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Many people have told me that my website should have a zoom facility so that they can see the texture of the fabric and some of the garment details. I was in such a hurry to get a website done within a certain budget that I didn't look into providing some of the options that you often see on websites that have online shopping (which is a pity because the photos don't always do justice to a garment made from fabric with so much depth). It's probably going to be a while before I get the website re-vamped again (it's a painful amount of micro-managing every time) and I know a home photography job isn't the best way to show the textile details, but here are some photos of the fabrics from the latest Monsoon Collection Silk ikat woven in Andhra Pradesh for "Black Orchid".  Mud resist block printing done on tussar-cotton fabric in Kaladera, Rajasthan for "Cinched Kimono".  Soft cotton twill handwoven in Andhra Pradesh for "Comfort Skirt" 
Jamdaani (the black motifs done by adding an extra weft by hand) on khadi cotton, handwoven in Andhra Pradesh for "Lady Bird"  Handwoven cotton with coloured ribs from Andhra Pradesh, for "Snapdragon".  Some of these photos have two fabrics to show other colour options in the same style. Labels: block printing, collections, ikat, jamdani, marketing, photoshoot, textile design, textiles, website design
Every time I launch a new collection I say I’m excited about it, but this time it’s not just the excitement of putting something new out there and waiting to see the response. It’s exciting because I’ve tried harder to incorporate feedback about pricing, while also trying to make clothes that are less safe. I’ve stayed away from the shaped “shift dress” pattern this time with my evening dresses: one is a silk halter dress in ikat ("Black Orchid") and the other is a printed tussar dress with ruched sleeves ("Epiphyte"). My summer collection had a lot of sleeveless tops so this collection is a bit stronger in the sleeves department, but most important of all, with this collection begins a new pricing scheme that I’m starting. Normally the costing for my garments is the sum of materials and tailoring cost (which is standard across all styles) multiplied by a profit margin. With this collection I’ve tried to get a more accurate measure of the tailoring cost per style (some styles are simple and one tailor can make 4 garments in a day, while others are more complicated and can take a tailor nearly 6 hours to make one piece). This means that the simpler garments have become less expensive than what they would have been compared to the old pricing scheme, but it also means that the complex garments have become more expensive. Hopefully it will be for the good however, because now I offer a wider range of prices at my store (Rs 660 to Rs 3000). The goal for this collection was to take the “Brass Tacks look” up by a notch or two and try styles that are more adventurous and more glamourous as well. Except for the “Shirt Dress” which has a very different look (I like it, but it definitely stands apart from the rest of the collection), I’m happy with how cohesive this collection has turned out. In fact it’s more cohesive than some of my past collections even though the theme isn’t as strong. Below are some of the creative shots from this collection. I wanted the flowers to add to the glamour aspect without looking like an incongruous prop, so I made them accessories that complimented the outfit. I tried so hard to source Hanging Heliconias for the khadi dress ("Lady Bird") but couldn’t find any the day before the shoot so we had to cut regular Heliconias and string them together with wires. My photographer did wonders with the lighting to create a fabulous backdrop, the model was enthusiastic and helpful throughout the day, and the owners of my favourite childhood store lent their jewellery for the shoot (just in case you were wondering, back in the day I used to buy their handmade paper and I didn’t start buying their jewellery until a few years ago).  "Lady Bird", cotton khadi dress with pleat details at the neck. The shrug (“Colombo Shrug”) that is photographed in this dress got ready only by 4pm so I didn’t get to shoot it with the dress in the catalogue shots.  "Black Orchid", a halter neck dress made from handwoven mulberry silk with diamond shaped ikat designs. White Orchids were draped on her arms (by the model's friend who showed up in the evening to lend a hand) and I love the final outcome- looks like orchids are growing on her arm!  "Epiphyte", a printed tussar-silk dress with a fitted empire line and ruched sleeves. These Aranthera Anne Black orchids we used to braid into the model's hair and twist around her neck were so easy to work with. The flowers never fell off despite all the twisting and the colour looked great with the dress. Jewellery: Courtesy of Aesthetics, Radha Krishna Salai (ph: 044- 2811-1973). The rest of the pictures will be up on the website soon. Labels: branding, collections, fashion, marketing, photoshoot
Last week on May 1st, we had our photo-shoot for my summer 2009 collection. As I had mentioned in an earlier post, the theme I wanted to convey through the shoot was a feeling of weightlessness (lightness) that the garments in this collection have. Let me clarify right away lest there be any confusion, that this collection is not all about making women looking thin. The weightlessness is more a state of mind that you experience when you wear these clothes that help you feel light and cool during muggy, hot weather.
