Umpa, Umpa....

 

 Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)

Does anyone know where I may find Lumpaland?  Totally need to get me some of these guys! (ha) Honestly, if you think about it...how wrong was it that Mr. Willy Wonka discovered Lumpaland and took these guys from their land to work in his factory for chocolate?!  Not to mention, they never got to see daylight!  Yeah, can you image someone doing that in real life?! Hmmm...

Aaaanyways,  this whole Umpa Lumpa thing came to mind when I realized that my Spring 2013 collection would not be completed on time for LAFW in October.  I had been planning so much for this collection, including a photo shoot in Palm Springs and a fashion show on the beach.  Unfortunately, all this goodness will have to wait till next year.  I began to fall behind over the summer as I received some of the biggest orders to date from my collection, plus amazing marketing opportunities gifting some events in New York during NYFW next month.  Also, I began to think about that huge "career" move I'm stilling waiting to hear on and what would happen if it all came through.  My Spring Collection would be put to the side and "wasted" if you will.  I would rather push back a collection and give it all the detail and glory then half fast it to keep up with this crazy industry.  Never the less, it won't be all hush hush from my corner either.  I will continue to work on new pieces that don't really belong in a collection but more of using all the lovely fabrics and trims I have on hand to produce some fab stuff at great prices.  Plus, this will give me the chance to do a soft launch for my Nightgown pieces.

Tons of marketing to come this year, including lots of give-aways for all you lovelies who follow me on https://www.facebook.com/DesignerMelissaVelia .  On another note, one of my biggest goals this year is to have a trunk show this November.  So we'll see what happens.  Lord knows, I don't have any Umpa Lumpas helping me, therefore I do this all on my own.  Perhaps some internships would be helpful but even that takes time to find.

I know things change from one day to the next in my world but what can I say, that's the business for you.  Like Jay-Z song, "I'm on to the next one.." and for me, that means choosing opportunities wisely.

Xo Loves.

Tyra Banks, really?

Hello Darlins,

So I recently did an interview with this fabulous fashion blogger Toni May from Fashion Loving.  In the post she wrote, "Melissa had her designs worn by big celebrities like Tyra Banks, Hilary Duff, Faith Evans and Kimora Lee Simmons!"  A statement which I also mention in my bio, here and there.  Anyways I wanted to share my story behind this statement and a little lesson learned through it all.

Did Tyra Banks, really wear something that I designed? Yes! Was it my own label? No.  When I was in my early twenties I was hired as an Assistant Designer at an up and coming clothing line (the name that I will not mention, for legal reasons). Anyways, the position started off pretty basic, with preparing line sheets, over looking samples, etc. Then, with-in a month or two into the position, things began to change.  I was still preforming my normal duties but now I was also designing, fabric souring, merchandising, styling, over looking it all basically.  All the Owner/ Head designer would really do was approve my work.  Yet, it was her company name on the label, not mine. Which, in most cases is understandable in this business (but for the record, all my work...is mine alone. NO ONE else designs my work).  Needless to say, I am truly grateful for the opportunity she gave me to run the show.

In the end, after a year with this company I was laid off because they couldn't afford me anymore and hired my intern to take my place. Wrong, yes!  So instead taking legal action, I decided to take this as a lesson learned and TAKE CREDIT for my work.  So here are a couple of pictures of my work for this company, that I managed to save or get a hold of.  Lesson to be learned; don't get taken advantage of and don't take advantage of others.

Sorry the pictures aren't that great.

Busy week ahead for me, hope you are have a fabulous week!

Business Savvy

Hello Lovelies!

So I know I mentioned last week that the name of this blog post was going to be something else and I was really going to go in a different direction with it but I decided to stay on a positive note. Turning my bad business decision, into a life lesson. Plus, taking something great from it.

Without going into the ugly details, I was approached by a company to do a fashion show a week after I did Project Ethos. A company that had no real owner (so they/she claimed)! I really had a bad feeling about all the unanswerable questions, yet I still committed and paid for this event.  Needless to say, it was one of the worst and unprofessional events I've ever been apart of since I started in this industry.  I was not only in embarrassed but mad at myself for not going with my gut....my business gut.  I just knew something wasn't right with this company but I was really conned into believing it would all turn out great, in which it didn't.

In the end, after a week of disputing with this company I was given a refund and all pictures from this event would not be posted. I am happy to say that, I not only learned an important business lesson from this but I became just a bit more business savvy. PLUS, I not only made new friends through the chaos of it all but I recruited my very first intern!

I leave you with a couple of pictures from our first business meeting. Yes, at Corner Bakery Cafe!

Darlins, please welcome my new business savvy intern, Windy!

Plus, please check-out these other lovely business savvy people that I met along this journey; NATIVE HONEY, MARIALIA, REDHAWK BRIGADE, ALEXANDRA CIPRIANI and LA FASHION WEEK ONLINE.