Off With Her Head Millinery introduces 'The Felidae Collection', new for Summer 2013. Taking an inspiration from the feline world, this mini collection features three designs available in a ranges of styles/colours.
Earlier in the year I approached model Black Lotus with an idea for a mini collection that would be inspired by cats of all shapes and sizes and she agreed to model the collection for me. Working with photographer Kitty Radford of Kitty KEMS Photogrpahy and MUA Charlize Golightly I'm sure you can agree that the final campaign is simply puuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrfect!
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| The Black Cat Button Fascinator is hand blocked in wool felt with a needle felted sleeping cat to complete the piece. Fully lined in black taffetta. Attaches with hat elastic. RRP £60.00. |
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| The Cats Meow Button Fascinator is hand blocked in sinamay with a hand stitched 'meow' slogan in hot pink and bright mini buttons. Fully lined in black taffetta. Attaches with hat elastic. RRP £60.00. |
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| Black Starry Night Kitty Ears Fascinator is hand shaped in buckram and black and silver print wool felt. Fully lined in black wool felt. Attaches with hair comb. RRP £40.00 |
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| The Tiger Tiger Kitty Ears Fascinator is hand shaped in buckram and tiger stripe print wool felt. Fully lined in black wool felt. Attaches with hair comb. RRP £40.00. |
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| The Leaping Leopard Kitty Ears Fascinator is hand in shaped buckram and leopard print wool felt. Attaches with hair comb. RRP £40.00, |
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| The Pink Leopard Kitty Ears Fascinator - Hand shaped buckram and pink leopard print wool felt fascinator. Fully lined in pink wool felt. Attaches with hair comb. RRP £40.00. |
I spent a little time chatting with model Black Lotus about her modeling and other pursuits and here's the result of our little interview!
Off With Her Head Millinery (Lisa): Tell us a little about
yourself
Black Lotus: Ah, I’m so bad at these
questions! Well I’m originally from a little town in Wales, now living in
Hertfordshire, I’ve been modelling for almost 5 years and I’ve just taken up
photography, although I also write fiction in my spare time as well. Around the
more creative pursuits I’m a legal secretary by day and spend a lot of time
sitting behind a desk trying to convince my work colleagues that I’m actually boring,
and have no interesting stories to tell on a Monday morning!
L: How did you get into modelling?
BL: Completely by accident! It was
never planned, but I was in touch with a lady who lived locally to me who had
just taken it up. I was having a bit of a crisis of confidence so she offered
to do me some nice pictures as a birthday present. While we were shooting she
told me about Model Mayhem and advised me to sign up if I wanted to do more, as
well as a bunch of other girls that were modelling in Manchester that I could
go to group shoots with, and it all just started from there!
L: Who is your biggest modelling
inspiration and why?
BL: This is a tough one – there are
so many great models out there! At a push it would have to be an American model
by the name of Velocity. I’ve been following her for quite a long time. She has
such a great look, and is so versatile with it, as well as being great with her
posing. More than that though she has been very ill recently, and to see the way
she has dealt with her problems has really put me in awe of her personality as
well as her abilities as a model.
L: The new range you’re
promoting is called ‘Felidae’ and is a celebration of all things feline… what
is your favourite cat, domestic or wild, real or fictional?
BL: I love big cats, and I have a
bit of love for tigers (exactly why I nabbed the tiger fascinator after the
shoot!) but my favourites would have to be cheetahs. They’re such graceful and
beautiful animals. Oh, and the Egyptian Goddess Mafdet is usually depicted with
the head of a cheetah, and was the goddess of legal justice, so they link into
my chosen career quite well also!
L: If you could have dinner with
any 3 people alive or dead, who would they be and why?
BL: Terry Pratchett, George R R
Martin and R A Salvatore. As a fantasy writer, I’ve taken great inspiration
from these three authors, all big favourites of mine. (Terry Pratchett is in
fact the only reason I wrote my debut novel at all!) I was lucky enough to meet
Terry once before and he seemed like a charming man from a brief conversation -
I’d just love to pick all their brains about writing and the way they work,
drink up as much knowledge as possible from them.
L: If a movie was being made of your life, who
would you want to play you and why?
BL: Oh, I’m really bad with actress
names so knowing who to pick is so difficult! Maybe Scarlett Johansson? She was pretty good as Black Widow in the
Avengers movie – great actress. Although to be fair I think maybe Sarah Chalke
as Elliot Reid in Scrubs is a little closer to being me than anybody else!
L: Plans for the future,
upcoming shoots, campaigns?
BL: I wouldn’t say I have any
specific plans really - my modelling is just a hobby that like to indulge in as
much as can, but I’m very relaxed about it. I have a few shoots booked with
some of my favourite photographers, Kestrel, Magic Owen and Pirate Photography
to name but a few, however! My main goal now is just to shoot for more
designers and just to keep creating images that other people like to look at!
Any actual plans I do have in
the modelling world are more on the photography side of things now, I bought my
first camera this month and am just trying to get to grips with it before I go
into model (and possibly a little of everything else!) photography. I’m very lucky
in that a couple of friends, who also happen to be talented models, have said
that they would be happy to let me shoot them, so I’m hoping it’ll go quite
well!
L: How can people contact you to
book you for modelling work?
