English Rose portraits

If  I don't share these photos now I'll sit on them waiting for the 'right time'.

The main English Rose photograph is the image that means the most to me of the whole set. My studio came with these murals and I had it noted on my shot list to see if the Queen Elizabeth 1st would work as a portrait shot. I had planned for Sophia to do a similar pose to Princess Margaret in the Cecil Beaton Dior dress image, sat with the dress flared all around and looking regal. The proportions and idea of Elizabeth looming over Sophia didn't work. 
I asked Sophia sit up on the mantelpiece where she nestled in front of Elizabeth as a successor rather than a subject. 
The result portrays An English Rose.

I'm really pleased with them but have been looking at them non stop for the last 7 days and have lost all perspective. I hope when I look back on them next year I will still love some of these shots. 

Sophia made every shot beautiful, it was impossible to choose. Usually I get maybe 20% usable images from a shoot. The model will be awkward, I will be awkward or use the wrong settings. This shoot there were 90% usable. A professional model makes a huge difference. 

I booked Sophia to model as I had worked with her before and knew she was professional and had the face I needed. Sophia is also a designer maker and creative from London so in this image in particular was fitting not just in looks but in identity. I understand this is very much my gaze and in truth about my cultural identity being British and needing a way to look at it with hope and pride. 
To feel the shame of being English which I had for so long discounted all the people here who are brilliant and inspiring and just getting on. I gave too much focus to those who hate and need to only give air to those who hope. 

I just kept saying to myself, focus on the beautiful. This is what its about. 

These are my favorite 11 today
Model - Sophia Brown aka Velvet Jones 
Photographs - Alexandra King
Dresses - Alexandra King 

Mannequin

 

The view from where I was sat trimming the hem of a tulle dress. Combining my photography with the garments and making money is what I need to explore for the rest of the year. I'm starting two daybooks. One here and one on my main website www.alexandra-king.com

I think I may be more honest here. 

Photographed on Canon 5d Mk3 50mm lens edited in lightroom with inferred filter. 

Silk Dress

 
For the first time I've been using the front room of my studio to work in. Why haven't I done this sooner. This is a silk dress I've been working on for a new project. 

I rented my studio so I had an 'impressive' space for customers and the front room was reserved for them whist I worked in the back with terrible light. So much of my confidence in my work was bound up in having a suitably luxurious space for brides and customers. I was so worried about what they would think that I dropped the prices of my dresses inline with my confidence.
After years of having various studios, a shop and now the dream studio I realize that my work is about the dresses I create not impressing customers with whats expected in the bridal industry. I used to stress about whether my teaspoons were fancy enough! 

I once heard a story about Alexander McQueen turning up with his dresses in a bin bag. He created some of the most beautiful garments I have ever seen up close.
As a designer maker I'm not here to fluff customers with bubbly and a sales performance, I'm here to make beautiful things. 

Tulle

 
I am feeling more inspired at the moment by photography than the dresses. They are almost becoming a vehicle for the photography. I tend to find new inspiration a distraction from what I am working on when it gets to the hard part of finishing the piece. Ideas are very easy but seeing it through to a finished body of work which may never pay the bills is hard. 
At the moment I need to see things through till the end of the year, maybe in 5 years time I could become a photographer if I put the work in. 

I am trying to produce an image a day of my fashion work to make days books which may help me engage more with this side of my work. I am so incredibly lucky and privileged to be able to work for myself creatively every day. Its silly that I would sometimes be happier washing up with less worries and cash at the end of the week. 
Above is the tulle on my machine table being made into an underskirt. 

Pink Peony Dress Remnant Photographs

The remaining photos that didn't make it to the set that I still liked on their own. Some were experiments, some with a different light. When I shot these a year ago I loved making everything misty. When I can to edit them this week I wanted things sharper. I guess I'll keep changing styles and using different techniques for different situations. 

Face Masks in the Making

Just some of the thousands of masks made by my friends and me. 

The mask making started just before lockdown in the on the 19th March, it was a Thursday night. I carried my sewing machine all the way down Wells highstreet to Loaf, where Lois had organised the sewing of face masks for the bluebird care company. 
 

They couldn't get any PPE and what started with an order for 200 turned into thousands. I made a pattern from a dust mask and got it online with instructions for free and added ready made cotton washable masks to the website for £5 incl postage. The aim was make them cheap enough for everyone who wanted one but to encourage people to leave the medical masks for the carers and medical staff who needed them most. 
The UK should have been more prepared and had stock of and access to PPE for everyone. We never thought our skills would be needed to make face masks. 

Masks then became political with the right being above using them and the sensible leaders asking people to wear them in shops, supermarkets and public transport. 
They about were keeping others safer from your coughs and sneezes, rather than you safe from others. Social distancing and hand washing still came first.

Red Sequin Dress

Accidental long exposure with red sequin dresses in the dark studio.

Self Portrait Fashion Accessories

Pleats

 Sunray pleats on blue polyester dress.

Face