Interpretations: behind the scenes

One month has already gone by since Veera and I published our first collection (Interpretations), but I still feel it as if it was yesterday.  It could be because I took some time off from work in February, but it is most probably because it was the most meaningful project I was ever involved in, and I still enjoy reading all the comments people make about it...  Therefore, and since I haven't published any new patterns ever since, I still feel the need to write about it... 

But, since this is all related to our past, I decided to work this post with black and white pictures.  Hope you don't mind!

It was one year ago that Veera and I started dreaming of working together in a small collection of patterns.  One of the things that intrigued us the most about each other was how different the places where we live were...  She was up in the cold North, shovelling snow, as I was fighting the terrible heat of the summer in Buenos Aires.

A year went by as we slowly made this project come true.  We saw the seasons go by on both sides, welcoming warmth and cold, sun and snow.

As we shared our daily views by email, I guess we always knew this project was an excuse to finally get together and meet in person.  The question remained unspoken until we finally decided to do a photo-shoot in my hometown Buenos Aires, the place where we met for the first time.

A walk in Caminito, La Boca, Buenos Aires

So how did we plan this?

We both wanted to model our own designs.  It would have been lovely to find some models for this, but we thought that modelling ourselves was part of giving our identity to what we had made.  After all, we both design what we love to wear, and we wanted that to show through the pics.

As much as we love photography, and we love doing everything ourselves, modelling, styling and photographing twelve garments in one day was not going to happen unless we had a helping hand...  So with the help from an awesome photographer friend, we planned the photo-shoot in a magical forest, just outside the city center.

The forest was indeed magical!

Twelve designs make this collection, and they all required a different outfit.  They all had to travel with us in pristine conditions.  Just imagine us the night before, ironing and making everything look pretty.  I must admit I am not a "fashion" person, so putting all this together might have been the hardest task of all!

Soft projects: Laneway on top and So Close below.

But it worked, when we put everything together and did a try-out for the first time, it just worked perfectly.  We might have forgotten some earrings here or there...  But considering that we were travelling around that forest with all our belongings, I think we did pretty well at keeping the outfits as planned ;)

Yes, we found 12 pair of fitting shoes.

We also got to be spoiled a bit...  It felt strange to have someone do our make-up and hair, but I must say I was surprised with the results!  Hmmm, maybe I should consider learning how to do my make-up properly...

Veera and I have very different skin tone, so it was lovely to see how she used different make up techniques for both of us.

You can just imagine our anticipation and excitement while all this was being done...  All this work was just about to be photographed on us, and we were so eager to tell everyone what we had been up to!  Thanks God my Mum and my dear friend Ale were there to help too (there was just so much we needed to carry with us!

Mom, taking care of the Rhythm theme: Fine tune and Make space.

In only 3 hours, we managed to photograph all 12 garments.  I must say the credits go to the photographer, who managed to capture everything we needed in the photos extremely well.  Rafa knows nothing about knitwear, as he specializes in fashion and social photography.  So I was a bit worried (at first), that he wouldn't understand how the main object in the photos needed to be the knitted item.

Photo-shooting Fade

My concern was completely unnecessary, as he proved during the first session, that he knew exactly what he was aiming for... And we loved it!
If you want to see all of Rafa's photos, you can see our Look book (in case you haven't already done it) here: http://www.interpretationdesigns.com/#!lookbook/cson

After photo-shooting Thoughts

I know I have said this so many times... But this project was so.much.fun!  

I wanted to thank deeply to all the people who have sent beautiful comments of encouragement, congratulations, excitement... Those who have made a review, or shared a post... Everyone has helped to make this such a beautiful experience.  Thank you so much!!!

And if you have no idea what this is all about... Come on! Take a peek at what we made.... Here :)

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/interpretations

~Joji