It's a Long Story

FUN FACT: Despite releasing two collections since 2018 as the Designer Maker of After Midnight, I am a print design graduate! So, if I'm a print designer, why am I only releasing solids? This is a good AND legit question! In short, it's pretty expensive to have custom fabric printed in the UK and some companies also have minimum orders so until I feel my indie brand has enough stability, it will probably be on the back burner for the foreseeable future. HOWEVER! Just because I'm not making and releasing them, doesn't mean that I'm not working on designs! Behold, in the way Haenuli had a 'Design Graveyard', I have what I like to call the 'Atelier Archive' which is basically a folder of sketches/ illustrations/ patterns/ fashion illustrations/ things I have worked on to different levels, but have not made it onto fabric... yet! Today I want to share a design that I worked on last year.  Funnily enough, what triggered this was a pair of m

Can you believe I've kept this up and we're on the 5th post? Honesty, I can't haha but here we go! --- 16/09/2019 Berry & Wood - Holiday Sweetheart  Initial Reaction - I like this! In four colourways and two cuts, this dress is nothing out of the ordinary but it is a real cutie! I love the retro vibe and the way they've styled the dress for these photos. I feel like you could do quite a lot with it and it's be easy to wear. --- 17/09/2019 Sara Bell - Papuan Jellyfish Initial reaction - A 10/10 jellyfish dress! And in four great, on-theme colours no less! I 10/10 appreciate this! The navy makes me think of the Chérie Cerise jellyfish skirt so while that caught my eye first, I have a soft spot for the teal. The light blue would lend itself nicely to a jellyfish Princess look while the off-white/ cream(?) gets into wedding territory. Is this one for the archives? Maaaaybe not today. --- Alice Lolita - Nin

Welcome to a normal edition of Last Week's Taobao Delights! Let's go! --- 09/09/2019 Flower Bouquet - Rebel Diary Initial reaction - Is this a Sherlock look??? Upon closer inspection, I think it's meant to be a low-key steampunk look judging by the accessories. Oh well, wrong theme/ style judgement aside, this comes in two colourways (brown and grey) and I really like this dress in all it's aspects! I like the simplicity and design design elements (the bodice is cute!) and would wear the heck out of it! But seriously, someone tell me how this ISN'T a Sherlock dress??? --- Small Forest - YiYuanXiang Initial reaction - I LOVE this photo series! Okay, the sad thing here is that I love the photo series more than the actual dress.  I'm a BIG fan of Hanfu lolita but I do not love this dress. From my knowledge of Chinese traditional dress, I want to say the look is inspired by Tang Dynasty dress (I LOVE the Tang