Fun Fashion

Seasonal Greetings!

2010-12-27T06:55:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone has had a fantastic Christmas and you are looking forward to the New Year?

I have been quite busy over the holidays catching up with the website http://www.funfashion.co.uk/ making sure that any old stock is off (hopefully I haven't missed anything, although still have a bit to do) and adding the new Shirley of Hollywood Valentines range, which is stunning I might add!

Here is a picture of my sisters dog taking a nap next to the wholesale catalogue I was using.

I have quite a lot to do in 2011 with regards to Fun Fashion. As soon as the snow has thawed I plan to tidy up my garage, getting rid of any stock that has been lying around for a while, perhaps forgotten as I have moved on to different selling areas, then I am going to be taking all my old Teaching materials (I used to be a Teacher) and put them into the garage, leaving space to make a working studio. I'm going to fill the front room with loads of storage, where I can easily gain access to all the materials I need for making the pasties and more importantly... HATS!

In January I am booked in on my first of many courses to learn how to make hats from scratch. The first Millinary course is taking place in London for a week. After that I will be continuing to learn from Evesham. I don't have a clue how hard it is to learn this craft, but what I do know, is that I'm very excited and very much looking forward to the experience. I've already been decorating Burlesque miniature hats and have been complimented on my ability, so am really looking forward to being able to take it that bit further.

Once I have mastered the art of making miniature hats, I am hoping to expand to all shapes and sizes, so that I can vary my designs to suit different market areas, such as Ascot and weddings. The realms of possibility are truely endless.

Hopefully by the end of 2011 I will be running two websites, with one being specifically for the hats I am making. I'm yet to think of a good name for the domain, so if you can think of one, please do let me know. I'm also interested in where to exhibit the hats, as I won't be selling them from a shop. I much prefer moving around and letting people see them all over the UK than expecting everyone to come to me. You never know, I may be at the clothes show by 2012!

Another area that I need to expand in is the tassels. I had quite a few comments with reference to making 'sets' while at Erotica, so I will also be looking into developing my range there and of course will also be creating hats inspired by my existing range of pasties.

So... lots of things to do in the future. I may well be adding some of the clearance stock to my site as the garage starts to get emptied out, so please keep checking for that. They will be at very low prices in order to make space and you may well get a super bargain.

Penny of Fun Fashion x

Fun Fashion at Erotica 19-21 November 2010

2010-11-22T00:49:00.000-08:00

Fun Fashion at Erotica 2010.

We were not going to attend Erotica this year, as the stand prices are rather high and having very new stock (my hand crafted Burlesque pasties and miniature hats) I was not sure how they would sell and then right at the last minute we were told that Torture Garden would be holding stands upstairs alongside the Dreamboys. Now if this was not reason enough there was the added fact that the rates were much better for small businesses and I would have been a fool to refuse.

Having got there on Thursday to set up, we positioned ourselves at the top of the stairs next to the sausage stand (the ladies working on there were lovely!). It was great here as we could see most of the people coming up, as this was the main way up to the first floor.

I couldn't have been happier with the great responses to my new stock. I had ladies literally in raptures looking at the tassels and hats and have some amazing performers who would like me to custom make for them. For me this is a huge thrill, as I love the challenge of making something specific for purpose and would love to see my work being appreciated on stage. For any other performers out there, I do offer discounts, as I appreciate you must get fans asking where you get your accessories from and I am very happy to work closely for your needs where possible.

Some tassel fans!

Where I have now been making and developing on my pasties for just over a year now, the miniature hats are still very much my new baby. I show cased them at this Erotica and am very pleased with the results. Here are some pictures of some very happy customers trying them on before buying.

This gold sinamay hat had black flowers, peacock feathers and a mirror band.

This lady loved wearing my black felt hat with diamante jewel and red and black feathers.

I think she looked amazing!

This lady also looked fab in this very popular minature hat made by Fun Fashion.

Silver sinamay hat with Christmas flower, gold band and peacock feathers.

Black sinamay hat with purple band, flowers and feathers, black feathers and purple netting.

This lady was delighted with her hat that she bought for a photo shoot she was having soon. I thought it looked amazing on her!

This lovely couple fell in love with one of my skeleton hats. I have to admit that this is one of my personal favourites. It's fun and sexy at the same time and oozes character, which this lady certainly had bags of. I'm so glad that it went to some one who will enjoy wearing it as much as I enjoyed making it.

One of the things I love about attending exhibitions is getting the feedback directly from my customers. I had one conversation with a customer who reminded me that some ladies like to wear wigs with their hats and that alice bands don't fit as firmly as clips. This was a fantastic point that I had overlooked and certainly one that I intend to rectify. On further discussion with a fellow stand holder we looked at how to keep the hats versatile and came up with the idea of a loop that would allow the customer to choose which method of attachment they would prefer on buying. This is going to be my first project on getting home. Watch this space for further developments!

Fun Fashion Stand - Torture Garden

This is my stand. I thought I would have a banner with my stand name on it, as I have always had on previous years. Unfortunately being in the Torture Garden area did not include this, so people were having difficult finding me, but I will definitely be putting that right for next year. I practically sold out of suspenders shown in the picture here and only have one quarter cup bra left in a 42 if anyone wants it (white) still selling at just £15!

