SS12 - Random as always

The inspiration behind this seasons' collection.....

Japanese Nail Art and Tattooing

I have had a bit of an obsession with Japanese Nail art for quite some time now and have always been desperate to cover myself in beautiful Japanese illustrations (although this has never happened - i am a grade A wimp and a professional mind changer).
All the same it is a big influence on this season.


Fishing, fly fishing, fishermen, fish - you get the theme

Last season by the sea (we are officially moving off the great Isle in September) so it seemed rude not too. I have always had a thing for fishing boats and the colours of the nets, worn paint and old sea dogs that spend their lives on the oceans. (Dad and I once descended on an ancient pub in the back end of beyond for a musical evening where locals could take it in turns to entertain with their particular skill - an Isle of Wight X Factor - that consisted mainly of said sea dogs singing their shanties, the Elton Johns and Leona Lewis's of the sea if you like . The unusual musical choices and "eclectic" crowd at the evening left a lasting impression on both dad and I and if I can even share an ounce of this evening with you, your life will be better or at least fuller as a result)

Bee - keeping
Coz dad wants bees at home and no one else does and we have been arguing about this for about a year now = its on the brain whether I like it or not.

Occasionally I get to sit in the garden and sketch ideas. I think this is actually my favorite bit....new prints are blacked out.

SO thats it. Im excited. I think its going to be an exciting season!! xx

Look believes.......

Big Thanks to Look for featuring the Lobster scarf this week!! xx

Metro believes..........

Big Thanks to the Metro for believing xxx

Telegraph believes......

Big up to Alicia Waite for I Spy(ing) the Ant Print Shirt on the Telegraph Fashion site

Toot! xxx

On Sale - Di Guardo Boutique

A lovely independant boutique a stones throw from Portobello Road in London - Di Guardo, owned by the delectable Letizia is a haven for gems, some of them covered in Lobsters and some not.


212 Kensington Park Road, Notting Hill, London W11
020 7243 9274

Ben the....

BIG BROTHER BUSINESS BAD ASS

So who better to go into business with than someone you trust implicitly, respect, have known for literally ever, never (well rarely) argue with and generally have a right laugh with - my brother Ben.


Benjamin Taylor, as of a week last monday / tuesday is officially managing the business side of things at CHARLOTTE TAYLOR, helping develop the brand and generally provided a whole load of expertise needed to take the label to the next level and then to infinity and beyond etc...



We are very excited about everything and have even built a proper office bit in the studio. Our favorite new additions being the "That was easy" over-sized button from Staples and the picture of us both as kids above our desks (random clothing included).


Some people may say that we are mad - those who know us know that it is what one might say a "Killer combo" or an "Unstoppable force", or perhaps "A no brainer" - or maybe mum and dad have brainwashed us.
Many a proud parent has indeed given a tone deaf, rhythm less child an unshakable self belief in their talent and shoved them, oosing with confidence onto an X-factor stage or the like, only to be told that dying cats sound better. Lets hope we are not in that bracket.

I am sure that as we wear our B and C super hero outfits to the office every day anything is possible.

Nylon Believes.....

In this months NYLON - A fab article and another interpretation of a fab way of styling the collection.....some nice words said too :)

Vogue Believes....

Vogue feels the lobster and ant love....

On Sale - Young British Designers - NOW

The lovely Young British Designers have a limited selection of the collection on sale now.... GO FORTH AND GOD SPEED - GET SOME LOBSTERS IN YOUR LIFE!

AW11 - On Sale at Coggles

INCOMINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG.............

Selected items of the new collection now on sale at Coggles. More to follow at Young British designers next week and if you're in London any time soon, pop into Di Guardo Boutique, 212 Kensington Park Rd in Notting Hill, you may find a few gems in there also!


The full collection will go on sale in August / September in further boutiques in the UK and USA. Watch this space!

The sales trail....

It's a long one - hence my lack of communication for the last few weeks...alas...where do we begin.....The start would be a good place I guess.

SO....continuing along the lines of taking the label back to basics, stripping it bear and focusing on a stronger identity and message I decided NOT to show at LFW this year and the collection didn't even grace a showroom. Why is this you say...? Well my theory was that I wanted feedback. Good, honest, straight-forward feedback, from the horses mouth as you may say... the thoroughbred stallions and mares in this case, being many of the boutiques who would ideally stock the collection now or in the future.
SO Dick Whittington here packed up shopped and went on a road trip...I even ended up in NYC!

(there it is....)

