This years photoshoot

Over the last couple of days I have been in London working on the photoshoot for this years collection. Who's idea was it to do an outdoor shoot in mid-winter? it was soooo cold. I'm not at my best in winter but a good time was had by all and I have high hopes that this years photography will be extra special. As mentioned in The French Connection I have a new photographer this year...Enzo Mercedes and a new team comprising of: Kasia - model, Susana - Stylist and Cuneyt - make up. The shoot took place over two days on location in London. Day one was studio based so I could have some standard product shots (although they turned out to be anything but...) and day two was in the great outdoors and allowed Enzo to be creative...Hopefully the photos below will give you and idea of what happens on a fashion shoot. Infact we were so blessed with the weather, that although cold, we had snow on the ground, beautiful sun shining and bright blue sky........totally perfect for our autumn/winter photos.........

The website will be updated after Atelier in New York but in the meantime there is a taster on my website: http://www.nickythomson.co.uk/

Getting the light just right, Matteaw came to assist with the special photographers equipment.

Enzo and me discuss technicalities whilst I dress him in one of my scarves to keep warm!

Susana the great stylist and Kasia the great model.

Enzo goes for the high angle - spot him up in the tree - these pics turned out to be stunning.



A musical interlude! not only a great photographer but a musician too serenading us with blues harmonica.
Not only that, yesterday while shooting the studio based pics he also cooked us a
fantastic traditional Italian mushroom risotto - sooooo talented this guy!!



Now the low angle...these pictures also turned out stunning........





Cuneyt make up, Kasia model and Enzo photographer making a happy team.



A good time was had by all - in Enzos words we were nearly flying at the end.

All the great new images will be on line shortly when our website update is finished,
until then a sneak preview is available at http://www.nickythomson.co.uk/

The French Connection

Nicky Thomson - The French Connection

It's been a few years since I have been to exhibit at a show in Paris although I have been to meet customers there quite a bit over the last few years and had a nice visit to the British Embasy in Paris last summer! Maison et Object had proved to be quite a useful introduction to how the fashion industry works on a truly international scale but The 'Who's Next - Private' show was a bit of a leap of faith.


For once we were quite organised in travelling to a show (much to Tom's relief). I had arranged an over-night stop just outside Senlis about 30 miles north of Paris the day before we were due to set up. The journey across Northern France is always uneventful and this one was no different although the satnav lady did persist in telling us we needed to head in the direction of 'our arse'. This should have of course been 'Arras' but for some reason her pronunciation was a little strange and you know what I am like if I start laughing...

Feeling refreshed after a night in the Aphrodite Room (Aphrodite is apparently the Greek goddess of love, beauty and sexual rapture, I will make no more comments at this point...) at Hotel San Graal we headed for Paris.

For some reason known only to themselves the organisers decided that no one would be allowed to set up until 2pm but once allowed in we did make good time.

Before and After

So to a nearby restaurant and then back to the hotel.

The show was due to last four days, Saturday to Tuesday. The weekend as usual was frequented by independent buyers from the smaller shops and galleries. Business was steady and it was lovely to catch up some of our existing French customers such as Travelingue and Le Monde d'Alba. Stephanie from Friedlands also came to say 'Gutentag'.

Sunday night we had dinner with my second husband, the wonderful Jianhui (take a look at his website, it's amazing). Don't worry! Tom has christened Jianhui my second husband as we do so many shows together. The other highlight of the evening was meeting Jianhui's assistant Enzo. It turns out he has a passion for photography. More about this in a moment.



Jianhui and Enzo



Monday was the day for some real work...the interest was truly international with buyers from all over the world, Europe, Canada, USA and of course Japan (especially Yuji from Ships) being prominent.

