There’s always a feeling of happiness and excitement that lingers in the air, whenever we embark upon the journey of planing a new collection. You start with the basics really, like you get up in the morning and get inspired by the beauty of something so trivial, you just can’t stop but do the happy feet dance and smile. Not because you’ve finally found an inspiration, but because you’ve managed to find beauty in the most peculiar of places. Than just before you take a sip of your morning coffee, you sit down in front of you computer, open your browser, type in Pinterest and start pinning like a crazy obsessed person, creating a visual moodboard with shapes and silhouettes, shades of the chosen color, cultures that inspire you, home decor, street style and the list goes on and on.
After the designs are sketched, you go on a hunt for the perfect material that will try to capture the essence of that ludicrous idea in your head and translate it into a real piece of art. And this is how the process of creating a Bastet Noir dress is done. So here, we’re revealing the step-by-step creative process of assembling a dress and the bitter-sweet hassles we go through before launching a collection.
1. Picking Cuts & Silhouettes
Our goal for this collection was to create something that will be both romantic and edgy at the same time, because the woman we’re designing for is not just a regular gal. She’s a rebel with a cause, a self-confident individual who knows what she wants and knows exactly how to get it. She is a wanderer, a free spirit with a heart full of gold and a head full of dreams. Inspired by this type of person, we felt that we needed to translate that into the cuts and silhouettes of the dresses. So we’ve decided to take the shape of the rose, structuring the lower part of the dresses like a delicate rose petal while leaving the upper part loose, so the woman who wears them has the freedom of a graceful movement. To give the overall look a bit of a rock’n’roll edge, we’ve embellished the dresses with metallic buckles, pleats, high neckline, wide lapels, high waist belts and long sleeves.
2. Picking The Perfect Shade Of Red
Self confidence is a trait we admire so much in a woman. There’s something about these self-aware women that’s so attractive and magnetic. Strong women have always been our role models and a tireless source of inspiration. That’s the reason we’ve started the Cool Faces of Bastet Noir series and that’s also the reason why we love designing so passionately. So, when you think of such a woman, red color comes as a natural choice, because it’s bold and our babes are nothing if not bold and courageous.
3. Picking The Fabric
As far as picking up the fabric goes, we decided to opt for very light satin silk. We love this material because of its smooth texture and the freedom of movement it provides. We also love it because it’s seasonless. You can layer it with sweaters or fabulous faux fur coats during winter and rock it as a simple flowy dress during summer time.
4. Hair And Make-Up
We wanted to achieve clean and old Hollywood glamour look, so we opted for a natural make-up with warm and soft light brown and pink eye-shadow tones and nude lips. To round up the look, we went with a bit more playful, but slick hairstyle with Marcel gentle waves and voila “A star is born” literally. Whether we’re right or it’s simply a wishful thinking, we’ll let you be the judge of that.
5. Photoshoot
Using a pink background was our first thought, because we wanted to achieve sort of like a girly, romantic appeal, but when we got to the studio, we had this other idea of mixing the red with an azzure blue background which kind of gave the collection some sort of warmth in terms of composition. It blended well with our props too, so the decision was made unanimously and here’s the proof of it.
“I wanted to keep the gentle appeal of the red color and the fabric, but also wanted to portray the dresses as casual wear, so I got this idea of using a jungle theme with big exotic flowers to sort of accentuate the fearlesness and capture the restless spirit of a woman. A great part of my inspiration almost always comes from Pinterest and Instagram. In this case, I was inspired by this particular Instagram account thisfashionfiend_ by the amazing Bobo Matjila.” — Aleksandra, our photographer and the founder of Aaaesthete, talking about her inspiration behind the photoshoot
Although it started as a collection planned for the perfect Valentine’s date, it has sort of gradually developed into a collection that celebrates more the date a woman has with herself. It celebrates self care, self love, boldness and uniqueness. It celebrates all of you beautiful women out there, because you deserve it. So this collection is dedicated to you all and to every perfect imperfection of a woman’s body. Build your power, treasure it and than unleash it to the world to inspire other women to rise to their full potential, all while rocking a Bastet Noir dress.