I literally went to boutiques, took them lookbooks and showed them the collection..."I was just passing and...." ( I shall now force myself upon you until you buy all of my collection and pre-order the next 5 seasons!!). Sometimes it worked and sometimes I saw the end of a risen, flared nostrilled nose whilst being ushered out the door and tentatively wished "good luck"...Well I didn't like your store anyway...huff.

For me the exercise was of course to introduce retailers to the collection, but also to talk through each piece and to see what bits worked for them, what didn't and how they could see it moving forward. It was sooooo helpful and I actually ended up adding a couple of pieces last minute with their feedback in mind.

The Maxi box pleat dress - available in Ants and Elephants

The box pleat skirt - available in Penguin, Winter Penguin and Elephant

There is also a shirt dress - picture to come

I also used the opportunity to discuss opinions on the easiest and most effective ways to get collections in front of a buyer every season... the options include:

- A show, presentation or exhibition at London Fashion week or any of the others.
- Joining forces with a sales agent and going in a collective show room where the agents get people down and sell you stuff but also take a percentage.
- Paying for a space in a showroom with other designers so you have passing trade but doing the sales yourself.
- Trade shows in the UK and worldwide
- Doing everything yourself. Including going to see shops and buyers at their shops, using spaces rented or borrowed to pop up a rail and show clients.
(I am sure there are other options but these are the ones I discussed).

The tube, for example....

There are also things to consider such as international sales agents who can help you break into American or Asian markets for example, but im going to focus on the UK market for this blog session.

All these questions were asked so that I can make an informed decision on how to present the collection next season, what platforms suit the label and where buyers prefer to go.

SO....
- It was pretty inconclusive....everyone had a preference but they were all different....naturally. It is apparent however, the scale of designers who are knocking on the door of these boutiques. One owner said she gets up to 50 email a day from designers. So you have to be eye catching and different in what you send and how you send it other wise and email or letter wont even get opened. Cut - throat indeed.
- Fashion weeks are sometimes more media focused and sales and buyers can be lost in the thick of it
- Agents can take quite a big cut so it is tossing up he balance of whether the amount they take is worth the sales they generate.
- Trade shows - It depends what you target market is as to which show is right for you but on the whole quite a lot of buyers seem to like this option as they are easy, they focus on sales and they are before fashion weeks, which shows that designers are organized. However many designers do not like to showcase collections before fashion week so this is a big negative.


- By doing the sales yourself, you run the risk of looking unprofessional and also you do not have as many contacts and as much dedicated time as an agent would. However it is more personable and you can build relationships with buyers and get even more feedback! If you share showrooms with other designers you can feed off each others trade and it is more impressive to have a nice space to showcase your collection.

Ill keep you posted on where we decide....
C

AUTUMN / WINTER 2011

Presenting you with the new season collection

Completely print focused. Inspired by colonial Africa. I hope you like it (honest comments and opinions always welcome)
An introduction through the official press release. I know that it was posted a couple of weeks ago, but to refresh your memory -

Autumn / Winter 2011 sees CHARLOTTE TAYLOR traverse down a silky wormhole of exquisite, clashing and mood-altering colours, bold contrasts and snippets of African, English Heritage and Hungarian Gypsy inspiration.
For its third season, the label has been stripped bare – focusing on the essence behind the CHARLOTTE TAYLOR charm – the weird and wonderful, the deliciously tactile, the beautifully brave – the prints.
Past prints will carry over, with new colour-ways and designs holding hands to showcase a deluxe, delectable feast for the eye.
The prints envelop duvet-sized scarves, classic silk blouses and shirts and of course the celebrated CT head scarf.
Limited edition Wallpaper prints are also a new introduction – An army of Penguins to share your bathroom with should be an addition to any self-respecting individuals’ bucket list in the 21st Century!

Photographer: Claire Pepper
Stylist: Holly Chaves
Hair and Make-up: Camilla Hewitt
Model: Jodie @ Models 1

For further Information please email me directly at charlotte@charlottetaylorltd.com

Pretty picture

The Photoshoot

So the days leading up to the shoot as are a bit of a blur - most of it however was spent sewing and/ or organizing...alone. Occasionally I get the odd visit from my cat / neckwarmer...

or dog in the studio and if im lucky, and after a seriously over exaggerated grunt and a bucket load of huffing and puffing my pop appears with a cuppa at the top of the stairs. Although most visitors are hushed out fairly rapidly - the cats claws and dogs mucky paws however, are a minor hazard compared to my fathers hanger knocking, tea spilling, back slapping (when you're sewing an intricate blouse) 6ft 3 clumsiness. He usually has a 30 second time limit.

