Finding Brass Tacks

My summer collection photo shoot is scheduled for tomorrow, and as always there are a ton of things to do before that. Aside from the obvious of getting all the clothes ready on time and organizing logistics, this time the real challenge will be pulling off the creative shots.

Initially the purpose of the photo shoot was to just showcase a few styles from the collection- enough to convey the general mood and aesthetic sense of the collection. Now I’m getting the sense that I need to do much more with the photo shoot- especially since I use those same photographs for ads, posters, and press kits. So this time my photographer and I decided that we were going to give the creative shots priority, and try to project the brand image through the creative shots.

What I really need to show through these creative shots is that Brass Tacks clothes have a contemporary, urban context although the clothes themselves are made from natural fibres and in most cases handwoven fabric. My goal is to use traditional textile crafts and re-articulate them for a modern setting. All the marketing books I’ve read say that people don’t just buy services or products but rather how they imagine using the product will make them feel. I thought it would be interesting to portray the image of the ideal Brass Tacks woman- someone who is intelligent, passionate, adventurous and very comfortable with who she is. So my photographer and I put our heads together and came up with a few ideas.

Each of the creative shots has a blend of the traditional and modern in a likely but slightly bizarre/off-beat setting (this is fashion photography after all, and I want the images to be memorable). Since it’s a summer photo shoot, there are props that we all associate with summer. I need to spend the rest of the afternoon buying all my props and the first on my list is at an antique store in north Chennai. I'm really excited about tomorrow's shoot, and I'll write about it as soon as we're done.