It was also nice to see Paul and Laurian from UKFT. Paul has helped me hugely over the last few years (very impressive listening to him move from English to French to Italian without so much as a pause) and Laurian always talks pure common sense as well as speaking her mind :) . Thanks both xxx 

After a little free Champagne courtesy of our hosts we headed out for a meeting to discuss photography for this years collection. This is where Enzo comes back into the frame. We decided to take a little detour before leaving the show and take a look at the 'After show party'. The detour led us to the car park on the roof of the exhibition centre in the company of two very tall German fashionistas who were of the opinion that Paris was finished and Berlin was the place to be...

Enzo's shot from the car park

Either way the party was a little lame (the highlight being Tom doing his party piece funny dance. As shown on Facebook courtesy of Enzo). 

The discussion at the restaurant later was to see if Enzo would be happy to take on this years collection photography. He agreed and I'll post something about the shoot next week. Some basic shots of this years collection are below (taken by Jayne Burford a good and kind friend of my great assistant Louise, who seems to know everyone needed locally to home!!..)

The show finished on Tuesday and after saying goodbye to Alex and Katy (the Belgian jewellers across the aisle and all our other new friends) we headed home through the Paris rush hour. We did have a couple of difficulties on the way home...one was a run in with a Bobby at the Euro Tunnel terminal.

and the other was me asking if I would be able to see the sea through the window of the Euro Tunnel train, to which my husband replied 'I sincerely hope NOT!!' ooops!


There is no help for me :)


Nicky

http://www.nickythomson.co.uk/
http://www.nickythomsonshop.com/





Getting noticed in Japan

Nicky Thomson knitted scarves and accessories have now arrived in Japan. Now stocked in the famous Mitsukoshi stores Mitsukoshi Website in Tokyo and we have just had word that the accessories are also featured in a prominent Japanese magazine - check this out.......













Japan is a great country and the people are wonderful so it's a real privilege to be able to do business there. I am really looking forward to my upcoming visit to Tokyo once again in November. Busy busy currently getting next years ranges designed and sampled!!

Pulse 2011 - Mary's Comet

Just arrived home from Earls Court and the 2011 Pulse show. Busy, busy, busy as usual, so much so in fact that we ran out of business fliers to give to potential customers...really encouraging given the current economic climate. It was good to catch up with old friends and customers...I'm happy to say many are both :) and we will be in touch with anyone who didn't make it this year to see if you would like to buy into this years collection.

Lots of new styles this year and particular favourites were the new 'Soft Boucle' scarves and the 'Little Squares' jackets together will the ever popular 'Curly Contrast scarf, Floaty Coat and the Classic Cape. The happy mistake of the 'Flat' Wiggle Edge scarf has caused quite a stir...It was supposed to be wiggly as usual but for some reason has arrived in the office with rather chic straight edging and ended up as one of a best sellers this show...sometimes things just go your way:)

My faithful assistant 'Doris' was earning her keep this year by attracting customers. She was decked out in a rather eye-catching little number...

Mary Portas (Mary Queen of Shops) was spotted taking and interest before sweeping off to be glamorous somewhere...Her usual 'Mary's Comet' entourage was a little smaller this year. I hope this doesn't mean she doesn't have a new series or that the plan to help the High Street recover is not going well.

I'll post again soon

Nicky

The footballing Badgers...

I'll be posting something a little more textile orientated in the next week but I just had to mention something about  my sons football team. The Leigh and Bransford Badgers Rovers have been the recipient of my first sponsorship deal. They do look smart in their 'Nicky Thomson' new training tops. Let's hope it brings them good luck next season.  See how the boys get on each week by viewing the Leigh and Bransford Badgers Blog

So behind on my on-line media...

Hi

I'm really struggling to get myself up to speed on all this new technology... Facebook, I have managed to post something :) , Twitter, Oh dear, I haven't done anything with that yet but I really must... but now at least I am starting to put something together for the blog. I think it will be on my latest trip to Japan. I just have to download my photos from my phone. More technology, Ahhhh

Nicky Thomson (Blog of a hard working Fashion Designer...)

I hope I can give you an idea of what it is like to run a fashion accessories business. I'm very new to all this but I hope everything will be OK.

Nicky