Named patterns stole my heart from the moment I saw the launch announcement on
Rachel's blog. They've managed to create an elaborate wardrobe with their first collection. And so, they made me stray away from my sewing list and start working on the
Aydan dress :)
It was love from the first sight: a fitted princes seam dress with the intriguing collar. It is just perfect! As soon as I saw the pattern, I knew what fabric I wanted to use for it: two cuts of Japanese cotton which I
purchased in Kyoto. By the way, if you like the print,
Rakuten sells it for international customers!
Although I desperately wanted to use this fabric, I knew from the very beginning: stripes are not good friends with princess seams and they are almost impossible to match. But after a few days of hesitation I said: "FUCK IT!" and sew it without matching. After all, I am the designer and I'll do what I want with my fabric. If Issey Miyake came with a striped and unmatched garment everybody would say that he is a genius and a talent and blablabla. Why not me? :)
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The crucial moment when I decided NOT to match the fabric |
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And here is the unmatched dress! |
After some
embarrassing experiences of taking self-photos, my choice for this photo-shoot was to take even more embarrassing photos. And so I went to
Purikura! Basically, it's a crazy photo booth where you customize photos before they are printed. Moreover, these machines use some special super fancy software which evens your skin and makes it whiter but also automatically enlarges your eyes. So if you eyes are already big, you can imagine what happens ;)
All photo-booths have different themes and targeted audience: singe shots, girlfriends, boyfriends, girlfriend and boyfriend, romantic, friendship etc. For the occasion, I picked a single
Lady by Tokyo photo booth!
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How fancy it looks from the inside! |
During the photo-shoot, you see the suggested poses on the screen and then, on the count three, a photo is taken. I approached this photo-shoot very seriously though and did not want to rely entirely on hints from the Purikura. And so I took some props with me: two lollipops and some old heart-shaped sunglasses.
Once I'd finished the photos, I went to a separate box where I had 4-5 minutes to customize my photos. Usually, they are designed for two people to work on photos simultaneously. In the middle, under the
Lady by Tokyo banner you can see a music navigator which offers several song you can choose from during the artistic process!
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I followed some of the suggested poses, but also improvised |
The end result looks like this! In the editing box, you can also choose the combination of photos. Girls and boys here keeps these photos in their wallets or diaries. I, on the other hand, collect them for the future generations.
I really wanted to show you the close-ups of every picture! I added tons of hears and kisses and stuff :) More on the actual sewing process and the experience with the pattern I'll write in the following post.
Enjoy!
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I tried to look like a Bond girl |
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My eyes doubled in size! Thank you, Purikura! |
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By far, my favorite photo ;) |
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Here I didi my best to show the matched back panels! |
Love it!! I've totally thought about doing this with my dresses too!
ReplyDeleteYou should! The only disappointment is that Purikura does not allow to shoot the full size photo. So I had to jump to show the length of the skirt *^ワ^*)
ReplyDeleteAAAAHHHH! That is BRILLIANT! I love the idea of a purikura photoshoot! Your poses are awesome, too. What a great dress!
ReplyDeleteThis is SO awesome!! I hadn't realised quite how cool these photo booths were, but now I HAVE to find one! I love the dress (it looks like it's smiling!) and your tights rock! I may have to fly back to Tokyo for an impromptu photo session/fabric shopping trip if I can't find any booths in Singapore... Love the lollipops! (Apologies for so much enthusiasm, but I think I may have drunk too much coffee...!) :-)
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh! That shoot is the best. Why don't we have these here?? Awesome idea and awesome dress and I love that its not matchy matchy, too right, if Issy can get away with it, then we should call your 'Art' too.
ReplyDeleteIt's so cool Inna! Great photo shoot and the dress is totally fashion grade! Desigual is making the world crazy with mismatched designs and crazy prints...you can do it too....I'll have to check out that pattern
ReplyDeleteOMG your eyes are gigantic XD I love this. Well done - dress and photos. I remember these booths from when I lived/worked/studied in diff. parts of Asia-they were a lot simpler then and I printed the photos as stamps to send to people on postcards XD I'm working on one of the Named patterns at the mo' too.
