Girls, My Grandmother And Great Moments In Time..

So I've been slacking on the blog front lately, and here's my excuse. SomersetJane has taken even more of a turn for the fabulous, and has been putting huge demands on my time, especially weekends. I've had a string of dancing competitions to prepare for, have been sick on and off for two weeks now and with sales doing well, direct from the SJ studio, I can barely keep up with replenishing stock and keeping my designs ever new and up to date. But it's going so well I've just kept my head down saying 'thank you' prayers and holding thumbs for the required stamina. I've also had my Grandmother from Cape Town staying with us which is always a good time being three generations of girls all together. The good times we'll surely have together are consolation enough for being removed from my bedroom and sleeping in the heap of clothing and shoes I like to call my dressing room. On top of all this, somewhere in the last three weeks I've managed to fall in love.. It's also the kind of real love that you just want to climb inside and switch off from the world around you! Need I say with the expected sarcasm, fabulous timing..

It's all brought me to this moment now. Where as I've taken the afternoon off and am trying to get some rest and recover I've been searching for inspiration for designs from the comfort of my couch. With a fashion show, a 'Summer Style' event coming up and prospective buyers all waiting in the wings I need to keep up my game and be sure to impress. SomersetJane is a brand with major retro roots so I'm always looking for a good dose of 'golden-old' inspiration. I have a cute collection of pics on the wall above my bed. Pics of myself and friends and then two of my fave pics, one of my mum and one of my gran in their younger days. I don't know why I've never thought to get inspired from my own family photos but I searched a little through my mum's files and was super delighted at what I found. Looking through, it gave me a moment to slow down, get a little nostalgic and remember why I love all things retro and how excited I am about designing for a 'vintage inspired' Summer and how much I look forward to one day when I'll look back on all the looks from my twenties and hopefully inspire my own daughter or granddaughter..

 My mum at about 18.. 

 Brenda - My Gran's sis

 I love this print! This is my gran staring at my mum when she was still a baby. It's my mum's fave just to see how her mother looked at her..

                                Are these sunnies not exactly on trend right now?! Love it..



 This one's not so much for the fashion than I can't help but totally 'heart' the rock 'n roll dance moves going down.. Such a moment in time.. (That's my mum as a toddler with her grandmother in the back)

                       This is one of the pics above my bed. My grandmother, I'm in love with it..



 My young granny and her friend - 1957

                            Taken in Zambia, my mum still has this camera from her parents.



Matchy-matchy at the beach!  

 

To my gran I'd just quickly like to write, that if anyone taught me about style and being a woman and dressing up it's her. How lucky I am to have both my mum and her and that we can all be women together. In this picture above, the print on the skirt with the sail boats reminds me of fabric I've already got in the new collection. I've always loved this pic for this print specifically and now I've just thought of a name for my Summer collection, the 'Gillian', after my grandmother. She'll be the heart within my 'Vintage Summer'..

xoxo

Melissa Jane

Summer Time..

So by complete surprise I opened my email this morning and found a message from a chain of stores in Joburg and Cape Town that would like to look into stocking the SomersetJane label. I was giddy with excitement. For just a second though, as suddenly my smiles dispersed, when i realised what collection was I going to show?! Stores are all on sale and Summer stock is hitting racks, but I've been so consumed by how well things have been going I had forgotten that designing the next season might help in keeping them that way! I've quickly dived in to all the inspirations I've collected as to what's going on in Europe and the international fashion scene, it always guides me well. But on looking through I decided I felt a bit bored, this cut, that cut, peplum shmeplum.. I needed something more, my clothes to have something more.

So being a retro-based brand I looked up some images along those lines and decided to start with a feeling rather than a garment. These scenes speak to me, make me imagine myself within them, perhaps someone different for a day. Ive always believed if an outfit doesn't make you feel something when wearing it, why bother? The same goes for designing, if there isn't an overall feeling within my mindset as I begin a collection, exactly what is the wearer supposed to feel?

Here's a little taste of Summer and a little feeling of the past to make you excited for the future. Just about all that SomersetJane is about..

Here's looking forwrd to a fabulously vintage Summer..

