The time has come to launch the much awaited, Eustratia lingerie range (which I have been working on for a few months now and I’m really pleased with) and I’m excited to be launching it at the event that I’m co-hosting with my stockist at TG Manchester promoter Frankie Knuckles.
The event is called The Manopsychotisches Ballroom and will feature art, performance, fashion and fetish elements, hopefully attracting a diverse and interesting (but not seedy) crowd.
The picture of my on the flyer is by a lovely set with SJImage which I can hopefully share with you soon.
Manopsychotisches Ballroom
Manchester
Sat 25th May
9pm-2am
2022NQ
20/22Dale Street, Manchester M1 1EZ (Nearest Station: Manchester Picadilly)
The new lingerie range has a vintage twist while still retaining key Eustratia features and contemporary details. The styling I have chosen will contrast will the arty and industrial feel of the venue so we wanted to tie these elements together through the show. We have planned a guerrilla inspired, art-installation style fashion show where men will build and then dismantle part of a wall to reveal the models and then roll out turf for them to walk into the crowd on.
Here’s a sneaky peek of the lingerie range line-up just to give you a vague idea but I’m not releasing the full color-scheme.
The range won’t be added to the online store till it has been professionally photographed but I will be taking orders at the launch.
Full event line-up and ticket info:
Edgy Kabaret Shows by:
Cervena Fox
Latex Couture Fashion Show by:
Eustratia Latex Couture
Live art Performance:
New Aktionists Kris Canavan & Nick Kilby
Club House
Ballroom
Multi-Screen Arts visuals and installations,
Promoted Fantasy Dress Code – Explore Your Imagination!
Fantasy * Fetish * SM * Latex * Body Art * Drag * Burlesque * Uniform * Medical * Militaria * Berlin Kabaret * Boudoir * Moulin Rouge * Venice Carnival * Circus Side Show * Top Hat & Tails * Surrealism * Steam Punk etc
No Cameras / No use of Mobile Phones /
Advance Tickets: £8
Manchester Shop Outlets @ Afflecks Palace M4 1PW: HITOME adore
On The Door: £10
Questions regarding the event can be directed to myself and Frankie Knuckles.
If you’re into current and quirky fashion, chances are you’ve heard of Dolls Kill.
The thing that appeals to me the most about the brand is the fact that they have dolls/muses that represent the styles they cater for. I decide on the items I put into production for my own label in a very similar way!
Links to the dolls and their current ranges can be found here.
I was approached about selling some of my products, that had a Dolls Kill vibe, through the site so I made a board with a selection of Eustratia products for each of them.
Mercy.
Willow.
Darby.
Coco.
Outfits to fit each doll’s style were then selected and I created illustrations to show how they would look together.
I then went on to create the garments!
After a lot of faffing around with couriers and customs the garments finally arrived and were added to the site.
There is now only one outfit left on the site and hopefully they will stock a small range of Eustratia products in the near future.
I don’t usually do such “worky” posts but it’s something I’m thinking of introducing so let me know what you guys think. I would have loved to be able to read about other people’s projects while I was at uni. so I hope others will find this useful.
I don’t always have time to update as often as I’d like but I do try to keep things more or less in chronological order, this sometimes causes me to fall even further behind because I find it hard to publish a particular post. This is one of those posts, I have thought about what I wanted it to be like for ages because I was searching for a more refined and straightforward way to present my personal personal projects but I guess I’m not quite there yet.
As I have mentioned previously, this winter I was very inspired by wintery imagery, white animals and snowy settings. I really enjoyed gathering inspiration for the Eustratia winter wonderland shoot so when a show slot came up at the Manchester Alternative and burlesque fair, I jumped at the opportunity. I never usually plan seasonal seasonal stuff in time but my general love of animal-inspired headwear and white latex came in useful here.
This was my main inspiration board.
I wanted to tell a story and I left it would come across best if the setting was right so the props were important. The main part of the story takes place in an enchanted forest so trees were essential, I’ve wanted to have something like this on set for ages so I ordered some foam board and thanks to the efforts of the multi-talented Richard Ayres, it was made possible. I think he will aslo need a prop portfolio soon.
I also purchased a snow machine, which I think made all the difference, a large mirror, some small animals and hanging stars to complete the scene.
With the event being so close to Christmas I wanted to add some traditional elements into the story, unrecognisable as they may be. I stumbled upon the story of Befana, the Italian, gift giving witch. I loved the fact that as well as putting sweets into the boots of “good” children she also took time to sweep the floor while she was there, utilising her witch broom to show she was a good housekeeper. I decided to put her in the show but I totally changed her appearance to fit in with my aesthetic.
