Louise Whelan Shoot

Last week we did an amazing shoot with the very talented Louise Whelan.
When Lou first spoke to me about doing the shoot I was thrilled, having been a huge fan of Shooting Starlets I was bowled over that she would want to come to Adelaide and shoot Hot Couture. Lou is putting together a coffee table book and wanted Hot Couture and a couple of our models to take part. We shot at Jen Rossiter's house which is full to the brim of fabulous iconic fifties stuff, least of all her stunning cactus garden and hills hoist, how much more Adelaide can you get.
Jen kindly offered to do the models hair and make up, assisted by Molly Harrison they started early while Lou took photo's of me at my studio. Luckily I didn't need hair and make up as I attended The Lindy Charm School work shop just the day before, I was pretty darn pleased with myself I have to say. It was great fun shooting with Lou, she made me feel so comfortable. I'm usually the one running around after the models, not the one in front of the camera. Ginger Taylor and Sarah Easter looked incredibly beautiful in the frocks and play-suits we had chosen. All up it was a pretty pleasant day and we were thrilled when Lou sent the photo's a few days later. Louise is a true genius and we feel very lucky to have been a part of it. Thanks to all the girls involved I love your work. Also thanks to The Queen Street Cafe and Ben for feeding us.

XXX Joy

The Lindy Charm School

I can't remember ever having such a wonderful girly day and so much fun. Never have I seen so many bobby pins, lipstick, hairspray and rollers all in one room. We arrived at the workshop to be greeted by the very fabulous Chrissy and Sammy who run the course you couldn't meet two nicer or welcoming gals, we had no idea what to expect but I can honestly say we never expected to be able to do 6 hairstyles with setting lotion and that was all before lunch. Chrissy gave us the lowdown on undergarments and I thought I knew everything about vintage underwear it seems not. They both talked about posture and confidence and how important it is to take a compliment ( that's never been one of MY problems, I almost jump the person who compliments me. ) Just before lunch we were served champagne while our do's set. Lunch was quite wonderful at Queenie's in Largs Bay I can highly recommend it. Then we dropped in on Rene Mussared who owns a fab shop called In Love Again Vintage, another shop you must visit. Lovely Rene had a bucket full of clip ons for us to pick a pair each, too much fun. After lunch we learnt all about make up and how little we actually need. The girls make their own Russian Red lippy and let me tell you I haven't smelt or tried a lipstick like that since I borrowed my Grannies when I was 6. Not only did we learn so many new things but we made friends with a lot of the girls. Elly and I left with new do's, setting lotion and new lippy. It all came in handy the next day when  I had my photo taken with Louise Whelan. More about that later. The next day at lunch my daughter Ginger said and I quote " I actually think your more charming today Mum." Hilarious.

Two Bit Villian opening party.

We're very excited at Hot Couture about Two Bit's new shop. Willy, Sarah and I attended the party on Friday night and what a night it was. As we walked up the stairs of the Adelaide Arcade we were already tapping our feet to the music of local band Lucky Seven. The Arcade was alive with all the cool kids swing dancing and just hanging outside the shop. Sass greeted us in her Hot Couture one off sparkly gold number. Gorgeous Annie in H.C playsuit was giving out shots of rum and soda. The bar is fantastic and runs along one wall where we got a peek of Liam through the glass window making his famous soda's, if your in the city you have to stop by it's just a great place to sit have some fries and soda, listen to great music and look around at all the cool stuff to buy. Chrissy and Sammy from The Lindy Charm School dropped by as well as the very fabulous Ruby Chew and Rose. So if your in the city or even visiting from Interstate I recommend it. Kustom Kulture is on this weekend and it is just the place to buy your outfit. Say Hi to the owners Sass and Liam from us. <3<3<3

TETE-A-TETE parade

    

Our wonderful pattern maker William Lazootin has been teaching part time at Colour Cosmetica in the city and the last couple of weeks he has been preparing for the schools annual parade. We're very excited to be asked to be a part of this wonderful afternoon, I'm not sure if I'm more excited about our garments being on the catwalk or the fact that is all being done up like "The Mad Hatter's Tea Party". Anyhoo it will be a wonderful way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon drinking champagne and eating cupcakes. Not to mention all the goodies on the catwalk. I've been to one of these parades before and they are sensational, Colour Cosmetica not only teaches design but has a hair and make up dept to die for. We would love to see you there and Hot Couture would really love you to cheer us on so get your tickets and come spend Sunday the 4th with us and have some fun. XXX Joy

