The Fashion behind my Music Video for NOT THE SAME by designer Jonathan Pampling/Athan JoN

I thought about naming this blog post 'the blood, sweat and tears that went on behind the scenes of creating Not The Same' because it certainly wasn't a straight road from A to B. 

I had a very clear vision of what I wanted - many people thought I was channelling Lady Gaga but I was actually drawing inspiration from Japanese shironuri fashion - in particular, the artist and fashion icon Minori. I wanted to wear a dream like, etherial costume that would kind of blend into the forest.

I also wanted to find an absolutely stunning dress for the shots inside...ala J'Aton Couture. 

I spent days of dedicated, focused music video dress shopping and kept coming back empty handed feeling like I'd simply wasted a whole lot of time. 

So I went to Spotlight, (THE material/arts and crafts store for all you peeps not from Australia), bought a bunch of material and hassled the staff for sewing tips. I had never sewed in my life but I was completely prepared to do it! 

Just as my sewing career was about to kick off (sarcasm with a hint of 'we'll never know'), my friend told me about a really cool vintage store that I should check out so the next day I headed to Tum Vintage and found SO many amazing things! More material plus an absolutely beautiful silver floor length dress that I decided would be perfect.

I met the owner aka amazing fashion designer and dress maker Jonathan Pampling and told him what I was doing, showed him my inspiration pics and told him that I'd bought a bunch of material. 

To cut a long story short, the material ended up in the incredibly capable hands of Athan and became the amazing piece in the pic above. 

The silver floor length gown? Ta da! Athan upcycled it, making this amazing purple dress. I'm still in awe of the fact of the length of the train - no material was added! Just very strategic cutting. 

I'm so glad I decided not to settle for something store bought. When I was preparing to sew, I actually cut up one of my vintage dresses at home that I quite liked - if quick unpicking a beloved dress to try your hand at sewing for art is not an act of faith, I don't know what is! 

I truly believe in the law of attraction. It might sound strange, but I believe that shifting my mindset and taking greater action is what led me further in the right direction. Not only did my vision become clearer but I met someone who 'got' what I was doing right away (very different story at Spotlight), who's work I absolutely admire and who continues to inspire me. 

Keep working, dreaming, planning and being brave x

You can check out the vid here