2011 spring stitch

Welcome to my day by diary on the successes and failures of building a fashion show. Things to avoid, common problems, drama, and attitudes. Cotton meets complications all for the benefit of producing a great show.

Day 1 of 38:
Seriously, I’m stuck on how to add this post to my blogsite? I hope you’ll be able to comment after I type this if you’d like. Everything is new. Everything. Yesterday, I spent over $900 in planning, cost, and material. It’ll be nice if that number was lower or would stop but I doubt it. Key thing about developing your own show is having a plan. A solid plan. Just to have an idea of a show is not enough. Secondly, you gotta have access to smart cash, credit, and the gift of gab. I wouldn’t say spending your tax check or running up to much credit but rather thinking about with every $5 spent what will that get me? If $5 won’t return $10. Do you really think spendng $500 will get you $1000? Thirdly, pick your help and suport staff closely. Everyone wanting to help shouldn’t. You may end up with too many chiefs and not enough indians. Lastly, put yourself in your audiences shoes. Your vision, my vision, maynot be what they want to see. Either ask them or others in advance what they want to see or spend a few weeks researching what concepts have worked, failed, or haven’t been tried yet. Don’t press your agenda listen to select others.

Day 2 of 38
Entertainment, venue, and stress. What’s good entertainment? The type you’d pay for outside your show. Don’t get an artist just because they’re available. Get artist you support and frequent. The more local the better. A larger artist, talent, or act could be a good move if the price is right. Otherwise, there goes your budget. Most people want the biggest space possible but I don’t. I think big spaces are discouraging. Unless you’re positive you can fill it up. Otherwise others may judge you unfairly based on a half empty room. The right venue is also very important because its the first statement about you. No offense but a show in a dive of a club vs at a state of the art facility speaks volume. So choose wisely. And, stress. Well something can’t be avoided. Get use to writing everything down. Closing tasks one after the other as you open them. Set day and hour goals and stick to them.

Day 3 of 38:
Always review your budget. Cutting cost could lose you a ticket sale but if you pace your budget to spend slowly, cutting cost could be your best friend. Set a max price you are willing to spend. Make it practical and expect $200 higher cost unexpectantly. When you are within $200 to $500 of reaching your max start to think creatively to reduce cost already spent and future outlays of cash. Try not to change your venue or cost once your press release, flyers, or ads have went out. Things happen, so if you have to, you have to. Don’t get down about it.

Day 4 of 38

You have to have ticket sales! The most important part about doing a show is accepting up front if your intention is to make money in the short term or have your product return the proceeds for you in the interrim to long term. Its going to be hard to not stress about ticket sales not coming in the door. You’re going to need more than just wishful thinking that it’ll be alright. You’ll need thinking before thought, clever speech, and consistent action. Don’t allow just a name or names to fill your seats. Go out there and sell your show. Use free sources of marketing if you can find them. Before you give in or up, continue the fight…exhaust all sources before you pull the plug.

Day 5 of 38

People are people. And that may be slower than you understand. Consider their timing. Sure your event is amazing. I know that. Why? Because you thought it up but other people’s lives are amazing. Why? Because its important to them. You can not expect everyone to bend on your time. I’m learning this. Every free hour open you have to advertise/network should be used expeditiously. Don’t allow just idle time to hangout if you know you have a show coming up and tickets to be sold. Consider this, hand off the flyer/info today and followup with them next week. Don’t be pushy. Umm, turn off!

Day 12 of 38:

My my my, where has the time gone. I’ll tell you towards accomplishing a product, brand, and name that I can be proud of entirely. What have I been doing? Well, I’ll tell you I have signed The Buckle, Revolver Clothing, Thierry Baptiste, and Thereu Touch into the show on the 30th. Im excited to have everyone on board buying tickets and just being stoaked about momentum. Its still going to be at 300 East from 5-8pm.

The collection is taking on a very enhanced view looking at past collections year over year. I am excited to be sewing more, embroidering, and screenprinting truly images just straight out of my head. I dig it. They say in the imagination there are endless possibilities. I’ve just begun to sail into that channel but where I am now I really like.

I went to the all designers and model meeting for the Roc Da Mic Fashion show on 4/17/2011. This show will debut a few of my pieces for the later show on 4/30/2011. A little here and there but not the entire farm, c’mon now. Oh, what else. Well I had three photographers bail, one MC, and some models cancel. What else is new? I will not bend around you. Understood? Your game, your brand is fine for you. Your “clique”, your money, your habits are good for you. But if I have to do any crawling or climbing to be on your level. As my boy would say, “thats not a good look”. Since you’re an artist you should be able to comprehend that. (hunches shoulders) Sorry.

Oh, and the 14 day race is on. Yes it is. 14 days to get my image right. I happen to think it takes 7 days for skin acne, sudden bumps, thin scars, and radiance to really pour out or off the skin for that amazing “wow” factor. I happen to know you can lose 13 lbs in two weeks or drop a few inches in 3 weeks. So Ive got time. I am stopping the complusive fixes to have white castles at night (preferrably after the club). lol (clears throat). I have stopped the comsumption of heavy fried foods, energy sodas, meat more than 8oz every 2 days, breads, pastas, more than 3 sodas a day, hamburgers, chicken sandwiches with both buns, chips, cookies, sweets, sweets, and other snack foods. Yes its hard but I can’t go on the stage with a winter gut. I mean come on people! Oh and tortilla chips, tacos, or soft tortilla. Survey says, lots of empty carbs and fat. Wow. Sorry Qdoba.

So I think that catches up a good deal of things. Yesterday, I had so many images running thru my head at 12:30am I sat up and said,” Lord, I thank you for the gift but I’d really like to go to sleep now”. Read Psalms 24 and drifted off. Selah-

Day 19 of 38

I would rather someone show me their unrealibility upfront than wait til it matters. I may have to make some revisions to the entertainment. Some people hold themselves to a standard to an expectation they themselves can not meet. You can tell me if you decide not to do something, only a coward would hide behind a lit up phone screen because you don’t want to answer. But that’s just me. I will probably be revising the guest debuting. I’ll also be adding a new twist to the show to enhance that “did she really do that?” type of feel. That’s right. I’m going in deep so be prepared to be amazed! I’m not changing _____ just because of your schedule. Um, reckonize or not, I AM THE BOSS. You want to be like dandruff and flake, that’s your reputation not mine. Don’t let your notority fool you into thinking you are extraordinary. Karma’s a *. And your half baked narcisitic mathematical ambiotic dense matter that you call “self” can be reduced. NEXT-

Day 27 of 38

Ahhh, I’m so very excited for the producer of the Roc Da Mic show MrLos Kirk. That was an amazing show and I am so happy for him. I really am. I did so much work up until the Roc Da Mic show because everything needed to be completed by that show which was before mine on April 30th. I have been running around trying to tie up loose ends and then I heard a thought in my voice but it wasn’t my thought say….”let me do this”. From there, I have stopped running myself down and started thinking smarter. For instance, if the dj pulls out, if the model gets sick, if this person wont come and that person isn’t returning any messages…that’s alright. I’ll be just fine without all this noise, I’ll call it. I have a very destined feeling that this show will be more than what I expected and better than I planned. I’m believing in God.

Day 38 of 38:

Its showtime.