I’ve been thinking about this shoot for many months because there are so many images that are conceptually interesting for a theme like “weightlessness”. Unfortunately most of the ones I loved were impossible to execute. My favourite was an image of a model holding onto a creeper or a thin tree, with her legs off the ground and away from the tree- as if she is being blown away by the wind. The idea is she’s so light that she could get blown away if she wasn’t holding the creeper for support.
Okay, so maybe that was a bit complicated! Anyway, limited by logistics and my budget, I went in search of a trampoline and below are some of the shots my photographer took. I went to a shady film set rental place to get the trampoline, but in the end we couldn’t use it on the beach- the one near my parents’ house was too crowded (May 1st was a holiday) and the beach we finally went to was a 15 minute drive away but the trampoline didn’t fit in the car. The model offered to jump off a stool at the beach, so that's what we had her do (thank you, Mandira)! We used the trampoline for the one on the roof with the tree tops in the background, and just a fan for the “Pastry Layers” top with the panels blowing in the wind.
I can’t decide if the beach shots look better with the sand or without. Thoughts? I also wanted to find dandelions so that we could have them floating in the air alongside the model, but I didn’t have any luck with that.
On the beach:   On the rooftop, with raintrees just behind the model: On the rooftop at 7pm:  
Labels: collections, marketing, photoshoot
Starting a business (and I know I’m not the first one to say this) is like being on a nonstop treadmill: as some things slowly fall into place, others begin to fall out of place. There are rare occasions when things go well for a few weeks, but sooner or later, something crops up that has to be attended to right away. Last week however, was filled with crises, one after the other, and coming after a few months of work (and my wedding planning) I was so overwhelmed and couldn’t help but feel a bit defeated.
My Spring Collection photo-shoot was scheduled for Tuesday of last week. We (my photographer and I) normally plan the shoot for a weekend for the model’s convenience, but this time the clothes were not ready in time and my photographer was busy until Monday. The model was nice enough to take a day off work to accommodate our schedules (and my urgency to usher in the new collection at least a week before my wedding)!
Now here is a short recap of the days preceding the shoot just to give you a picture of my mental framework on Tuesday: a few weeks before this, one out of my two sales staff at the store told me he needs to take a few days off work from the 8th to the 11th. My weekly holiday at my store is Tuesdays, so I thought that between my other sales person and me, we could cover his shift and we’d be fine. On the 8th morning my second sales person called to say her uncle had passed away and that she would not be coming to work that day. I was okay with the news- this was unexpected and she was in tears when she called over the phone. I went to open the store myself on Sunday and actually got some work done too. The next day I assumed my second sales staff would come to work, but she didn’t. She didn’t call either so I found out late that she hadn’t turned up. I was so busy coordinating the production and making the props for the photoshoot that I decided to not open the store that day. I was so upset that she hadn’t even called however, and I think that was what started to ruin my mood. Sometimes it’s difficult for me to not have high expectations of the people who work for me. In my mind I felt that since she knew that my other sales person was on leave until Thursday, she should have tried to make it or at the very least call to tell me she cannot. I know it’s rare to find people who are accountable and who feel a sense of ownership- but it's hard to accept when I’m upset! I wish I had kept my cool, because I allowed my being upset to completely ruin my mood and I cancelled a meeting with a photographer from the Times of India that was scheduled for that afternoon at my store.
I was at a stage where I decided to just take each step as it came. That evening I picked up the model and we were scheduled to start shooting the next morning at 8am, after the make-up artist was done. We started on time, but by 10am, the electricity supply got cut off. A phone-call to the Electric Board supply told me that the power would come back only at 5pm! I called for a generator. There are less than a handful of companies that will rent out a generator for just one day, and almost all of them couldn’t send one right away. Finally one arrived at around noon, but after 30 minutes of trying to get it started, we realized that it wasn’t going to work. I called another generator, and my photographer called his friend who lived close by and who owned a generator. We used both generators and resumed our shoot at 2pm.
The shoot went well and I’m so glad we had such a patient and hard-working model who kept her spirits up right up until we wrapped up at 8pm. I have hired generators in the past as a backup, but we never had to use them so I guess I got complacent. Now I know better!
The next day I opened the store myself and my fiancé came to help out in the afternoon. On Thursday both my sales staff came back. I’m now on the search for another sales person. It’s important to have a full time backup, so now the chances that between the three of them at least one person will show up to work everyday is much higher!
Below are a few pictures of the creative shots that we took on Tuesday. 