The Music of Cry Baby

 Gosh we have been so busy this month we haven't even had time to write the blog, I thought January was supposed the be a slow month. Not so, luckily we are doing what we love otherwise working these long hours would not be so hot. Speaking of HOT we were really excited about the Music of Cry Baby night at the Vanguard. In fact had we not been so flat out my intention was to fly up to Sydney and go see all my lovely friends and dance the night away to some of my favourite songs.
The very lovely Kitty Van Horne and Pia Anderson along with Jeremy from the Snowdroppers performed to what I am told was a very excited audience. Both Kitty and Pia wore Hot Couture so that was a treat for us. Next big thing at The Vanguard that we want to go up for is Audrey Auld Mezera who is an old friend from Nashville. I used to go to all of her gigs when she started out a thousand years ago, I still listen to her music and I can't wait to see her again. The Rockafillies are performing the same weekend so that should be enough of a music fix for a bit. XXX Joy

New stuff coming

 Gosh, time has gone by so fast I haven't had time to even write my blog. The new website is keeping us extremely busy and I thought January would be a slow month. We had the most wonderful Christmas and even managed a few days off for a road trip with the kids. Lots of fun.
We have had so many inquiry's about playsuit's and bathing costume's so we have made up some samples that we will share with you soon. We have been doing the bathers in the photo for some time and we can make them up in red with white spots as well. They are not on the website but you can order through us at hotcouture@bigpond.com. Siren's swimwear has 50's bathing suits pretty well covered and we highly recommend them. As for good fitting playsuits, we are still trying to find the perfect fit but when we do we will put them up on facebook.  We have some lovely shirts coming your way as well, that was the plan for January but we didn't expect to be so busy so they will be a few weeks away as well. Watch this spot XXX Joy

WOW!!!!!!!!!!! What a year we've had.

JANUARY....Stavroula Mountzuoris leaves us for an incredible job in Sydney at an animation studio, we miss her terribly but know that this is the right thing for her, Stav is just too big a personality for little old Adelaide, we still miss our lovely girl. Stav's best friend Marie takes over her role and fits it like a glove, could we have any more beautiful girls. Sven Kovak / photographer comes by with Marie and we have lots of fun doing photo shoots at the beach and on the lake with Sven, Marie and Ginger.
FEBUARY...Greta Kate comes to the door with cupcakes, crying. I just know she has had an amazing job offer and I just want her to be happy so we rejoice with cupcakes, tears and a cuppa. A big Adelaide designer has snapped Greta Kate up. We love Greta Kate.
We ask Izi who we have been outsourcing to for 5 years to join the team working full time at our studio, we love Izi too. Can we be any luckier, yes we can.
MARCH...has bought us William Lazootin, he has moved here from Sydney and decided to make Adelaide his home. William is so much fun just like Stav and Greta and he's an amazing pattern maker so everything is back to normal, well as normal as H.C. can be anyway.
APRIL... we were really excited when our shipment of fabric arrived from Japan, so many beautiful designs the Koi fabric made up the most amazing sarongs and they just walked out.
MAY..was our shoot with Harmony Nicholas at Louis Bond. Such a fun day Ginger and Libie Jean modeled for us. Evie Sebben and Arrabeer did the make up and Molly Harrison did all the hair. The girls looked stunning and we went on to use 3 of the shots in ads.
JUNE.....Two Bit Villains opened in Adelaide and you couldn't meet a nicer couple than Sass and Liam they have had a wonderful six months and are expanding in March. It is the perfect place for us to stock, the turn over is excellent and for people who don't have time to come up to our studio it's perfect.
JULY...Ruby Chew had another SOLD OUT Art Exhibition. What an incredibly talented girl Ruby is, we love that she has worn exclusive Hot Couture for each of her openings.
AUGUST...always brings out the 50's fanatics. Sarah Easter and I flew up for the annual Fifties fair at Rose Siedler House in Sydney. We had the best weekend, I have had a stall for the last 8 years but decided I wanted to enjoy myself this time round and watch all the goings on. So happy I did what a great day. We also squeezed ina  night out at our fave restaurant Porteno.
SEPTEMBER...bought us issue 19 of Deadbeat it was the 12th issue for us  advertising and in this one we had our Harmony Nicholas ad shot at Louis Bond, words can not explain how beautiful this photograph looked. We were also lucky enough to have a photo shoot with Aspen wearing our strapless gingham Marilyn.
OCTOBER...I ran into this wonderful girl in the city, I actually did run into her. Chloe and I chatted for a bit, she's a student at the design course here at Tafe so I offered Chloe work and she has been working on and off here at H.C helping out. What a gorgeous, vivacious girl to have around.
NOVEMBER...We waited ages for Julia and Brett's amazing cowboy wedding. Hot Couture dressed the wedding party but that wasn't the best bit, actually attending this wedding was the highlight of my year.
We also had Miss Pin Up Australia and the lovely Lauren and Annie come to us for day wear and evening wear. We loved dressing these two fun girls and Lauren won Miss Perfect which was perfect for all of us. Lauren and Annie have since become regulars at our studio and we adore when they drop by.
DECEMBER....Huge month for us, we launch our new website and have 16,000 hits in the first few days. Were over the moon with the website and even though it took longer than we thought it would it has paid off big time. Thanks to everyone involved.
Issue 20 of Deadbeat comes with our ad photographed again by Harmony Nicholas, now this one is my favourite. We also have a lovely spread on "Girly stuff" photographed by Shannon Brooke.
So you can see it has indeed been a huge year for us and apart form the odd trip to Sydney we haven't even had a holiday. Why would we want one when every day we are doing what we love and like Willy says it never seems like work at Hot Couture it seems more like a party. That's the way we like
it. So stay tuned when we get some time we will still be having the odd Monday Special, we are making up some nice men's shirts as well so keep and eye out for them. We also have a surprise SALE soon just to move any returns and samples, we will let you know via facebook.

