Photo Shoot for BConnected Conference Outfit

BConnected Conference Challenge Recap

I like to be upfront on how the challenges turn out each month. I discuss the things that I learned from designing the outfit through to the photo shoot. Part of my learning process each month is reviewing the challenges I faced, studying the things that went wrong and trying to think of ways I could improve. This month there were plenty of things I loved about the conference outfit and a few things that just plain did not work.

Pattern Love

I love the striped skirt from this month’s challenge. I think the fabric complimented the design. But more than how it was technically correct I felt amazing wearing it. Being a woman with curves, of the pear-shaped variety, the A-line skirt suited my body shape. The skirt has a very high slit that is partially hidden by the excess fabric cascading down over the opening. Read my earlier patternmaking post to learn more about the skirt shape and how I made it.

Skirting the Issue

Okay, it is time to be very honest about my design. Sometimes when you design a garment, it does not always turn out like you expected it. I loved the skirt and liked the jacket as separate pieces, but together they did not mesh at all. The jacket is too casual for the skirt. The finishing techniques on the jacket and the shoulder detailing make the jacket a lot more relaxed than the skirt. Initially, I had pictured the stripes on the shoulder as thin contrasting strips that would give it a moto-inspired feel. When I made samples, however, I chose to make the strips a little wider (see the patternmaking post to learn why I did this.) This made the stripes too reminiscent of the Adidas lines.

This is why there is only one photo in this post that features both the jacket and coat (see above photo). I did wear both down to the conference, but I ended up ditching the jacket pretty earlier as I did not like how they looked together. All the other photos I have paired with different corresponding garments as I feel this greatly improved the styling. The black skirt is the same pattern as the striped skirt. I feel fortunate that my toile turned out well enough to wear in the photo shoot.

The BConnected Conference

I had an amazing time at the BConnected Conference. I learned a lot, met many fabulous bloggers and even won some great prizes. I cannot wait to put into practice what I learned from all the knowledgeable speakers. It was extremely well run, and I cannot wait for next year’s conference in Toronto.

Thanks to Cathy of the blog Cathy Thinking Out Loud for sharing her room with me during the conference.

Just Throw Some Sunglasses On

My fabulous friend and fellow blogger, Vatsla from Fashion Behind the Seams, always looks gorgeous in her photos. She was encouraging me to be the model for one of my photo shoots, and her advice was to, “just throw some sunglasses on and smile.” I am a little camera shy and prefer to be behind the camera making sure the shoot goes smoothly but since the outfit was to be worn by me for the conference it was not going to fit a regular sized model. So I slapped some sunglasses on and gave it a go. Thanks, Vatsla, the sunglasses worked a treat. I won’t lie, although I had a lot of fun during the photo shoot, I will be happy when I can be behind the camera for the next challenge.

Thank you to photographer Arthur for making me smile in front of the camera. Thanks to Kenwood Corporate Center for allowing us to use their property as the location for the photoshoot.

Periscope

Thank you to everyone on Periscope who helped me choose the photos for this post. I love the input you gave on the final garments in the video and on editing the photos.