This newspaper boat took ages to make. I stuck sheets together to make this stiffer and thicker, and started making the boat from a 10 x 10 feet square. 
The newspaper jacket with the pleats was meant to match the pin tucks and pleats on the cotton top, but with the lighting and the bold pleats on the jacket, the ones on the cotton top don't really show.
Labels: photoshoot, staff, systems and processes
After a month of hurdles, I finally launched my Monsoon collection last week. The labour related issues, which I have written about in an earlier post, are common to the industry but just harder to deal with in a small scale business. What I hadn’t anticipated was how long it would take to work with my website developers on a new look for the site. I wanted my website revamped because the first website was done in a hurry and many details were either overlooked or done in a shortsighted manner. The website developer I was working with had a full time job in Mumbai, so all our communication was either over email or over the phone late at night. When I figured that his design sense didn’t quite match mine, and that we were running out of time, I decided to do all the design myself and have him do the HTML programming. With my amateur Photoshop skills I created images of what I wanted every page to look like, and with his HTML skills (also amateur) he converted them to actual web pages. Granted, at the time I was desperate to get the job done and I didn’t search hard enough for someone who could have done the job better, but I ended up with a website that required a ton of work each time a new collection had to be uploaded (my kind and hardworking fiancé took care of these every time). Things were so bad with the first round of programming (the programmer had actually uploaded the text parts of the website as images so they couldn’t be edited at all) that I ended up asking around for another developer just to re-do the programming that the first guy had done. Crazy, but true. The second guy was from Bangalore and was referred to me by a friend of a friend. He was efficient and his turnaround time was incredibly fast. My fiancé and I were really happy with his work and he came across as very professional and responsible. So, a few months ago when I was thinking about getting my website revamped for a more sophisticated and polished look, I naturally thought of the developer in Bangalore. The developer had a design partner and together they were to take on the job of giving my website a facelift in keeping with my brand image. Despite my attempts to get started on the job early however, I ended up with the same problem: I felt my design sensibilities were not understood. This forced me to come up with a lot of visuals using Photoshop, just like I had to the first time around. The one good thing that came out of the process of sending images, exchanging feedback and listening to the developers’ arguments for their designs is that it forced me to think outside my creative box. After all, I didn’t want to end up with a site that looked exactly like the old one in every way. The result is a new website with a more polished look and a lot more interactivity than the old one. The downside is that uploading and updating new collections will still be tough (fortunately my fiancé is good with programming). I hope people will stay on the site for longer, read about the textile crafts in the leaning centre, and send me their feedback. The next time around, I’ll be sure to do my homework, take a look at all the websites the designers have done for other clients, and work well in advance. I also have to remember that as long as I have a strong opinion on something, I have to be prepared for heavy involvement, even if it means working out detailed layouts in Photoshop everyday just to communicate my ideas. Below are screenshots of the old and new home page. Labels: customer service, marketing, photoshoot, website design
Last week's photo shoot went off really well. I had a good feeling about it before it began, but I didn’t think everything would come together so perfectly. As I mentioned last week, we used props that people associate with summer, and for logistical reasons we used my parents’ house as our location again (however we have exhausted all corners and backdrops within the house and garden after 5 photo shoots so next time I’ll have to move out of this comfort zone ... time to hit up the willing neighbours with nice houses)! I think what really helped this time was that my photographer and I discussed the look and concept of each image until we could visualize each of the creative shots beforehand. We wasted less time figuring out the model's posture and where the props should go. We used coconuts, watermelons, and mangoes in different shots to portray the mood and complement the clothes. I managed to hire a really old murphy radio for one of the shots because I liked the image of the model sitting outdoors, listening to music and eating fruit on a warm summer morning! Here’s a sneak preview of that shot:  My photographer has been waiting patiently for an entire year now to do some creative photography and I am so happy with the way these photographs have come out. The model is a friend of a friend, and besides being gorgeous and a great model (she got into pose within seconds of being in front of the camera), she was also very professional and managed to sustain her energy and enthusiasm throughout the day. Our day started at 5:30am when the make-up artist arrived and we wrapped up at 5:30pm with 4 creative shots and 10 catalogue shots. The photographs will be up online in a week. Below is a shot of a style called “Button Mushroom”- made from the thin cotton ikat fabric I had photographed in an earlier blog post. The top didn’t turn out like how I had initially planned, but I think this is better suited to the design and feel of the fabric.  Labels: branding, collections, ikat, photoshoot
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. Labels: branding, photoshoot
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Benaras with ruching detail
Paper Kurta in khadi cotton with dart details
