The Emerging Trends 2011 ~ Boston Fashion Week

Hello!!

Everyone ready to see the event pix? Better late than never right? LOL. The Emerging Trends 2011 was held at the Boston Center for the Arts (Cyclorama) on Tremont Street in Boston. The schedule was 3pm set-up, back at booth by 7pm, doors open at 8pm, first segment of fashion show at 9pm (there were 3 segments with a break in between each) and event scheduled to end at midnight.

We arrived just before 3pm to check in and get all my stuff into the building. Everyone was super nice... they even rounded up a group of ladies who helped carry things into the venue from my truck!! The staff really did a wonderful job... they were very friendly and attentive and kept coming by to see if we were all set, bringing water, etc.


The runway set-up was amazing... a full 80 foot runway!




There were 16 vendors... 8 on each side of the venue's huge, round room directly behind the seats with a bar in the middle of each side...


Here's my booth all set up...


And the man instrumental in helping me pull all these things off... my Dad ♥
(who probably never in his life thought he'd find himself at a fashion show!!)


Another hard-working member of the Designs by Debi team... my Mom ♥


There were designers there from all over the world (Canada, Iceland, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Portugal, Germany) and I was honored to be included among them!!

Halldora is a footwear and clothing designer from Iceland who debuted her first official line of footwear for Winter 2011-2012 at the event! Her booth was on the side of mine. She's very talented and a wonderful, friendly person.

Doors open!! 



The view from my booth...

Reaz Hoque, CEO of The SYNERGY Events, who put on this event welcomes the crowd...

These are some photos from Halldora's segment of the fashion show. She made all the clothing and footwear...

   

More parts of the fashion show from other designers (sorry I can't remember who's who)...



  

Part of the end when Reaz was thanking the staff and having them take their walk on the runway... 

It was a wonderful event to participate in and was very organized and well-run. I'm extremely grateful that I was given the opportunity to showcase my designs alongside all of these other talented designers from around the world.

I hope that you've enjoyed following my journey. If you'd like, you can see all these photos (and a few more) larger in the album I made on my facebook page by following this link... The Emerging Trends 2011 ~ Boston Fashion Week. Thank you SO much for your support and coming along with me on this adventure :)

♥ Debi

Boston Fashion Week Preparation...the Day Before the Event!

Hi everyone,

Ok I'm a little late with this one...I apologize. There was so much last-minute rushing around that I didn't have time to do this post Friday night. And by the time I got home from the event around 2:30-3am on Sunday morning I was so wiped out and in so much pain from head to toe from all the climbing, lifting, carrying, etc that I was only able to start catching up today.

Friday was my test set-up for the show so I could figure out EXACTLY how my display was going to be done. You saw the new tiered wood display. I covered it with one of my black table covers that I use for my shows, set up some shelving directly behind the table and got to work....

This is the first set-up I tried...


Something wasn't quite working for me. So next I tried this...


Ah, much better. I liked that so I started to fill it with jewelry and fine tune all the placements. Here is the end result of all my fiddling around, the display I decided to go with...


And here are some close-ups so you can see a bit better...


This is my Signature Collection display box. This is an example of one of those times I went to my Dad with an idea and a sketch that turned into a trip to Lowe's :) He cut the wood, nailed the box together and painted it all black as I requested. Then I painted my roses. I love how it came out...it's one of my prized business possessions...lol... and I bring it to every show. The pillow you see in there is a white satin ring-bearers pillow that I used to sew on a strand of all the Swarovski Crystal and Pearl colors that the pieces are available in.


The left end of the display


the middle


the right end


and a close-up of the top right end of the table.

I took these photos once I was happy with the set-up. I do this before every show...I take my time and decide how I want to set everything up based on the size and layout of my booth for the show.... because unfortunately they're always different (makes for alot of work). Then I print the photos and bring them with me to the show so my set-up goes alot faster... because set-ups and take downs at events have to be done quickly...you're only given so much time ;)

Now, time to start packing things up and loading my truck!


Bangle displays packed and ready to go.


Earring displays packed and ready to go.


