"Below the surface of the Ocean"

It is already end of December, and in a few weeks time the summer 2012 collection will be in the stores. This one is called 'Below the surface of the Ocean' (and that theme was chosen before I ever even thought of going to Egypt to see dolphins in the Red Sea)

All LoFff collections have a name, because they are based on an idea, a book, an atmosphere, a picture, etc. And they are always personal and dear to me.

As long as I remember I have loved the sea and the ocean. Being on a beach, hearing the waves and enjoying this immense feeling of freedom.

As a kid, endlessly looking for shells and strange things the sea would wash on the shore. Finding sea-urchins and boiling them to get rid of the stench, picking of the needles and finding out what amazing colours and patterns appear from underneath that prickly outside.



Orca Dress



When I was a student one summer I went to Crete, and lived on a beach there for a month. It was a very happy time. Swimming out into the open sea  is incomparable to any pool, however beautiful. Feeling the strength of your own body, the shore getting smaller and smaller the further you are out. Very good for your perspective on life.

Diving under water and seeing this parallel world is a miracle. Feeling the weightlessness, the ease of movement. The beauty of plants and life there, the colours, the freckles of sunlight, the sudden warm streams you find sometimes, the muted sounds.  Then I have a daughter who is totally besotted with all cetaceans, and she is an expert on all types of dolphins and killer whales. I learnt a lot from her too.



Jellyfish Dress





All this I have been trying to capture in this collection. The inspiration is translated in various ways, as always. There are obvious references like an orca embroidery, sea horse print, and a sea star fabric. Then there is a jellyfish dress (THE party dress of the collection) and it is called that because the movement of the skirt resembles the way a certain type of jellyfish moves through the sea.



  

Sea Urchin top



Then there is sea-urchin top and bolero, where the decoration resembles a small cluster of sea urchins. The sea anemone skirt has lots of little wisps of netting, making the movement in this skirt like a sea anemone swaying with the tide. “Waves at my hem” and ‘wave skirt’ speak for themselves when you see them.

The foto shoot which we did in June last year was a lot of fun as you can see in the video which we made and which is posted on You Tube. Click here to see it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2QbU9O_TeY  

 We have found 2 new models (Sunitha, the dark haired one, and Doutsen, the blond haired one) because I felt that we needed to show LoFff on younger girls too. It does look very good on Sterre and Yerus, who now both are 7, but it looks different on a 4-year old. So, they are there to stay for the next seasons.



Colour inspiration for Neutrals



Colour inspiration for Trend

They turned up very timid at the first morning, but gradually opened up and became free, roaming, and sometimes even wild. And since we had a perfect hot day, on a nice little beach, the atmosphere of the turquoise and pink group is like the best pics of all your favourite daughters on the best holiday you ever had. And this is exactly what I wanted for this theme.


Colour inspiration for Pinks

 So, I hope you enjoy the new collection once it is in the shops,

I honestly believe this is the best collection I have ever made (and I have made about 36 by now, so that does mean something).

Jo.

We LoFff creative customers

This week I have been working on a new movie about the fotoshoot of the LoFff Summer 2012 collection. And when that was done, and I posted it on YouTube, I was looking what other movies there were to be found on LoFff.

And I found one made by one of our customers, on the Winter 11-12 baby collection.

And it is so good, to see someone else get all creative with our brand too...
So here it is.



And in case you want to get that Summer feeling in the middle of December... this is the first movie on our S12 collection. The first garments are on the vessel, on the way to Holland, so it won't be long until it is in the shops now...

How to print a LoFff book

Every season we make the look books of LoFff. We started with this in 2009, and it has turned out to be one of the better decisions of the last few years. To us, it is the ideal way of presenting the LoFff-Life, since this is about so much more than just pretty garments. And to the shops that sell LoFff it is a very good way of presenting the complete collection.

And we have made quite a few up til now.

   

What starts with a conceptual collection in my head, goes through the various stages of designing garments, fabric prints, colouring, making patterns, making samples, fitting, adjusting patterns, getting the samples made in the right colour, doing the photo-shoots, selecting from the thousands of pics we make the ones I want to use, locking myself up for a week, to put everything together just right, and then bringing it to the printers.

Every season again, the printing of this book signals to me the handover date of my collection to the world.
So I go to the printers, and want to see the first pages coming off the press.

And this is what that looks like.

The noise there is prominent, the smell is good, and it is fascinating to hear the printing machine starting up, to see all those big sheets of paper coming out at ever increasing speed. And such a lot of paper is wasted in the beginning, when they are working on getting the colours right.

For the last few seasons we have been working with Drukkerij Tesink from Zutphen. They are almost as enthousiastic about the results as we are.. And printers are really great people. It is a pleasure to work with them - they are capable, relaxed and friendly. So twice a year I have this great moment of joy when I go there to see the book come to life.

And here you can see a few pages from the Summer 2012 book.

But more about that to follow... once the Summer 2012 collection is in the shops, which will be around mid/end January 2012.