It’s the start of yet another new month and we’re sure many of us here are just like us, wondering where all the time went. It seemed like the year went past in a blink of an eye!
For us at TCL, it has been a challenging year given the current circumstances but we are really humbled by the support you have been showering us with. It is really heartwarming to receive all your random messages, your appreciation and excitement, and so much more! We are currently working on a few big projects that are definitely going to make your shopping experience a lot more enjoyable. We really, really can’t wait to tell you what’s coming up in the pipeline, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if we gave too many hints! ;)
Instead, we’d like to invite you on a little behind the scenes trip where we had our photoshoot back in July.
We’ll be sharing with you about what goes on behind a photoshoot, as well as sneak previews of our upcoming Oh! Summer collection! For every photoshoot, we analyse market trends and curate collections that we want to launch for each season before scouting for shoot locations and casting models.
For our Oh! Summer editorial shoot, we wanted to introduce some zest into your lives which is why we decided to go for a fruits-themed collection that is reminiscent of a fun, summer picnic! With the main theme in mind, we decided to schedule a shoot.
Without further ado, let’s dive into shoot day itself! Based on the day’s schedule, we typically begin our shoot days early in the morning so that we can capture soft daylight in our photos. However, this is subjected to weather conditions hence we often play by ear or look at weather forecasts. For this particular shoot, we had to shoot in the evening instead which is why we had a later call time than usual.
Our resident make-up artist, Airin, and model, Polyna, showed up early and excited to begin the day! Hair and make-up is always first on our list and we know that we’re in good hands whenever we work with Airin. (P.S. Check out our special friendship feature with Airin here!)
We’re sure our model, Polyna, is a familiar face to many of you as she has been shooting with us for several collections. Not only does Polyna have the vibes we want our brand to represent, we also find it a joy to work with this sweet girl who always delivers for each shoot!
While Airin and Polyna got ready at hair and make-up, Team TCL was also hard at work to prepare for our catalogue shoot, which is also our studio shoot where we showcase every single colour and design in a studio setting. As we would be shooting many sets of clothes with a variety of styling and accessorising, we started off by ironing the apparels as well as curating the accessories that were required for the shoot. The arranging them in the sequence we would be shooting them so we can maximise the time! Typically, we shoot about 40-60 different outfits for each catalogue shoot.
Another star of the day would be our very own in-house photographer Jodie, who ensures that our visuals are of top-notch quality with the right camera settings. Jodie is also in charge of coming up with the concept of each photoshoot and preparing the props beforehand, so kudos to her creative juices which are presented for every shoot!
It’s time to begin our catalogue shoot! You can see how it was all hands on deck with everyone playing their part to ensure that everything goes smoothly! What we really enjoy about catalogue shoots is the opportunity to showcase different styling options, such as matching complementary coordinates to achieve different styles as well as experimenting with accessories such as bags or even headbands to explore new vibes!
It is a rather common occurrence to receive questions from you ladies on how to match certain colours or designs which is why we try our best during catalogue shoots to portray versatile styling options. Feel free to drop us an Instagram DM too if you’re feeling uninspired and we will be happy to help!
Here comes the exciting part of our day! After we were done with our catalogue shoot, we did a quick touch-up and headed over to an indoor photo studio for our editorial shoot. To better facilitate the shoot, mood-boards were prepared so that our model can easily visualize the concept we had in mind as well as to communicate the creative direction within the team.
As our print in focus was a lemon print, we followed the theme of fruits and recreated a cocktail picnic by using real fresh fruits as our photoshoot props. We always go the extra mile to come up with new props and explore different set-ups as we know that it makes a difference to the end result. So many different fruits right here!
Here’s our co-founder Bree using helping with the arrangement of the props. Once the shoot began, you can see how serious everyone was with the constant checking of the model’s hair and make-up as well as how the apparels were worn on her. We also took lots of behind the scenes footage so that you can have a glimpse of how the apparels are worn in real life as well as to showcase different angles of the fit.
It may seem like all fun and games, but photoshoots do get rather tedious for everyone on the team with the high standards we set for ourselves. Nevertheless at the end of the day, it is no doubt worth it when we are able to produce gorgeous visuals to share with you ladies!
And that’s a wrap! We hope that you ladies have enjoyed this short feature where we show you exclusive content on what goes on behind the scenes. Stay tuned to this space for more sneak previews! In the meantime, don’t forget to check out our Oh! Summer collection coming your way online this Sunday (6 Sep) at 8.30pm and available in stores now!