HAVE A WONDERFUL AND HAPPY NEW YEAR FULL OF LOVE AND LAUGHTER. Thank you for following our blog and I hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as we enjoy having you peek into our world. HAPPY NEW YEAR! Lots of love and hugs Joy XXX

Shannon Brooke Imagery.

 

We were so excited to have Shannon Brooke photograph Hot Couture for this issue of Deadbeat under the heading (GIRLY STUFF) I love that.

Hot Couture is alongside non other than “Lucy & Lingerie” and “Miss Lulu.”

The very lovely Shayna is wearing our perfect Isle of Capri pants and Ava top in black, we love this shot of her by the old gas pump at George’s Ranch and Garage.

On the next pages Shayna is wearing Lolita in black with cherry motifs and Lolita in red satin. These frocks are perfect for the festive season in fact in one of the photo’s the girls have knocked off a bottle of champers, my kind of models.

Thanks Shannon for the stunning photo’s.   

Photography…….. Shannon Brooke Imagery

MUA……..Randee Rachet

Hair………Danielle June of Pompadour House of Design

Shot on location at George’s Ranch and Garage.

XXX Joy

Addicted to Hot Couture

We've been going back through our Hot Couture orders to organise a mailing list and got a very pleasant surprise. Many of our customers have ordered more than 4 or 5 garments. This is not only testament to how well they are made but how well they fit and it feels pretty good knowing that we are doing it right.
Just recently we met Lauren Thiel who is one of the Adelaide Burlesque dancers. Lauren came to our studio to talk about outfits for the Miss Pin Up contest and bought several frocks. Since then Lauren and some of her friends have come up to the H.C. studio on a regular basis. To date Lauren has bought 8 garments and has several more on order. Not only is this great for us but the girls who come to us are getting quality garments made to measure. I can't stress enough how much better a garment looks if it has been fitted on you. Here are just a few of Lauren's new frocks.

WEBSITE LAUNCH NOT LUNCH PARTY.

On Friday night we had our launch party for the new website, it was really lovely catching up with everyone who had worked so hard to make the website happen. Everyone was there from Xtrashiny, Sven our photographer, our hair and make up girls Jen and Cat. Our model Ginger and her gorgeous new boyfriend Jordon. All of the Hot Couture peeps and of course my very supportive husband Deane. We held it at Louis Bond, I have been itching to have a cocktail party or a parade there so this was the perfect excuse. The boys that own Louis Bond are just wonderful and I can't say enough about the fabulous food, in fact there was so much we didn't even need to go out after to eat. Kylie and Mel from Delectable Sins dropped by with the cupcakes for everyone to take home, they had made Deane his own special one with a skull on it, how cute is that. It really was the perfect launch for the new website and our model Ginger finally got her payment for working so hard on the day. One bottle of "Sailor Jerry Rum." Hope everyone enjoyed the night as much as I did. XXX Joy