My decision to add this traditional element along with the girls starting of in the real world and journeying, in a dream, to the enchanted forest made the execution slightly more complicated. I was determined to make it work because it was the most unique part of the show and I left it gave more depth to the story.
The final narrative was as follows:
It is the night before Christmas. 2 girls go to bed in their room, excited for what the next day might bring. They have just fallen asleep when they hear a tinkling sounds coming from the mirror. The one nearest gets up and notices she can go through!
Once through the mirror the two girls find themselves in a winter wonderland, they are wondering around in awe when they meet a witch. She is gathering flowers in a basket and the girls decide to help her. To thank them for their kindness the witch gives them a magic coin that they can use to call upon her whenever they need help.
Next the girls come across winter woodland animals, dancing between the trees, they are transfixed and watch the graceful dance until their attention is drawn away by a loud noise. The snow queen and her extravagant pet unicorns approach the animals and circle menacingly. The queen decides to turn the animals into ice statues so she can admire their beauty whenever she likes, then they leave.
The girls come out from hiding behind the trees and are sad to see the animals cold and motionless, then they remember the coin and decide to use it to help the animals, they throw the coin into the air and surely enough shortly after the witch appears, she gently touches each animal and breathes life back into it. The animals have been turned back to normal and it starts to snow, everyone frolics happily.
The witch then leads the girls back through the mirror and into their own room. She puts them to bed, leaves glitter in their boots and sweeps the floor before leaving. The girls awake on Christmas day to find the glitter in their boots, a magical reminder of their journey to the winter wonderland, they are happy.
You can view more images from the show and info about the models on the Eustratia facebook page.
I’m quite happy with the way the show turned out despite the technical difficulties we had on the day. I’m grateful to everyone who contributed/took part and I think the models did an especially good job considering we didn’t get to rehearse with the props in place. Visually, I wish there was a white or generally light coloured backdrop, I think it would have really added to the set. It isn’t majorly important but I think it’s helpful for myself to make a note of such things because it isn’t something I would normally think about before planning a show.
Though it was a latex fashion show, I mostly enjoyed experimenting with different textures and making the non latex items. I had lots of fun with the fake fur, a material I’ve never used before. Of course I had to try on all the silly animal headwear!
I haven’t done a giveaway for a while and as I didn’t have time to release a valentine’s range I thought I’d celebrate with a giveaway instead.
You can enter the giveaway whichever way you like or on multiple platforms. Each of these will enter your name once. On the 14th a winner will be picked at random (using random.org). I will also be picking a winner for the extra credit on the 18th to give you a bit more time for this one. Remember to send me a link!
The winners outfit will be made to measure of course.
I’m not really the sort of girl who makes a big deal about Valentine’s day. However I do find that, if you have the means, it’s a good opportunity to do something special for your loved one.
I love compiling boards whatever the occasion so I thought I would share my top picks in case some of you would like some extra ideas.
1. Charbonnel et Walker Pink Mark de champagne truffles £20.99 Selfridges
I’m late writing this post (as with most of my posts), but I needed to share this magical project.
Winter themes really inspired me this year and I wanted to bring together elements from fairy tales, wildlife documentaries and fashion in a shoot.
This was the second project I shot in collaboration with Katelizabeth photography who came to Manchester for an intense couple of days of almost constant shooting. She did a great job re-arranging the set, directing the models and editing the finished images and was a total pleasure to work with. I’m sure she will be up to great things in the future.
The point was mainly to show off my creations for Eustratia but I styled it with some wintery items from my personal collection as well as some specially made headpieces to complete the look.
I bought the props mainly to use in an upcoming show with a similar theme but I think they really made the set, Kate did a great job of arranging them as well!
And for those of you who don’t know, this in my beautiful friend, Amber AKA Sapphire Black, if you follow my work you will have seen her before.
I particularly love this images because of the composition and the fact that it shows the whole set. I had been searching for a new front page image for http://www.eustratia.co.uk for a while and I decided to use this one.
I also made the headpieces for this shoot, which gave me a welcome break from working solely in latex. I have made antler headbands and bunny ears plenty of times before but the crowns were definitely something new for me and I really enjoyed working on them. I hope to have time to work on more special pieces and props this year. One of my goals is to create as complete an image as possible through my shoots and to keep my personal projects as close to the original idea as possible.
The wonderful make up in the images was provided by Laura Wilson. She is super talented and I hope to collaborate with her again this year. One of her best qualities is being able to realise somebody else’s vision as well as just her own, I find a lot of MUAs have a problem with this. She can also work well with different styles of make up while still retaining her signature.
When I look back on 2012, it has mostly been a year of trying to keep everything going and further establishing my business. I’m grateful to all the amazing people who have shared parts of my journey with me and worked on my various projects.
