Krobots

I went to get a Father’s Day card for my Dad last week. I obviously didn’t look at it closely enough in the shop (I was in a rush on my way to the Scarlet Souk fashion show but more on that later…) because when I got home I realised it had glitter on it. GLITTER. Totally unnecessary, twee and just a little bit annoying. I regaled this story to Karen over tea at Teacup during the Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend and she started laughing “bet you wished you’d bought one of mine!” Damn straight!

I met Karen at a networking event in April. It was the usual ‘stand up, say your name and your business’ type affair where she introduced herself as the business development manager for The National Football Museum. The networking meeting rumbled on until its close and we all filed out but as we were leaving she gave me her second business card and my blog-ears instantly picked up: Karen designs her own cards. And after a bit of investigation I discovered that they are endearing, innovative and cool as hell.

 “I have always made cards for friends and family and then one year I made a Christmas card for my boyfriend with Christmas themed robots on it: Santa, Rudolph, Frosty the Snowman. He loves robots and needless to say he loved the card!”

So the seed was planted. All it took then was the herculean life of her boyfriend, Mark, to inspire her to get her arse in gear, “he is always busy. Always. He works fulltime but designs websites, DJ’s and produces music in his spare time. There were only so many nights I could watch Eastenders whilst he was …”

“Taking over the universe?!” I interject.

“Exactly! So I started doodling with people in mind and that’s when I realised that I had the beginnings of a business.”

Taking inspiration from people she knows and everyday objects such as speakers, phones and kitchenware she creates robot characters for her cards. Her passion for art has always been evident; Karen did A-level art and has a B-Tech in jewellery design but getting to grips with a computer illustration programme was a whole different ball game,

“I taught myself to use Illustrator: some nights there was a lot of shouting at the computer!”

But despite the techno rage, she succeeded and her creations are heavily design lead: clean lines and block colour,

“I wanted them to feel hand drawn but still have a slick and professional feel.”

And they do. There isn’t a whiff of glitter about them yet they are suitable for all ages and the detail in each design is amazing. She designed her own branding, sourced a printer and set about wrapping the cards in cellophane herself. As well as working on a new line of characters (including a garden inspired robot!) and contacting independent retailers with a view to them stocking her work, she has her first commission,

“As soon as my friend started talking about what she wanted I just knew what I would draw – a bee robot! She now has the character on her blog.”

Her contacts on the Museum circuit have helped launch a capsule collection of her cards into local museums and galleries in Salford, Bury and Oldham. She also has an Etsy shop and a Folksy shop. Next on the already packed agenda?

“I am looking at a range of other products on which to place my designs: Mugs, tea towels, bags, prints, badges and wrapping paper. And my boyfriend is currently designing my website.”

As we venture out into the rain Mark is waiting and greets me with a handshake. I feel as though I am in the presence of one of Manchester’s next power couples…watch this space…

Black White Denim

When I look through my clients’ wardrobes the one thing I am looking for is character: pieces that really shout about the personality of the client in question, pieces that really reflect who they are. Sometimes I find one thing, sometimes 5 or 6 things. When I show them to the client they will say “I love that wearing that” or “I always get compliments when I wear that.” I start from these key pieces and clear out the wardrobe in question accordingly. Many are confused by fashion; by the pace at which is moves, the speed at which it changes, the amount on offer, what is appropriate for them and what is not. Fashion is a maze and I take my clients on their journey through fashion and style one wardrobe at a time.

Black White Denim has a similar theory – decoding fashion for women. The shop in Wilmslow is a concept boutique which is a mecca for key pieces: the pieces which hang in your wardrobe season after season but pay their rent on your rail by offering you wear after wear after wear. These items are Black White Denim’s fashion code, their success story. And the best thing? Everything goes together.  One of the most frequent things I see is a wardrobe full to bursting with lots of standout pieces but nothing which ties everything together, hence the cry “I have nothing to wear!” Jo’s vision of a boutique – accessible and friendly – provides the building blocks to start making items in your wardrobe come together, whatever your age and style. 

I love Bravissimo (but not as much as H&M. Those guys are still no.1)

When I was a teenager I went from a 32B to a 32D virtually overnight. It was a Lara Croft-esque nightmare when, just weeks later, I went to 32DD. Working at WHSmiths, I had to have a size 14 top to cover my chest area without the fabric straining. This was back in 1994: I was the first girl in my year to grow such noticeably gargantuan breasts, I realised roll necks were not my friend and my mum had to take me to a specialist lingerie retailer which basically stocked bras for Grannies in order to get a bra which “fitted”. That was the choice - a pretty bra which didn’t fit from M&S or a granny bra which did. My sister, who had previously been “Titless Tina”, took great pleasure in calling me “Big Breasted Brenda”.

When Bravissimo came on the scene in 1995 it was as if my prayers had been answered: I could finally get bras that were pretty, they fitted and the staff were sympathetic. (I had an incident in M&S where a bra fitter, marvelling at my teenage buds, called in her colleague to get a look at the enormous additions to my petite 5’3” frame.) They even did swimwear. Which fitted! Prayers. Answered. The testimonials on their website and in their catalogue are genuine, from real women, which just shows they are getting something right and meeting a very real need.

Since then I have always appreciated their amazingly friendly staff and great stock package. Any Wardrobe Angel clients who are blessed in the chest area and are experiencing ill-fitting bras, a general malaise with other high street bra sellers but have a lack of time to shop, I send them to Bravissimo online. And the success is evident,

" Today, Bravissimo customers are able to ask themselves 'which bra do I like' rather than 'what comes in my size'. Over half a million women have contacted us since we began, turning the sitting-room business into a multi-million pound award-winning company, retailing by mail order, our website and through our 21 high street stores.”

Awesome.