. Apart from the high street and the high end designer labels there are so many fantastic mid range brands that didn't really seem to have a voice and I wanted to create a space where people could have access to these fantastic designers. But I also wanted people to be able to come to the site and hangout so even if they weren't looking to but they might pop by to see what the latest videos are or browse the blog or magazine.

FA: How has the journey been from start to launching the site?
TD:It's been a pretty stressful journey as I had a clear vision from the very start of what I wanted the site to look like and how I wanted it to work but actually finding the people who could make it a reality within a certain budget was difficult. But I've been lucky enough to have worked with some very talented web design and graphic designers. So I can't complain.

Fashion Illustration in Style Bazaar

FA:Who has been part of your support group?
TD:My support group has been my family, boyfriend and friends who've been there for me every step of the way from making cups of tea to being a sympathetic shoulder when I needed to have a long rant about whatever minor catastrophe was going wrong on a particular day. They're the best!

FA:Did you ever feel like Style Bazaar was not going to happen? Moments of hopelessness?
TD:There were definitely tough times when I felt it may not happen. At the very start it was difficult to get things off the ground it took me a while to find a web designer who I felt completely understood my vision for the brand. And there were a lot of admin type things that had to be done as well which I found difficult as I'm all about the fun creative side but it's all part of running a business and after a while with some help I was able to get the hang of it.

Pages from Style Bazaar Magazine

FA:What are you most proud of in Style Bazaar?
TD:I'm most proud of the fact that I was able to translate the idea I had in my head into reality without compromising on what I wanted. I'm really passionate about illustration so really wanted to include those types of elements that represented my ideas for the brand. Some people will always try to tell you this or that can't be done but I've found that as long as you're persistent and can think outside the box you'll find a way to get what you want.

FA:What inspired you to launch Style Bazaar?
TD:I feel Style Bazaar is different from other websites in that it's firstly run primarily by me and a handful of my friends we're all in our 20s and have a very fun and vibrant outlook on things. We want people to come onto the site to just chill out - whether they shop, watch videos or get the latest style news and celebrity gossip is up to them. And I love hearing what people think about the site they can contact me at tallulah@style-bazaar.com

Pages from Style Bazaar magazine