Photoshoot highlights 2012.
Faces of 2012
Inspirational images 2012
I’m excited about 2013 and hope it will be the start of bigger, better things for me and Eustratia. I’ve never really been a fan of new year’s resolutions but I’ve decided to make a list of goals I hope to achieve this year so can look back on it and see how I’ve done. I think I’m always a bit optimistic when I write lists as most of my projects require more work than I originally realise but I’d rather aim high than low so I’m going to write the full list and see how I do.
Learn to drive.
Launch my first latex lingerie range.
Do at least 5 fashion shows.
Release my first non-latex items (at least 6).
Get t-shirts and tote bags printed.
Design and produce a new jewellery range.
Find at least 2 stockists for Eustratia.
Write at least 3 blog posts a month (this doesn’t sound like a lot but with my schedule it can be hard sometimes).
Post at least 5 tutorials.
Find cool bloggers to send items to.
Collaborate with at least 12 amazing models.
Be involved in at least 5 large scale photoshoots with great themes.
Get at least 2 magazine covers.
Find and enjoyable form of exercise that fits in with my schedule and can be done regularly.
Find and keep a studio that works for my business.
Visit 2 other countries.
Do a fashion show out side the UK.
Dress a celebrity in my pieces
Increase my social media followers to a number I am happy with. (I have a lot of profiles and this varies for each but having over 10k on the Eustratia facebook page would be a start)
Do something cool for the Eustratia 2nd birthday in a couple of months!
If I can achieve all of these to the standard I have in mind I dare say it will be a successful year. I’d love to hear from others who have big plans for the year! What do you guys do to stay on track? I’m going to put up a big notice board and stick notes sketches and inspirational images on it in hope that it will help to keep me focused.
Those who follow my work will already be familiar with the Opulence collection that has been showcased that the Manchester Alternative and burlesque fair as well as London fetish weekend as part of the Avalonia fashion show. There is also a wonderful set of photobooth images by Tigz Rice featuring the outfits which can be viewed here.
The official Opulence look book images were shot by the talented Katelizabeth photography who did a great job of realising my vision and adding her own touch without upsetting the balance of the overall feel.
I’m really pleased with how it all turned out. I was originally worried the weather might ruin it for us and I must admit it was a rather muddy, and at times cold, experience but luckily this doesn’t show in the pictures. I had a great team that made every effort to get the best possible results and if any one of them didn’t believe in the project it wouldn’t have been possible.
I’d like to add a special thanks to Charlotte who isn’t credited as part of the creative team but really played a big part by assisting with pretty much everything and assuring the models’ safe passage to and from the set. She also took some behind the scenes footage which I hope to be able to include in a future post.
An insight into this collection and the influences behind it were published in the last issue of Rebelicious magazine which you can view online here and is also available for free download.
Image: Sevensin by Toria Brightside who also edited together this write up from my interview.
Images from my second collaboration with Katelizabeth photography are due to be released in a couple of days so keep your eyes peeled! A preview images can be view on the front page of my site!
Thanks to Toria Brightside we also landed the main feature in issue #9 of Rebelicious magazine. The feature includes a write up about the Opulence and Chimera (featuring chainmail by Richard Ayres).
The make up for these looks was created by Laura Wilson and hair by Laura Kulik.
For a while now I’ve wanted to step away from the classic theme of the white unicorn, with its purity and rainbows and give it a bit of attitude. I thought that this was quite an obvious thought process for someone creative with a dark edge and unicorns seem to be everywhere at the moment so I was surprised by the lack of relevant images online when I decided to do some research.
This was ultimately good news as it meant there wasn’t much I had to tick off the list due to someone else having done it before. I still wanted it to be quite an abstract interpretation of the unicorn as opposed to a full on pony costume with a horn and as always I couldn’t decide on just one way to style it so I portrayed it in 3 facets. Pretty unicorn, warrior unicorn and queen unicorn.
I thought these were all likely characters for the dark unicorn to take on and Jamie Mahon did a great job bringing them to life and create the right atmosphere. I also borrowed some beautiful taxidermy accessories from Sophie Adamson to complete the looks. The wardrobe/styling was provided by Eustratia and the chainmail by Richard Ayres, as usual.
We also took the opportunity to shoot some other bits on the same day but I’ve decided to include them in a different post.
I wore a revised version of this outfit to Torture garden for Halloween and added ears to the headband which I thought looked much better.
For those of you who are unicorn fans, the selection of unicorn themed items on my site is growing! Grad yourself something at http://www.eustratia.co.uk
Manopsychotisches Ballroom
Here’s a sneaky peek of the lingerie range line-up just to give you a vague idea but I’m not releasing the full color-scheme.
