I realized that I didn't come home with any pictures of myself with the beautiful surroundings in London or Stockholm-actually i didn't take many pics of the scenery at all which is kinda lame, but then again i guess it wasn't a vacation. I was on a mission for fashion!.. What I did take, however secretly, are a million plus pictures of myself and garments that either we couldn't afford to buy, or that had a small detail that we wanted to remember but wasn't worth buying, in the confines of many a fitting room.. Taking secret pictures is a technique that professional shoppers must master. It was a little hard getting good shots without flash (my flash went off a few times nearly blowing my cover). Here are some examples-i know it looks like I'm posing super hard, but I'm just trying to capture the details of the sleeves promise! haha..
The point of these trips is "market research", which basically means shopping like mad in stores from high-end to low-end to vintage and in between, walk circles around the city seeing what people are wearing/buying/doing, buy tons of samples to bring back to the office to share the new concepts in the world of fabrics, silhouettes, techniques, prints, and trims, and get inspired for the coming season. Taking pictures of garments is to remember the key ideas and to be able to refer to it later- NOT to copy it! We also shop locally in NYC to see what people are buying different times of year. Here is a scan of my sketch book from the trip.. it's full of quick messy sketches and ideas. (and a lot of sketches of things i want to make for myself or save up to buy!)
This is a picture of my fun shopping partners Melody and Kevin, director of design and president of the company respectively, standing in front of the soon to be DKNY jeans store in London. I am too embarrassed to put up the pics i have of the pretty city cuz they're all taken from inside a cab! No time for legitimate sight seeing :( 
But I did manage to steal a few good shots of scenery in Stockholm. I really love that city. I'm so glad I convinced my bosses to go there this trip because although Kevin referred to our hotel as a "hostile" on numerous occasions, he fell in love with the stores and street style and announced to the whole company that designers will be traveling there regularly from now on! yay!! I j'adore Scandinavian designers! Next trip, I really want to conquer Helsinki and Copenhagen! We'll see how that idea plays out with the bosses..
6 comments:
Ha! I mastered taking secret photos in a dressing room when I was wedding dress shopping (taking pics of what I liked so my mom could re-create it). It was soooo scary and I was almost busted a few times. I really had to get sneaky, especailly because the ladies at expensive wedding gown stores do not let you out of their sight!
Wow, very impressive Abbie! I know traveling can get to be a drag, but what a great opportunity you have to see the world and study all of the different ways people live and dress. You're very good at it, too!
I want your life. Too bad I can't draw or sew. Good job on the sneak pix.
Your little sketch pad reminds me of when we used to plan out our futures on legal pads when we were jrh-ers. So funny. I remember something about some type of beach hut that we would live in when we were pro-surfers. Yikes!
Everyone has to be a sneak sometimes, your drawings are so cute. hope the planning is going well. love you
hey, stockholm looks very cool. I spent time in London and was itching to see more of England. I love the sneak shots. I've shopped for furniture through pix messages like that. It's always a little precarious, but comes with a great sense of accomplishment and sneakiness. When's the trip to Sea-Town? We've got grunge style you might want to research for your NW markets. :) And yes, like libby, I remember when you drew my outfits for our first week of high school. Remember those crazy short shorts with that bright green shirt and vest the matched the shorts?
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