My Helper this year - Peter

Peter went down a storm with the ladies. He is a very bubbly larger than life character, who knows how to work a crowd and certainly got the attention of these two ladies!

If you are in one of these pictures and would like a copy, please get in touch. Also, I will be using them for promotional purposes unless you ask me not to. I did ask permission at the time of taking the pictures, but of course you are welcome to change your mind.

I hope you like what you see and if you would like to see what I sell for yourself, then please go to http://www.funfashion.co.uk/. Many of the items for sale at Erotica are not on there yet, as I was in such a rush to get them made in time, but I will be updating the site with the new lines and more Shirley of Hollywood (plus size lingerie & stockings and Nitelife footwear) very soon!

Erotica

2010-10-17T01:09:00.000-07:00

Erotica is fast looming forward and I'm really looking forward to all the hustle and bustle that comes with it.

This year will be the first time that I am upstairs. In the past I have always been reticent to go up there, but after it was closed up last year and new management put into place, I am really hoping that this year will bring with it a fresh attitude and excitement.

I'm told that the whole of the upstairs area is going to be ran by Tortue Garden and it will be essentially fetish based, although my line being Burlesque, it does of course have off shoots. There will be (apart from the weird and wonderfully) Corsets, bustles, pasties (the tassel variety, not ginsters!) fascinators and of course my hand crafted miniature hats.

The stand I have this year is my smallest yet, being just 2 metres in length, but this is the first time I have really concentrated on my hand made designs, which do lend themselves to a smaller way of presentation. I hope they will neatly fit the space I have for them, allowing me to present them beautifully, without too much clutter. There will be a temptation to have everything out, but I will need to be selective to what I take and display and hope that people are motivated to take my flyers and look on line to where they can see all the other goodies a make and sell.

Only this week I visited London and found inspiration for a new look pastie. I'm really excited about it, as I've never seen this idea before and it is so adaptable (should it work). I need to get a few materials together in order to work on a prototype and after that... who knows where it may take me. This of course involves time and discipline, as I really do need to sit myself down and do it, especially with so little time left between now and Erotica.

If you are intending to go to Erotca, then please do remember to come upstairs and say hello. Maybe try on some hats and have a look at the lovely things I have on offer. Spread the word and hopefully I'll see you there.

If you would like to find out more information about Erotica use this link: http://www.erotica-uk.com/

Kustom Kulture Big Bash, Spalding, Lincolnshire

2010-09-13T03:02:00.000-07:00

Held over the 4th/5th September 2010, this was the first show of it's type and the first time in Lincolnshire for me. What a fantastic time I had and what an excellent show! It may have been the first of its type.

The show was held at the Springfield Centre in Spalding and took up a section of the fields with amazing custom painted vehicles and some tents showing art work by the most talented spray painters. Then the main hall was full of the hussle and bustle of demonstrations and artists with pin stripping centrally based and many pieces of amazing artwork, on every surface you can think of, including shoes, leather jackets, helmets and much more.

Past the main hall and cafe you came to the smaller hall that I was based in, which also had a stage. In here there was the auction area, where people had kindly donated their artwork. The proceeds went to a charity that raised money for teenagers suffering from cancer. They aimed to try and make the experience as easy as possible for them, understanding that teenagers are already going through the huge transition from child to adult, let alone coping with battling against a life threatening illness. Having a niece who has gone through this, I was pleased to see this being promoted and willing made a bid on a skateboard, which I was pleased to win.

Also joining me in the hall were some brilliant tattoo artists, music specialists and clothing stands. We were very lucky as the DJ was based in the room alongside the stage, which was well used for bands and Burlesque acts. What a lot of fun we had!

I had with me some hand made corsets by Heresy, tutu's, pasties and my new range of fascinators and mini hats. I was very keen to see how my first hand decorated miniature hat would be recieved, so imagine my delight when on the Sunday it was snapped up at a very reasonable £35.

I also sold 2 of the Heresy corsets and made a lovely friend from one of the customers. She bought the amazing chinese brocade corset with the background colour being a vibrant pink. It is meeting people like this lady and her friend Paul who was taking pictures for a rock magazine, so much fun. We had a good old natter and I know she will look stunning in her corset when she wears it out accompanied by her black lycra trousers!!!

Finally after watching the Burlesque dancers my stand was sieged with flushed couples buying pasties and mini hats. The Burlesque dancers were very sexy and after the act pictured below it was suggested to me that I should start selling the Burlesque fans too. I will be looking into this over the next few days and see what I can come up with, so watch this space.

While I was working at the show I was staying at a lovely little Hotel above a pub called The Chequers. It had an open market opposite it in the morning and a church. Although it was quaint with pretty buildings, it still had all the facilities you could possibly want along the street, including take-aways. I was greeted by a young chap called Adam, who couldn't do enough to please. He offered to help me with my bags and showed me up to my room, which was very sweet. It had a very comfy double bed, lots of space for putting my things on, complimentary water, biscuits, tea etc, with a hairdryer, good tv reception and my dongle picked up the internet with a good strength, which is great as most chain hotels make you pay for a good reception. The bathroom had bubble bath and shampoo and clean white towels. All this and a full English breakfast to die for at just £60 a night. A real find.

Before leaving the show we were asked if we would like to attend again if they repeated the show next year and the resounding answer from me would have to be a big YES as I'd love to.

Keep your eyes peeled for the show next year. It is well worth a visit.