Glamming Up My Girls

So once again the usual influx of orders for Matric Farewell gowns has come around, as it does, to stretch my skills at not only designing but in dealing with these delightful divas, as they request some of the most maddening fashion choices under the sun. I forget each year the stress it produces and ask myself countless times why I keep saying yes to this mountain of work. Truth be told, it tests me. It's not easy taking these eighteen-year-old, for lack of a better word, 'biatches' and turning them into elegant debutantes in a gown that says as much about my label SomersetJane as it does about meeting their needs to show as much skin and flash as possible. If I sit though, and think back over the past six years since I made my first couture gown I'm reminded of why I end up going down this road each year. It's the memory of standing at the cocktail party, or in the young girl's dressing room on the big night, zipping her dress and taking a breath as the final look appears. From sketch to completion the knowing of what I've created is immeasurably satisfying. And when I can look at the dress as now separate from myself and all about someone else I can see it for what it is.. A truly original garment, a moment in time, my mark on someones calendar. A small success to pocket and get me through the hustle that my life in fashion always seems to be.

Just recently Blake Lively wore the most breath taking Zuhair Murad gown to the Los Angeles premiere of her latest drama 'Savages'.  A nude silk/tulle gown featuring an intricate pattern of hand-embroidered black beading, from the Spring/Summer 2012 Couture Collection. I died a little inside at the sight of it. My brother, an engineer, and who I would describe as a typical 'nerd' often reminds me, on mocking him about this, that in every passion there is an element of 'nerdiness' and says the same of me in relation to fashion. I reluctantly agree. If the image of a celeb on the red carpet in a dress can bring a tear to my eye, if it renders me still and overcome with emotion I'll be the first to scream nerd! It's slightly embarrassing each week when I watch Fashion Police on E! and literally tear up at the changing looks. So this year I've actually been asked to use another of Zuhair Murad's designs, that Blake wore on Gossip Girl, as inspiration for one of my Matric girls. If I can come any where close to achieving such perfection it'll be a job well done. Here's to setting that bar super high!

xoxo
Melissa Jane

SJ and I In The Grazia Mag

I attended the Avant A/W 2012 showcase a few weeks back. Grazia magazine had their 'Style Hunters' there and photographed me, wearing SomersetJane of course! That's me on the left..

The text reads, 'Edgy and glam, Melissa wears a jacket and pants from SomersetJane, earrings from Mr Price and goes for vintage with a shirt and clutch from Hospice. We Say: All round winning look. The print on the shirt and colour work so well together. Let's not forget about her fierce hair.'

Clearly I'm not a model and yes, you know I've already over analyzed the shot and kicked myself for not posing a la Victoria Beckham. Shoulders back, hips forward and almost falling over backwards. Girl knows how to seriously show off her skinny and I'll totally admit to practising in the mirror! Damn it.. But regardless of my personal hang ups I have to admit that turning the page really did have me excited. Mainly for the fact that 'Somersetjane' is on the page. I had to laugh too, as the chick taking down the info about my outfit looked to her partner, when I told her my vintage shirt and clutch were from Hospice, in confusion as to why she hadn't heard of the store before. I had to clarify for her that it was a charity shop. I'm proud that made it onto the page too. Vintage shoppers are deluded by thinking that you should pay more for a vintage or retro piece. Why, when at the end of the day it's really all just someone else's old rags? Why should I pay more just to shop in an organised store? No, I do the 'nitty-gritty' and get into serious vintage 'hunting' mode. So much more rewarding!

With features in the local paper, articles on other blogs, interviews on the web for my Wedding gowns, a fab pic in the Cleo mag and my clothing seen in the Cosmo, slowly but surely SomersetJane is making it onto the scene. I have all these pinned on the wall above my desk, and as I look up from time to time it's exciting to see the progression and dream of the future successes. So I take myself out of it and put my own personal complexes aside (only as I'm hoping the next step will be someone else photographed in the label), and appreciate these little steps. I'm not a child person, but I can understand the fulfilment found in watching something that you've created grow. SomersetJane is my baby, and I'm so holding thumbs and making sure it has a long healthy life..

Stay fabulous fashionistas!

xoxo

Melissa Jane