Anyway, everything gets done and once more I pack up shop and head off to the smoke, Dick Whittington styley to meet Camilla for some last minute prep before the big day. Our final hours are spent covering buttons (mum and Camilla have a "button off" to see who can cover the most buttons. Aplaudable enthusiasm, if a little odd...) and sewing.


In the morning we are up at 6.15am to leave the flat by 7am. It is an early start as we have to go via the button man in Soho - who subsequently disses our button covering skills (he is trying to get more business off us, but our early morning sense of humour is somewhat lacking) and we leave £15 lighter and grumpy.
Lucy, one of my buddies has come along to help and we all pile in the car along with thousands of props, ironing boards, clothes and tea and hot chocolate (spilled in a rather unlucky patch on the passenger seat and all over Lucy's skirt - which whipped off as she fashions a new one from her tweed scarf - we like a proactive thinker).

In a hop, skip and a jump we are in Stoke Newington at the a hired studio. Claire (photographer) arrives, as does Holly (stylist) and Jodie (model) and her mum are there to meet us. She is awesome - perfect for our look and it is a massive relief. Phew.


Hair and make-up gets underway as Lucy and I iron and steam the collection. Holly un-loads her styling props, and there are thousands (what a star) and we begin to go through looks. Our aim is 6/7 looks and that is what we end up with.

The shoot gets going and it is clear that it is English heritage and colonial style. A lot of "wow, that's lush" are thrown around and the whole team seems happy.

We leave at the end of the day completely exhausted. Why are fashion shoots so tiring? and I more than anything am relieved.


Lucy, in her tweed skirt / scarf

I hope you love the shoot and the collection as much as I do. These are my favourite CT photos to date. 100% LUSH.

An Englishwoman in Africa

AW11 photoshoot and the prep

So its that time of year again when we shoot the lookbook for the collection. This season though it is different. Exciting different and also scary different....
As the collection is much smaller and print focused I decided that the most effective way to show them would be in a more creative photoshoot than seen in previous seasons. Hence, the new lookbook is a bit nutty/ bonkers/ amazingly wonderful and weird!
Here are the mood boards I put togeter for the team before the shoot so we were all on the same page:




For the shoot we had a very similar team to normal:
The infamous and wonderfully awesome Claire Pepper - photographer to the stars (and me)
The extraordinarily talented Camilla Hewitt - hair and make-up genius
Holly Chaves - scrumptious superstar stylist
and the lovely Jodie from Models1 who on one of her first shoots absolutely NAILED it. Watch this space my friends, this girl is going to go far!


Pictures should be up the beginning of London Fashion week, although I am so excited you might get a preview before!

CHARLOTTE TAYOR - AW11

Ok - so what am I up to....Below is the 'official' press release which explains in hopefully a sensual, evocative manner - normality will conclude at the end:

Autumn / Winter 2011 sees CHARLOTTE TAYLOR traverse down a silky wormhole of exquisite, clashing and mood-altering colours, bold contrasts and snippets of African, English Heritage and Hungarian Gypsy inspiration.
For its third season, the label has been stripped bare – focusing on the essence behind the CHARLOTTE TAYLOR charm – the weird and wonderful, the deliciously tactile, the beautifully brave – the prints.
Past prints will carry over, with new colour-ways and designs holding hands to showcase a deluxe, delectable feast for the eye.
The prints envelop duvet-sized scarves, classic silk blouses and shirts and of course the celebrated CT head scarf.
Limited edition Wallpaper prints are also a new introduction – An army of Penguins to share your bathroom with should be an addition to any self-respecting individuals’ bucket list in the 21st Century!

This press release will go out to the database first thing Monday morning, but I thought it right to talk about the new changes on here first. I hope that you are all as excited as I am....

To complement the 'editing' of the label we will not be showing at London Fashion Week either. The collection can be seen by appointment only and please contact the team for details:

press@charlottetaylorltd.com or
sales@charlottetaylorltd.com

Who am I and where am I going...?

So lets go back to London Fashion week - what I can remember anyway...it was a bit of a blur.

So from the outsider you saw:
- CHARLOTTE TAYLOR SS11 shown at LFW as a Ones to Watch with VFS
- A Vauxhall custom print car with CT robots all over it (a personal highlight)
- International press coverage
- New look books, press releases, amazing cookie robot donned goody bags etc...


But I know what everyone is most interested in is the behind the scenes.

