The new BLDG15 Threads is out today, and this month it’s all about Home Office Style! We asked six different Home Office employees to go the racks and pick out a Free People outfit for spring, and to tell us a little bit about their own personal style! We made a really sweet little video of our endeavors, and got really inspired to keep making up fun outfits! To watch the video and get inspired yourself, head over to BLDG 15 Threads!
January Catalog Video
Below is our behind-the-scenes video of the January catalog shoot! Don’t forget to check out our pictures and information about the shoot too! Enjoy!
the fashion barometer
Today I came across this neat little feature in the New York Times. It’s a slide show with some audio. The slide show features some nice street fashion shots by Bill Cunningham, NYT Photographer. The audio is a very interesting little blurb where Bill conjectures that fashion is going to have some really dramatic changes as a result of our current financial problems. Bill is surprisingly older, and remembers the Great Depression, so he has experience to back up his hypothesis. It’s an interesting feature, worth checking out. What do you think? Do you think fashion is going to change a lot over the coming year or two as a result of the financial crisis? What types of things do you think might change?
mantyhose 2
Remember when I made that post about mantyhose the other day? Well today I found this guy over on Street Boners & TV Carnage in their Street Boners section, which is a street fashion column. I thought I’d post him because he’s a good example of a guy actually wearing them around, rather than a posed shot. Also I noticed that they called them guylons and not mantyhose. Interesting!
belt diy
I really love this idea for updating a plain old leather belt. This particular belt looks cool with the eyelet details. I like the way it looks when the leather splits.
Head over to Bleach Black for the details! (I also recommend reading the first comment on her entry:)
Prada’s trembled blossoms
Now, I realize this is a little bit old, but I had never seen it and it’s pretty cool! Prada created this video to go with their Spring 2008 line, and though the computer graphics are a little bit rough looking, it’s still a very mesmerizing video! I wish I could get dressed this way!
a quick make-up how-to
A few days ago, our customer service representatives received this little note:
Dear Free People,
I receive your catalogs in the mail…thank you. I have a question in regards to your November 2008 catalog.
On pages 25 and 35, is it possible for you to tell me what lipstick color/brand they are?
Thank you.
We asked our make-up artist, Deanna, to help us out with this question, and she told us exactly how she made-up the model’s lips! I thought I’d share her answer with you:
Prepare the lip with a little Eucerin ointment- just enough to moisten the lip.
Then press Make Up For Ever Star powder (loose) in iridescent fuschia into lip, concentrating color more on the center of lips, then build to desired intensity.
Most Make Up For Ever products can be purchased at Sephora!
Thanks Deanna!
boot ruination!
Check out this video from the latest B15 Threads, in which we ‘break in’ our boots to make them look cooler for the catalog!
If you end up trying this method yourself, be sure to check on your boots after each time you run over them and see how much they’ve been distressed- you don’t want to beat them beyond repair! Depending how much you want your boots wrecked up, you can also bang them off a sidewalk or in rocks!
July Catalog Video!
Our newest catalog drops today and we are so excited! Check your mailboxes! Here is the catalog video to whet your appetites! This catalog was shot in Lyon, France, and kicks off our fall line for this year.
You can also check out the new catalog online!
demode: fashion for bravehearts
A thanks to Susie Bubble for discovering Demode: fashion for bravehearts. Check out the video for their guerrilla fashion show in Stockholm, and their site for some fashion creativity from Sweden. I love the parasols! Are you a braveheart?
the vintage society
A big thanks to The Vintage Society for supporting our design a bag contest! Check out the vintage society for pretty vintage designs, Society Girl of the Week, and instant outfits. They also have a nice collection of videos. This one is their instant outfit feature come to life…
about the catalog video
A friend of one of the fp girls made the May catalog video (see the previous entry) and it turned out so amazing, we wanted to share a little about his process and inspiration. Here is what Ram had to say about his work on the project.
“Carrie (fp creative director) first sent me a 3-4 minute cut done there with music and everything. I used that footage and grabbed stills from it I liked compositionally and took them into Photoshop to create color boards. The whole idea was to create a dreamy feel for the video. This is something I like to incorporate into a lot of what I do.
My background is illustration, specifically in concept art and matte painting, which is basically just creating images which don’t actually exist, but could in a potential fantasy world. The boards showed how far I’d like to push the piece. From there, David Bokser and I requested more footage. I scrubbed through it and found everything I liked and then we started on the final edit. I also knew I wanted it to end with “Free People” written in the clouds. I also spent a good bit of time going through the footage to find frames of the behind the scenes people and even some other interesting shots and treated them with texture and color for the “flicker” shots through the whole piece. I’ll post some of the favorites on my website once the video is released.
The choice of music was difficult at first. When Carrie initially brought up the possibility of doing this I had some music in mind that reminded me of the drive down the Pacific Coast Highway (where Big Sur is). I really wanted to use a certain track, but I didn’t want that to dictate the mood. I wanted the clothing and the models to be first. When Dave played me the piano track, I was hesitant at first to let go of what I originally wanted but after a few listens and some changes I enjoyed it more and more and felt it was fitting.
I really love Free People. Is that weird for a guy to say? :) I think maybe the cute models have something to do with it. Ha, no really, what I love most about FP is the use of textures, patterns, and color. I am one to always incorporate texture and rich color into what I do. I think the clothing just looks great, it has a vintage flare to it but very modern and stylish. Another quality I really love is how the inspirations for the trend come from around the world. I’d love to do a photoshoot for Free People on location and create a catalog and video.
The creative inspiration question… always a tough one. A while back, Kara (from fp) introduced me to a photographer, Tim Walker, whose work I’d seen before but now that I knew the name I fell in love with the work when I saw an entire gallery of it altogether. His work, alongside a slew of fashion photographers, have been really inspirational. I’ve actually come up with some photo shoots of my own that I hope to start working on soon. A huge director inspiration for me these days has been Bruno Aveillan. His video for Louis Vuitton is incredible and his cinematography is practically flawless. In the future I’d love to come on set and shoot the videos for Free People as a more narrative piece that incorporates the clothing as the showcase.”
The music is by an artist named Michael David Crawford. Ram said “We basically wanted something dreamy and devoid of words so we could focus on the visuals. I do love piano and want desperately to learn to play. :) Originally the piece was going to incorporate an E.E. Cummings poem I really liked, but after the edit and visual effects were done, we were really happy with it and didn’t want to detract from what we already had.”
Ram’s web site: www.rambhat.com
David Bokser’s site: www.davidbokser.com