303 Magazine/Style Wars Update

I recently realized that I never posted anything about my 303 Magazine Shoot back in June or the Style Wars Challenge back in July. Life gets hectic at times, but both of these events were super fun. Here are some pictures:

This is the picture they chose for my page in the July issue of 303:

I look so incredibly different in this picture for better or worse! Even my friends didn't recognize me at first. This is right after I got my bowl cut which I still rock in some form today. Everyone in the picture is wearing something by me.




Here are some pictures from Style Wars at the end of July. It was so much fun! We had 20 minutes to create an outfit from a rack of supplies. I ended up using an 80s long sleeve gown that had a strange raglan-style sleeve that ran from under the neck all the way across the chest. I cut off the sleeves, cut the dress down, and rolled the top to change the shape to a Grecian-inspired shape. I then created a puff sleeve and filled it with bubble wrap. The cinch belt is made from shelf liner and pieces of a car shade. The glove is a piece of lace from the original raglan sleeve. I wish I was smart enough to take a picture of the dress beforehand so you could truly recognize the hideousness of the dress. The sad thing is that it was a Carolina Herrera!

Many thanks to my assistant Grace and to my amazing model Kristen, I couldn't have asked for better partners in crime.

"Goodbye Denver Shoot"

My dear friend Ferren, who happens to be a model with the fiercest walk around- no seriously, ask any Denver designer- just moved last week to London for art school. Before she left she wanted to do one last photo shoot in Denver with our friend Matthew Novack as the photographer. We shot on the streets and alleyways in the Art District on Santa Fe Drive, so naturally the clothing had to be bright and colorful to match the surroundings. I brought a bag of clothing and we just walked around taking pictures. It was a lovely way to say goodbye, even though it was HOT outside.

Meghan Savage 2

These images are from a photo shoot in which I lent clothing but could not actually be there for the shoot. I am now much more involved with the photo shoots I do, but for a while I was mostly just lending out clothing and seeing what came out of the shoot. The risk in doing that is that you may not like the images or how the clothing was styled. It's a risk you take, but this shoot was with the photographer Meghan Savage who is insanely talented and a great model/friend Taryn that I would trust with any of my clothing at any time. So, it was really not a risky shoot in my mind. These are some of the photos that Meghan chose to use for her website.

Black vinyl jacket with puff sleeves and ruffled collar by me, skirt by Taryn





This is one of my favorite pieces I've made to date. The dress is covered in handmade silver rosettes that were then handsewn to the dress.




I personally love the softness of the pictures. Even though the pieces are not "pretty" there is a certain romantic feel to them because of the styling and the background. The silver dress is definitely going in my portfolio!

Unfortunately, these will probably be the last pictures I will be able to post with Taryn because she has gone to New York and Greece to work with some modeling agencies. I wish her the best of luck and I know that she is going to do some fantastic work!

Meghan Savage

Back in June I got the idea to do a shoot using clothing I had created for a retro-themed fashion show that had been at the Denver Art Museum. The dresses were all loose and very tent-like, almost like the dresses of the 1960s mod period. I had wanted to work with the local photographer Meghan Savage for quite some time and had heard that she liked vintage feeling shoots, so I asked her if she would be interested in doing a mod-themed shoot. I wanted to use two models- one who was a Twiggy look alike and a model inspired by the 60s fascination with space age.

As with every other day this summer it rained during our shoot, but Meghan was great at working around the rain and getting some amazing images!















Makeup by Katelyn Simkins, Models Caitlyn Canniff and Taryn Aichele

Kelsey Bigelow Pictures

A few weeks ago I coordinated a shoot with the fabulous photographer Kelsey Bigelow. I wanted to shoot the evening gowns from my new collection, so we wanted the shoot to be slightly romantic and not something we could just throw together in the city. We ended up shooting in a field near a windmill farm on the border of Colorado and Wyoming. It was sunny, super windy, and pretty cold, but I love what came out of the shoot. There were so many good pictures but here are a few of my favorites. I ended up choosing the pictures that were desaturated over the shots in regular light because the overall feel was more romantic and went with our slightly fairytale theme.














