lingerie designer

Most Difficult to Make – Meet the Maker Day 29

03.29.2019 by btslingerie // Leave a Comment

In the post about design I talked about pattern making and the process of bringing a design to life. Perhaps the most detailed and difficult to make piece in our collections are the arabesque tap pants.

Meet the maker, most difficult to make. Image of lace.

I hand cut the lace and match/mirror the pattern and scallops have to be cut at a precise point to create the miter on the final garment. After these are sewn on the silk behind is cut away, so when on the body this reveals the skin behind. (Because this hand cutting is so laborious it’s not a task I give to our contractor who sews the garment but one I handle directly)

Arabesque tap pant, showing one of the products that is most difficult to make.

That’s just the lace, these also have a tiny baby hem and stretch velvet waistband that needs to be attached so as not to pucker and with the right amount floating above the back cutout.

So this particular piece, but also the entire silk range is challenging to make in that the materials require experience & skill needed to apply the lace and finish such delicate materials. The designing & patternmaking of this piece is also particularly challenging because it’s non-stretch and needs to be designed to fit over the hips but sit on top of them securely, so the stretch velvet waistband and cut out are part of how the design is both functional and aesthetic.

To see the original post on instagram – click here

We’re collecting all of my March Meet the Maker posts here on the blog for ease of reading and all of you who might not be on instagram or facebook. It was a great opportunity to share a bit more about our brand and hope it helps you get to know me and BTS a little better!

How I Got Started – Meet the Maker Day 2

03.02.2019 by btslingerie // Leave a Comment

In the intimate apparel industry there are a number of large companies (like the one I previously worked for) that specialize in producing intimates collections for designer brand names that they license, mostly by contracting with overseas factories. These factories are responsible for sourcing materials and manufacturing the garments with the risk they would have to eat the cost of any overstock in materials and mistakes in production. Ultimately they made a very small percentage of the wholesale cost of goods, so you can imagine the reality of what that meant for the actual workers that made the goods.

“Fashion” is rooted in capitalism, classism, and has lost its roots in heritage, culture, and craft. It is an art to create a piece of clothing from disparate bolts of fabric and make it look like it has not been touched by human hands, but every garment you see has been sewn by hand. There is no machine that can knit/cut materials as fluid as fabric without an operator behind it..

My decision, to quit my job and look to produce a collection here in USA, was driven by my personal discomfort with the way that the garments I worked on were produced. As a designer I am driven to create, but that creation is not just in the design of the garment & selection of fabrics but the ethos behind it.

Even after I started my own company it took a few years of designing collections on a seasonal calendar & selling wholesale before I decided to opt out of the traditional model in favor of slow sustainable growth for myself and my company. I exited my wholesale business to focus on selling directly to my customers & became a certified Bcorp. In reinventing my business my long term goal is to change how we consume, our relation to consumption, to creation, and ultimately how that relates to ourselves. I truly hope we are on the brink of a shift in consumption.

Have any questions for me? Leave a question on this post or any of our March Meet the Maker posts!

behind the scenes – BTS lingerie photoshoot Fall Winter 2013

07.19.2013 by btslingerie // 1 Comment

BTS lingerie Photoshoot – FW13 collection

I don’t usually take polaroids during fittings, but our FW13 model Tatjana was looking so lovely I had to snap this.

We shot in January 2013 (almost 9 months before this collections hits stores in late august/sept 2013). We’ve done lots of studio shoots and some outdoor shoots, but this was our first time shooting in a home, and there were certainly perks to that like waking up only an hour before the shoot!

We went all out bringing lots of flowers and props like tea lights, cozy throws, and books. We were also thrilled that the cottage we shot in (a high demand summer spot in Mattituck) had the most gorgeous decor and outdoor scenery to lend as well! Read on to get a behind the scenes look at the shoot and a preview of our Fall/Holiday collection.

Is it wrong to be in love with a kitchen? When we arrived and I saw those mint green cabinets, open shelving, and that incredibly gorgeous weathered island – it was love at first sight. We arrived early the night before to prep flower arrangements and get a head start on all the little details of the shoot, plus it meant we could wake up a little later than if we were driving out the morning of!

BTS lingerie photoshoot - north fork long island cottage

Lots of flowers, from hydrangeas and baby’s breathe to pale pink mini roses. Oh and we got crafty making a lovely baby’s breathe hair wreath.

We woke up to this scenic view, such a welcome and lovely sight after driving out in the dark/rain the night before.

Late night crafting the day before the shot – we were hoping these modge podge colored mason jars would be done in time to hold tea lights for the shoot but the chilly weather and some over zealous modge podge pouring foiled our plans! The finished look the day after the shoot below

Early morning call times can be such a pain, so it was nice to sleep over the night before and wake up to a leisurely breakfast and coffee followed by hair and makeup.

Naturally stunning, I just accentuated Tatjana’s gorgeous features with minimal makeup – focusing on her ivory skin and eyes (which I believe were hazel but shifted color in different light). Mauve and purpley hued eye makeup brought this out nicely.

My go to look is soft pin curls, it looks different on everyone depending on their natural hair texture – sometimes coming out in soft loose waves, others in tighter spirals. With Tatjana’s long Rapunzelesque locks it gave her normally straight hair a slightly tousled bedhead.

Big rollers and BIGGER cup of coffee to get through the wintery morning.

We got lucky that the day was unusually warm for early January in New York and shot some looks outside with the gorgeous exterior and landscape.

I really wish we had shot something in front of this neighboring yard’s shed.

We kept our time outside short, sprinting back in to warm up and shoot a couple of shots indoors.

left: Our baby’s breathe hair wreath in action. right: The glasses have kind of become a BTS lingerie photoshoot signature.

Sometimes a thread gets missed in sample making. Above is the cobalt Leopard Play (a cheeky hint at the gold leopard print) babydoll and tap pant (wait until you see the open back not shown here).

Because that Leopard Play set was so popular with our boutiques we added a robe as well, shown in cobalt and black above.

It’s not always possible to get enough daylight indoors so we added a bit of lighting to the indoors looks. This shot at the end of the day and you can see the long winter night settling in late afternoon.

And nothing sets the mood like candlelight…

Second makeup/hair look of the day I joking called Bond girl, because those smokey eyes and updo remind me of the casino scenes with lovely ladies playing cards. We had her play chess instead… stay tuned for the full lookbook where you’ll see we recolored those red chess pieces 😉

Checkmate – your move!

Josh caught this shot of Olivia (aka best intern ever) and I setting up this window scene. We tried the door but the angles made too many reflections.