Shi's Inspired By...

Hey guys!

Like most designers I have a collection of very special designers close to my heart that have inspired me as early as childhood and some that I've added along my own design journey and thought I'd share them with you...

For me it's important to know who I'm inspired by, who I look up to and who I seek advice from. I think being clear on these things are key to your own progress on your own business journey (no matter what industry you're in) as you know where you're going, what your goals are and your next steps towards those goals.

Elizabeth Emanuel
Most famous for being the designer behind the Late Princess Diana's wedding dress. I fell in love with this dress the moment I saw it in a picture book of her royal highness (was a massive Diana fan!) that I received as a little child. It was THE dress that inspired me to draw dresses as a child.

Her style is very classic and very fairytale-like which I love, her more recent work (the little black dress collection) is more modern, but in my opinion no-one can do fairytale classic glamour like Ms Emanuel!

The most famous wedding dress of them all... The late Princess Diana wearing Elizabeth Emanuel

Jenny Packham

In my opinion the queen of red carpet dresses and a celebrity favourite. I've never seen a Jenny Packham dress I don't like! Glamour, sophistication, Swarovski crystals (that I love!!) and very feminine...

The Beautiful Eva Longoria wearing Jenny Packham

Jenny Packham on the runway SS09 collection

Chanel
An old favourite of mine. The level of sophistication and detailed tailored workmanship while still remaining sexy and feminine is second to no other design house.

Actress Diane Kruger wearing Chanel at the Oscars 2010

Amsale Aberra
A newly added designer who inspires me business as well as design wise. Amsale Aberra a bridal wear designer, born in Ethiopia moved to America and started her own bridal line just with the knowledge and skills of dress making that she learnt in Ethiopia. Her bridal dresses are very sought after and can set you back $20,000 for a couture Amsale dress!!

Amsale Aberra on the runway...The little white dress collection

Samata Angel
Now remember when I said you need to know who you seek advice from?! Well this beautiful young woman is one I take advice from, not only is Samata a great designer but a fantastic business woman and rightly describes herself as a fashion entrepreneur. With her focus on women's wear, she has a celebrity following and awards to back-up her design talent.

The beautiful Samata Angel wearing one of her own designs

Samata Angel @ No.10 with the then PM Gordon Brown

I first came across Samata through her books 'Fashioning Your Life' in the beginnings of my design journey and it was just the thing I needed to give me the confidence to take this career path seriously as it was encouraging words from someone that walked a similar path and became successful. LUCKILY for me Samata and I shared a mutual friend and through that was able to ask her a few burning questions that I got answered :)

Samata's published book... Fashioning Your Life

Signing off...

www.shidolor.com

Top Model of Colour Finale 2010 Official Video Highlights!

Hey Guys!

Here's the official video highlights of the Top Model of Colour (TMC) competition finale 2010.

Catch Neecie Gold (TMC hostess) wearing Shi Dolor dresses!!

Enjoy! :)

 Signing off...

www.shidolor.com

London Fashion Week, Ose Couture and Shi's Journey to Becoming a Fashion Designer

Hi guys!

Ose Couture @ Young Africa Fashion Weekend

Firstly, happy new year to one and all!!! No matter our new year's resolutions (or lack thereof) I think we all hope for an even better year than the last and so wishing for everyone (including myself) that this year WILL be even better than the last!!

I especially love this time of year, it’s an excuse for me to reflect on the good things that have happened at Shi Dolor Ltd through the year and plan for greater things this year. For me this year I reflected on how Shi Dolor started and how far I’ve come from apprentice to owning my own design label and thought I'd share how and why this transition came about and highlight the people that helped make it possible.

...So as you guys may already know from the interview I did with the Boss Style ladies I decided to pursue designing after I finished my degree in 2008 and initially the plan was go to back to university to study design for another 3 or 4 years!!!... I even landed an interview at the very Prestigious Insitituto Marangoni design school and aced the interview as I impressed them with my design knowledge and sketches... all was going well until the tuition fees were made clear...£30K!!!!! and like a member of the panel on Dragon’s Den I declared I’m out! ... Luckily my very good friend accompanied me to the interview and saw that I had my heart set on going to a design school (after all isn’t that the way it’s meant to be done?), but the reality is that any design school worth its salt will be asking for high tuition fees!... HOWEVER my friend reminded me that if you are talented there is more than one way to do what you want to do in life and that I should just think outside the box and with that I contacted the very talented and up and coming designer, Babs Atta-krah .

At the time Babs was getting ready to put her debut collection together for her own label Ose Couture for the Young Africa Fashion Weekend show as part of London Fashion Week June 2009. Anyone that knows Babs knows how warming and special she is. Babs had so much hands on knowledge to pass on to me because she wanted me to do well myself! (very rare to find that in such a cut throat industry!)...So I offered to help put her debut collection together, while shadowing and learning as I went along.

Here’s a sneak peak of behind the scenes footage of some of the production process of the Ose Couture collection filmed by MO-AM!! :)

It’s needless to say that I learnt so many important things through Babs; from putting together a professional sketch with specifications to blind hem stitching by hand, however the practical joker that Babs is her favourite task for me to do was to hand bead Swarovski crystals to her designs...the most time consuming and LONGEST task to do!!lol (one design took 2 days to bead, see pic below) but I picked up a love for genuine Swarovski crystals and incorporate them into most of my designs today.

Ose Courure hand beaded playsuit

Hand beaded Ose Couture signature gloves

The Young Africa show was a huge success and showcased other amazing designers such as Bunmi Koko and Tsemaye Binitie who have gone on to do great things.

Pride Magazine Press cutting of Young Africa Fashion Weekend

It was such an important experience for me as it threw me right into the middle of the business of fashion and so was the best way to see if this was the industry I really wanted to get into. In the end all the late nights, stress and hard work of completing collections, sticking to deadlines, dealing with press, models and event organisers was so worth it when watching the models on the runway wearing the fabulous clothes that Babs designed and created, it definitely cemented the fact that this was the career path for me.

Check out the highlights of the show!!

Signing off...

www.shidolor.com