Thank you to Katelyn Simkins for hair and makeup and to Taryn for making the most of the crazy wind!

Forever Darling Runway Pictures

I finally found some pictures of the Forever Darling event. I absolutely loved the hair and makeup and the models were all great to work with. My collection was select pieces from my 2010 Signature Collection. Here are the pictures:

My Avante-Garde Competition Piece

White silk sleeveless dress with skirt that is covered in handmade chiffon flowers. Black taffeta jacket with ruffle collar and lantern inspired sleeves.



The Collection

Purple satin dress with chain straps and rosettes on hem.



White satin dress with pleated front section and triple bows.



Lace covered dress with pleated skirt and racerback. Red silk jacket with bishop sleeves and ruffled collar.



Black satin dress covered with hand sewn chains.



Black satin dress with pleated front section with bow. Shiny jacket crop jacket with puff sleeves and ruffled collar.



Pink silk dress with sweetheart neck, pleated detailing, and zipper rosettes.



Silk dress with chiffon strap with back bow.



Black silk gown with safety pin covered strap and handmade belt.



Burgundy silk gown with mermaid hem, zipper inserted into top seam, and front bow.



Navy silk gown with gathered section at bottom and braids surrounding it. Silk crop jacket covered in ruffles.



Final walk.

New Photo Shoot

I have been trying to get photo shoots in every couple of weeks so as to update my portfolio. My style has dramatically changed in the past few years, so it is in need of a serious overhaul. I will be posting these photo shoots as I receive the pictures from the photographers, so the pictures will not necessarily be in order of when they were shot. These pictures were shot a few weeks ago with Shalynne Imaging, who has a beautiful, raw sense of lighting. Her shoots are often romantic even when they are not romantic because of her scenery and lighting. They feel very simple but are still pretty to look at. We shot on the photographer's tree farm and even though it rained all day, we managed to make the most out of the beautiful location. Here are a couple of the pictures.











Thank you to Katelyn Simkins for makeup and to Caitlyn for being up for whatever, even in the rain.

Forever Darling 3

This past Thursday I participated in a local charity fashion event called Forever Darling. This is the third year it has gone on. Each year the proceeds go to a different charity, with this year's charity being Autism Speaks.

For the event, the designers were asked to pair up to create an avante-garde outfit based off a floral arrangement. My partner was Taryn Slawson, a designer I actually went to college with. We both have a very fun feminine style, so it was a great pairing. Our arrangement was very flower-y, but had a few dark elements to it. There was a sense of lightness from the flowers and the lanterns, but then there was the black background, the branches, and the moss.



We decided to create a sleeveless dress with a slightly tulip-shaped skirt covered in hand-sewn chiffon flowers in the colors of the arrangement. To add the dark element and to have more visual interest, we chose to create a cute jacket with a huge ruffled collar and sleeves inspired by the chinese lanterns. We thought we had a winner for sure due to the fact that it was so intricate and followed the rules so closely. In the end, we did not win (a bit of a personal scandal honestly) but we made sure to get some fabulous pictures of the pieces anyways. We wanted to make sure that even when the pieces get sold, we would still have pictures of it. Check out our shoot with Matthew Novak. I will post pictures of the Forever Darling event once I get them.

2010 Signature Collection

After months of planning, hours (and hours and hours) of hand sewing, and dozens of yards of fabric, I released my 2010 Signature Collection to a packed house August 15th. I was incredibly nervous but very excited to make the move into more sophisticated clothing. The intimate show was held in the boutique The Fabric Lab with a champagne and cupcake reception beforehand.

Here are a few pieces from the 21 piece collection. To see the entire collection visit www.incroyablesbymelissamay.com or www.myspace.com/incroyablesbymelissamay. For custom order information, please email me at incroyablesbymelissamay@gmail.com or visit www.lissabean.etsy.com