Hi to all, and welcome to my new blog.
It’s really a good time to start this because I have just finished designing my new collection for next Spring Summer, so I’m ready for something new. You probably all want to hear about what’s coming up for the new season – well there are a lot of beautiful mixed brights, plus soft baby pink, white and yes – black too. I have finally succumbed! Of course it’s not just plain black, there’s quite a lot of colour to make it look Spencer & Rutherford. I think black will work well for the races too. There are also some fabulous new styles. Once again, it will be hard for even me to choose a favourite. I like to look at it all for a while before I choose, so I will keep you posted.
Here is the wall where I paste all my designs as I am working. It gets built up over the design period, which this time has been 10 weeks. Sometimes it is hard to know which bag to start with, but once I get going, it is very exciting and I usually find I have the next one in my head while I am still doing the previous. This collection has 64 pieces!
I always start with doing a big story board, like the one above, which includes the colour predictions for the season, inspirational pictures that I find and my fabrics, leathers and trims. This enables me to stay focused and not go off onto too much of a tangent (which can be really easy to do!)
Today marks the end of normal time for me, as I have to switch to my other full time job as mother, and more importantly taxi service, for the next two weeks of school holidays. We have a basketball final for my 8 year old son, Mason, a charity concert for the bushfire which my 11 year old daughter, Isabella, is performing in and, of course, Easter to prepare for, as well as lots of lovely catch ups and coffee with friends.
Also I thought it might be fun for you to meet all the fabulous staff at Spencer & Rutherford, so I will introduce them all one by one over the next few weeks.
This little character is the youngest member of our staff, and also the noisiest. Louis (pronounced Loo-ee, as in Louis Vuitton) is my pet Cavoodle, who comes into the office everyday. He is 9 months old and keeps us all sane by happily visiting everyone’s desks, checking out the rubbish bins for chocolate wrappers, staring longingly out the window at the street below and barking at every courier that visits us. He also knows how to jump up on the table as we discovered one day when a plate of cookies mysteriously vanished. At the moment he is lying under my feet chewing the roller wheel of the chair I am sitting on.
Coming up next time: Mason’s birthday, planning a photo shoot and introducing my production and design assistant.
XOXO Kim