Signature Collection necklaces packed and ready to go.

Didn't think you'd want me to bore you with the rest of the process so I didn't photograph it. I hope you enjoyed following my preparation process. Tomorrow I'll share my event experiences with you!

Until tomorrow.... have a wonderful time! Thanx for following my journey ♥

♥ Debi

Another Day on the Boston Fashion Week Journey

Hello everyone!!

How are ya? Ready to hear the events of today? I had a really productive day...good thing...lots to do! I have a designer's portfolio that I use for juried shows (when I have to be judged to be accepted), but when I was asked to submit my portfolio to be considered for this event, I made a new one specifically geared toward it and today I printed copies to bring with me.

This is the PC side of my upstairs workshop.... printing pages for my portfolio.
(Using the PC's been a pain in the butt lately... the keyboard and mouse went kaput when I installed the new router last month so I'm using temp ones and I hate them.)

And this is the other side of my upstairs workshop. This is usually the jewelry-making side, but today I needed a second computer in there.... and most of the jewelry-making stuff has migrated down into the dining room.......

Getting ready to take over the dining room and turn it into another workshop

(this is actually a nightly occurrence)...LOL

  Designs by Debi Portfolio

These are all the pages of my new portfolio.

I started an album on Facebook for all the photos of this journey so you can take a look at that and it will allow you to see larger photos...and pix of each of the portfolio pages are in the album too.

You can find it here...

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150302355609296.337965.192038279295

Separating all the pages.....

This is how the inside looks when it's all put together.

These are my brochure, QR code and business card holders to display.

I had to package some jewelry I made that I want to bring Saturday.

Here are some of the new Signature Collection and Hearts Collection Earrings all ready to go :)

I hope you're enjoying this adventure. I'm very happy to have you along!! There's lots more to do tomorrow. I'll be doing a dry run set-up of my table and packing everything I need. Right now I have a date with my new Droid Bionic... I need to go learn how to use it!!! And then download the apps I need and test my new credit card processing system...no more lugging a laptop to shows... YAY!!!

Once I do that, maybe I can go get some sleep so I'll be ready to rock n roll again tomorrow ;) Have a wonderful night. I'll see you tomorrow!

♥ Debi

Follow my Journey to Boston Fashion Week

Hi everyone!!

I hope you're doing well. I've been pretty much MIA online, but I have a good reason. Wait.... I have an awesome reason!! Back in June I was contacted by someone associated with The SYNERGY Events who had seen my designs online and asked if I was interested in submitting my portfolio to be considered for an event they were putting on at Boston Fashion Week.... The Emerging Trends 2011 Boston Fashion Week. Are you kidding? Heck yeah!! To make a long story short, I submitted it and was accepted!! I had the option of showcasing my designs on the runway, at a vendor booth or both. I weighed the pros, cons and cost and decided to do a vendor booth.

The show is this Saturday, September 24th at 8pm at Cyclorama in Boston (Boston Center for the Arts). I'm VERY excited..... and very nervous! I've decided to blog about my journey leading up to the event. I thought you might enjoy tagging along ;-) You can also see the pix in an album I set up on my facebook page... The Emerging Trends 2011 ~ Boston Fashion Week.

This is totally different than other shows I've done and I'm doing a completely new set-up for it so it's been VERY busy here! I had to finish my general business brochure and have them printed. And shipped.... FAST. Well, all 500 of them arrived yesterday morning and I think they look great! I ordered them from www.OvernightPrints.com and I'm very happy with them. They got them printed, folded and here on time...

 

                 

 

I usually do a multi-level set-up for all my shows. This is a photo of my typical booth for a 10x10 foot space at a show...



For this event I have a 6 foot table to work with. I decided a tiered display would be best. My goal is to get my booth and designs noticed, create interest and make a good impression. My Dad (bless his heart) went ahead and made a wood tiered frame that will break down flat for transport. Yes, this is where I get my do-it-yourself skills!! I always do a test set-up before every show and take photos to use at the venue when I set up. I do this in the garage. So here we go...

 I'm glad you're joining my journey! There'll be much more to come :)

♥ Debi