ReplyDeleteHehe :) Thanks, Gillian! I wish I could take more photos, but it's bloody expensive :S
ReplyDeletePurikura are fun! Such a shame they don't grab the photo from head to toe. Well.. I lifter my leg to show off the tights :P Although not so fancy like in Japan, they should purikura in Singa! Check it out!
ReplyDeleteP.S. Will send the book tomorrow!
Purikura could be a great business in any country! A photo-shoot like this cost ¥400 (AUD 4.5). Not cheap but everybody has so much fun!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely thy their patterns! Aydan dress would look great on you! SO now I can position myself with confidence between Issey and Desigual :)
ReplyDeleteFor a moment, I imagined I had eyes like that for real... And great success in horror movies guaranteed! OOOOhhhh What pattern you are working on??? Tellme tellmetellme!!!
ReplyDeleteI love that moment when I see the fabric and immediately I know what to use it for! *^o^*
ReplyDeleteIt's a fun dress and it was a great idea to use Purikura to take photos! People look soooooo beautiful and young on the photos taken there (at least the girls, my husband said he lost all the facial features but I didn't mind the smooth fair skin and big eyes! *^v^*). I like the neckline on the dress, unusual detail.
Cool!!!!!!!!!!! I have never heard about this kind of photoshoot!!! You look like a profesional model!!!!!!!!!! And the dress suits you perfect, althought the stripes don´t match it looks great!!!!!!!! Thanks for sharing Named pattern they are sooooo cute!
ReplyDeleteI bought this pattern because of the neckline ...
ReplyDeleteArigaou, Maider :) Come to Japan for the photo-shoot!
ReplyDeleteWow that's so cool! I wish we had those kind of booths here as well. It's fun how the stripes don't match, it makes the dress more playful. Love your socks :)
ReplyDeleteSupa Kawaii!! haha - love it. And what a fabulous print!
ReplyDeleteI adore your fabric choice for that dress! Loved that you used purikura to show it off! I should remember purikura the next time I'm bending in awkward poses to take pictures of myself.
ReplyDeleteOMG, your eyes are huuuuge! And what a rad make!
ReplyDeleteI just love this photo shoot so much! And I love the dress unmatched. I'm glad you went ahead and made it anyway.
ReplyDeleteOoh! That's so exciting! Thank you! Thank you! I will watch the post box like a hawk now...!
ReplyDeleteThey call Purikura 'Neo Prints' here and I think they were big a few years ago, but there's apparently a whole shop of them somewhere... I am going to go exploring to find it! Maybe it'll do head to toe... I will report back! ;-)
Thank you!
ReplyDeleteArigatou gozaimasu, Melanie-san! (ღ˘⌣˘ღ) ♫・*:.。. .。.:*・
ReplyDeleteYes girl, go to a purikura for a fancy fashion photo-shoot :)
ReplyDelete(=⌒▽⌒=)
ReplyDeleteDon't encourage me too much or all my garments will end up unmatched
ReplyDeleteTyler shirt. It's done, I need to make a post butIhaveothermassivenews setup for this week already XP>XD
ReplyDeletewhat a amazing photo shoot!!!! loving the dress, its much more interesting the way you have made it and er hello? red basting thread.....you've been holding out on me my friend!!!
ReplyDeleteI've got only blue and yellow! Which one is your favorite color, dear?
ReplyDeleteOMG what AMAZING pictures. LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteokay, that is too cool to be believed. holy wow.
ReplyDeleteNEED one of these photo booths in my house... You look AMAZING! x
ReplyDeleteWhen is your birthday? :) We might chip in for a purikura for you
ReplyDelete:P
ReplyDeleteWHAAAAAT?!?! Love this! The dress is fab, I love your decision to let the stripes fall randomly, and the photos are WAY fun! Love love love!
ReplyDeleteOh, my, these photos are fantastic, my favorite is with two lollipops. So interesting to read about life in Japan.
ReplyDeleteThank you :)
ReplyDelete