Hey everyone! After an exhilarating long weekend in Phoenix where we met with our fellow emerging designers as well as the PHXFW team, we are back in our workshops hard at work on the 5 pieces we will be featuring in our capsule collection on August 8th!
Day 1 was a rough start, after a night in the airport spread out over 3 desks worth of floor space we made it into Phoenix just in time for the Luncheon with students at the Art Institute of Phoenix where we met excited educators and students participating in their new Fashion Design program. After that, it was a quick couple hours to unpack and then out we went to our Emerging Designer Announcement at Toni and Guy. Unsure what this was going to entail, we showed up in our designs with hair, makeup and heels to make us feel confident and seasoned……though our stomachs were churning with anxiety.
With no preparation we were put on camera and asked about our partnership and our brand name. Then it was off to see our model, dresses in a frock that was in no way representational of what we are all about or what will be in our Spring 2015 collection. This was a last minute decision, deemed a failure by us and probably others as well. With the realization that we entered this all wrong, we then got grilled about our inspiration, tagline and brand message in front of an audience of 200+ fashionistas and press from the Phoenix area. Needless to say, we were less eloquent then we wanted to be…..
Phew, now it was time to mingle. We met some amazing photographers and bloggers as well as other members of the PHXFW team. Overwhelmed and exhausted we went to bed, trying to re energize for the 8 hours of class that ensued the following day.
Phew, now it was time to mingle. We met some amazing photographers and bloggers as well as other members of the PHXFW team. Overwhelmed and exhausted we went to bed, trying to re energize for the 8 hours of class that ensued the following day.
Notebooks and Laptops spread out, energy drinks in hand, we started off our second day in Phoenix. With enlightening presentations from PHXFW team members, a Q and A with local retailers, and an intense evaluation of where we stand and where we want to be 6pm came and we felt like we had just got started. Amazed at the level of talent surrounding us, we knew we had work to do.
Home we went, with our first homework assignment bouncing around in our brains for a night of discussion about our brand, our woman, our inspiration and what we wanted to get out of PHXFW.
Home we went, with our first homework assignment bouncing around in our brains for a night of discussion about our brand, our woman, our inspiration and what we wanted to get out of PHXFW.
Finally to bed again only to rise for a full day of work. Out came the sketches and supplies, notebooks, homework assignments, phones, laptops, and piles of research. Low and behold, we managed a small space on the corner of the 3 coffee tables that had been pushed together for our cups of coffee, handed to us mid conversation by my cousin Chris.
12 hours, a pack of cigarettes, 2 pots of coffee and 4 energy drinks later (there may have been a plate of cheezy eggs in there somewhere too?) out we came with a clear picture of who Blackberry Maverick is, what we are designing, who we are designing for and the first round of sketches and fabric selections for our new collection!
Blackberry Maverick was reborn as the brand we intended it to be in the first place: A merging of the Classic Betty and the Unpredictable Fox. With a collection of 14 dresses and separates that truly, “Take the retro woman to the edge”. Home we went the following morning with to do lists more than a page long to get ready for our capsule collection show on august 8th. Now the real work starts, with offices overflowing into living rooms, phones, emails and social media blowing up, we are off and running!!
Check back with us as we share snippets of the process over the next month. Blackberry Maverick’s capsule collection launch, here we come!!
xx,
Leslie
