behind the scenes

This Month In Pictures

Apologies for the lack of posts, and this very long post - this month has been SO busy. I didn't even realise how much I've done until I compiled this!

It's the time of year at work that I need to shoot all of our next season lookbooks AND prepare for the tradeshows in July - August. So I've been working very hard, and will continue to until mid/late july, when I'll go back to just working hard ;)

Anyway, all I can give you for now is my month in photos, via my instagram @swiczeniuk!

 

Top Row - My look for DJing last night at A Curious Invitation. It was a Spring Ball, so I went with some kind of spring mermaid look - fashioning a crown out of some pieces I had lying around. 

Bottom Row - Last week I shot the SS'15 lookbook for Playful Promises with Miss Miranda and a model called Laura B (Body London). Shooting is always a bit stressful, but we had a great team and had fun while we worked! The location that I had scouted had some really interesting pieces, although this table (right) was the creepiest thing I've ever seen! 

 

Top Row - A lighter flapper look for DJing at White Mischief. I found the beaded headpiece in a vintage shop in Penzance, and I wore a mixture of Ell & Cee, Nearer the Moon and American Apparel!

Bottom Left - A quick afternoon shoot with Miss Miranda wearing an amazing design by Bibian Blue! This was just a back of camera shot :D

Bottom Right - I am LOVING my new orange wig! Orange was the first colour wig I bought 5 years ago, but I find this length a lot easier to wear out (longer wigs tend to feel too hot for me). This was shortly before going to dj at The Aeronaut!

 

Top Row - Shooting some new promo pictures for a new club we (The Roustabouts) will be launching. We've rescheduled the launch until late-summer so I'll be sitting on these photos for a while, but at least we have selfies ;)

Bottom Left - On a warm day we went just up the road to Egg to DJ at the Gold Diggers garden party. The dress code was gold, which is pretty much my thing. 

Bottom Right - Max Deviant caught us mid-dj set. This is how I look without filters.

 

Top Left - Mark Charade and I before going to The Meth Lab to see Manilla Luzon!

Top Right - The first of the lookbooks I shot this month! Miss Miranda for Playful Promises Circus Collection, which is going to be released very very soon, and I'm so pleased with the photos.

Bottom Row - I shot with 3 lovely ladies; Betsy Rose, Missy Fatale and Jolie Papillon. Betsy brought along the gorgeous little Freida (left) and Missy brought her snake Fredrik! I've never held a snake before, so it was an... interesting experience. Luckily I'm not scared of them!

 

I went along to a show my boyfriend, Mark Charade, was putting on called 3 Serpent Circus. I'd just recieved a brand new made-to-measure corset and neckpiece from the wonderful Boom Boom Baby, and co-ordinated it with a new teal and blue ombre wig. It was a fun night with friends both in the audience and on the line-up! Bottom Left is me derping around with Lydia Darling, who I actually work with during the week too (although we don't tend to look like that in the office :P)

 

Top Left - I went down to Cornwall for a week to visit my parents and have a little break from London. I took this on my last evening, just before sunset.

Top Right - I love George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic!

Bottom Left - Beautiful garden in one of my favourite shops in St. Ives

Bottom Right - Just before leaving London, going for some Targaryen realness at Soho House in my Black Milk skirt.

 

Top Left - Awesome cocktails at Trapeze Bar

Top Right - I shot with the wonderful Jackie Le, who not only performs aerial at The Aeronaut, but books all the rest of the performers for the show as well. I'll be posting these shots up very soon (they are currently on my facebook page), but here's a preview of the styling I worked on for these images! 

Bottom Left - Jackie Le in one of the looks we shot that day!

Bottom Right - Another Soho House mirror shot (they have great selfie mirrors!) wearing black and gold.

 

This Month In Pictures

What I've been up to during the past month, via my instagram @swiczeniuk!

 

You may have noticed I'm a fan of Ru Paul's Drag Race, and one of the most hilarious and memorable contestants has got to be Alyssa Edwards. So when I saw that she was performing in London with current Drag Race competitior Laganja Estranja, I snapped up some tickets. On Thursday myself, Mark (top left), Miranda (top right) and her boyfriend Anthony went down to The Black Cap in Camden to watch the show. 

We had SO much fun dancing and the show itself was brilliant! The only issue was that the venue was packed, so we ended up sweating like crazy. It was worth it, though, and we have booked tickets for Manilla Luzon next month!

I put together the tackiest outfit I had in my wardrobe, that I could still move around in. I'm loving my new lace front wig from Geisha Wigs! 

 

Top Left - Wearing my Geisha Wigs split wig again for a shoot with Scott Chalmers!

Top Right - A behind the scenes shot of one of the many, many looks I shot with Miss Betsy Rose a few weeks ago. She's wearing a corset by Ava Corsetry, and the hair and makeup was done by Bella Noell

Bottom Left - Another preview of Betsy! This costume was created by Alston Stephanus, for Betsy to perform in in his show, Sublime Boudoir. The detail on each piece is absolutely astounding, I can't wait to finish up the images!

Bottom Right - Betsy's beautiful little lady, Freida! The cutest dog I've ever met!!

 

Top Left - I haven't worn my red and gold style for a while! Perfect for wearing to DJ at The Aeronaut in Acton.

Top Right/Bottom Left - A little bit more dressed down for a mid-week champagne reception/meeting! 

Bottom Right - Testing out (forgive the lack of makeup!) another lace front wig from Geisha Wigs - I've yet to shoot in this beauty, but I LOVE it.

 

Top Left/Top Right - My birthday (13th March) happened to fall on a thursday, which also happened to be the day that my lovely friend Mr Pustra was hosting Room Service, a gay club based in Soho. I donned my biggest wig and we partied all night, it was so so fun. It's rare that I go out without working, so it was a change to be able to just dance, chat and relax! 

Bottom Left - Another outfit for DJing at The Aeronaut

Bottom Right - A snap of my finished makeup for the tutorial I made a few weeks ago, check it out here!

 

Birthday treats! I pretty much asked for books this year, or book related things. The top left are books from my parents (they also bought me plane tickets to Prague in August!). My wonderful boyfriend also bought me a kindle and an AWESOME cover for it - I thought that I would find the transition to kindle a bit difficult, but I have to say that I don't find it jarring at all. I've run out of space for books, so I'd rather just purchase the ones that I consider particularly special in hardback editions.

At the beginning of the month we also had a day of watching some of my favourite films on our projector screen. We re-watched The Pianist and Everything Is Illuminated - can you guess that I tend to love films that make me completely distraught?!

 

Behind the scenes at a lookbook shoot

In the past few weeks I've been a rather busy bee, and ended up with a terrible cold after overworking myself! Not only did The Roustabouts head to Amsterdam to DJ at a sumputous event, but I also shot 3 lookbooks for Playful Promises

 

At the end of May I shot a colourful Frida Kahlo inspired swimwear lookbook, which is possibly THE brightest thing I will ever do. Take a look at the behind the scenes instagram shots!

 

 

 

How gorgeous is that hair (by Ceri Cushen) and makeup (by Cheyenne Raymond)?

 

Last week we also shot the SS13 lingerie and clothing over two days, in a truly beautiful location...

 

 

 

Miss Miranda looking proper posh, innit.

 

 

 

Beautiful Iskra in a red dress

 

Tessa looking cute!

 

The lovely lady that owned the house also baked us heart-shaped delights each day! This cake was much appreciated on the second day, especially after an evening of cocktail drinking with Miranda (whoops!).