Here is what you didn't see:
- My first ever model casting where the VFS designers collectively selected a choice of models for the show.
- All the normal panic and stress that you would expect with the culmination of a collection, although surprisingly I did feel more organized this time round as I was more familiar with the VFS team and their set-up.
- The acquiring, implementation and feedback of sponsors of the show.
- A rather chaotic backstage at the show. I arrived super organized, even for me, but the shift of rail location 15 minutes before the show totally flummoxed me and 2 hours of prep went down the drain.


- There was also no time to fit clothes on models and because I was 2nd in the group, I had the least time (there was menswear after me so Georgia had a leisurely change in comparison) and many of the clothes did not fit the models. One of the tops had to be safety pinned on a super tiny model and another split a skirt open. One of the necklaces was put on wrong and a top on back to front and dont even get me started on shoes!!! Anyway needless to say I will NEVER go into a show without having fitted clothes on models previously (even if I have to make a scene and insist) and I will always have enough shoes for a pair per look. Having time to prepare your dressers is also essential and a rail per model, so all their looks are on one rail is pretty elementary, but you never know! Anyway no-one got to see any of this and the models made it out on time so all gravy. However my stumble out onto the catwalk after the show was comparable to a rabbit (who had probably been run over a couple of times) in headlights and was one of the most surreal moments of my life.
- Some serious waffle to some journalists backstage. Thank god I had Camilla, my helper extraordinaire aka the Elephant (because of her memory, nothing else) to prompt me whenever my frazzled brain stopped functioning.
- The collection was then whisked upstairs to join fellow designers in the VFS exhibition room to begin 4 days of press and sales appointments.Phew.


Anyway, what a week. However it is when all the hype calms down that the work really begins and this is where I had to make some seriously tough decisions.
From the outside LFW was a great success for CT, and dont get me wrong, it was. However as well as being a fashion label, this is also a business and without money coming in it is essentially a glorified hobby.
The collection and label are going well at this point but unless I make some changes in some way, finances will run out and it will be tough to get a backer on board.
I also feel that the label has lost a part of its identity. Although I love the collection, I feel it needs a stronger message and editing.

On making the business more financially viable:
- Obviously one can never expect to make a return immediately with any fashion label but it needs to be moving in that direction.
- I dissect the label, its financial figures, its identity and also my vision for it and see what can be done. The problem is I dont want to sacrifice the brands essence to make a quick buck.

SO the options are:
- Increase the price of the product (this would be confusing to the buyers, press and customer. I also never wanted to have seriously pricey products as it is not me and has never been my vision for the brand) = not an option.
- Decrease unit costs ( moving production abroad and potentially decreasing the quality of the raw materials) = NO THANKS
- Reduce the size of the collection, styles and different fabrics within it (increasing minimums on fabrics and orders of one style and subsequently reducing costs). By editing and reducing the collection you can focus on a more identifiable product and message, solving both problems = YES PLEASE

By going down this road, the brand image, target market and price range also remain the same so no confusing message is given.

So moving forward : I am going to leave this to the next blog as I am sure you've read enough for one day...

Revolutionary road

Firstly, please accept my most sincere apologies for my serious lack of updates over the past few months. Inexcusable I know but this down to a couple of things....

After London Fashion Week in September I simultaneously took on two of the most challenging journeys of my life. One was mentally and one physically, and I can safely say that DA DA DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA....I survived. Heavy heavy sigh....

In short the two challenges were:
1. Analysing the label, its strengths, market position and future. Making some tough decisions and pushing it forward into a more focused message.
2. Crossing Costa Rica in a 6 day endurance race on bike, foot and raft for charity.


I shall elaborate.

1. I have always endeavoured to be honest about the journey that I have and am undertaking to provide a sincere, accurate account of the behind the scenes world of the fashion industry. This will never change, but please don't always expect a sugar coated fairytale. I'm a Lancashire lass and you will get no fluffy waffle from me. My reason for emphasizing this point is due to the business going through a period of change. Change that I did not predict or expect, but change that evolved and just happened. Until the change was complete and the message clear, I have been hesitant to divulge too much information for fear of portraying a confused message.
Hence - my lack of blogging.

My intention is to talk you through what has been the most interesting chapter of the business so far over the next few days and bring you up-to-date on where it stands at the moment and how it will be going forward.

2. Costa Rica Coast to Coast challenge. If you are interested then check out the website. This was the hardest thing I have ever done and the best. I am going to write an account of our adventure if you are interested ill post a link on the blog shortly.


Anyway - lots to tell. So grab a cuppa and settle in. Will be posting regularly over the next few days to bring you up to date. Good to be back.

Over and out x

Marie Claire Hong Kong believes...

Diana Vickers

Diana Vickers takes on the Penguin army