Overwhelming response and a few teasers

Hello friends,

Thank everyone for sitting up and paying attention about the Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week event! A little information on that:

- Some people who were invited have told me in private IM's and emails that they did not receive an email. Please check your email filters for anything from The Fashion Law Institute or Fashion GPS around August 22nd. That's the group that's presenting Cabiria. RSVP right away, please!

- This is a group show and we had a very limited number of invites allowed to us. Please, please, from the bottom of my heart, do not take offense if you aren't able to attend. I had to make some difficult choices that would create the most amount of resonance in the industry with the small allotment I had.

- The show will be at Lincoln Center's The Box off 62nd Street. An interesting cultural side note is that there is an assumption that we all know where The Box is, as the invite company did not include the address. Since we plus size girls have never been invited to the party, many of us didn't know where The Box was.

To whet your appetites, here are 4 teasers of what's going down the runway.

Now that that's covered, let's get on to the holy moly press response across the globe! The avalanche started like this:

I had been interviewed several weeks ago by Tyler McCall at Fashionista.com's article on plus women's shopping dilemmas. Right as that happened, I was asked to participate in NYFW in the main venue, and it was quickly discovered that that had never happened before for a plus size line. Fashionista then added me to another article with Tim Gunn discussing the "repugnant choices" plus women have in major department stores currently [his words]. Then, a few days ago, Fashionista published their big scoop, that Cabiria would be the first plus designer featured at NYFW.

My social media feeds blew up. I do know a lot of people in the fashion world, but didn't realize how big this was going to get... until the next day, when The Daily Mail in the UK picked up the story on their news feed.

Then Refinery 29's article hit;

another hugely influential fashion site posted about me and from there, the world. Literally. So far, I've been contacted by press from all over the US, the UK, Australia,Brazil, Belgium, The Netherlands, Indonesia, and Qatar. Please forgive my not posting images from each one, but there is a clickable link to each article with each listing.

Enjoy the reading list, which is in no order other than where I typed it, and I'll update you all again soon!

All the best, Eden

Fashionista

Daily Mail UK

Refinery29

StyleList

De Morgen (Netherlands & Belgium)

Glam

Analogue Chic

Abbey Post

HLN (Belgium)

Fashiontographer

Hello Beautiful

Fashion Times

Fashion n' Style

Daily Venus Diva

Grazia (UK)

Total Beauty

More of Me To Love

Caras (Brazil)

Global Noiz

Plus Model Mag

Internet Nachrichtenagentur (Germany)

Misstop (UK)

Famosas & Fotos (Brazil)

Debora Fernandes Plus (Brazil)

Okezone (Indonesia)

Newsstand 24/7

Cosmopolitan . net

Fashion Lately

Fashion Courier

Beauty Advices

My Fashion Life

The Best of Kickstarter 2012

Hello friends!

By now those that pledged should have received their incentives in the mail. I understand that one mug arrived in tiny pieces (so sad!), and I will be replacing it. If you had trouble with your package, please let me know so I can replace it for you - there's a (very) few mugs left here at HQ.

Those that pledged for dresses as well, news from the factory is that they should be ready to start shipping in about 2 weeks. First orders will be sent to the backers and the stores that have preordered. The rest will be placed in the online store, as well as re-offered to plus size boutiques who'd expressed interest. Please note: I have non-compete pricing on the website, so you will be paying the same AND supporting small businesses in your area if you get your Cabiria dresses at a boutique near you. I will be telling you who is stocking Cabiria once we ship.

Finally, I want to express my utmost gratitude to those who backed us on the Kickstarter campaign, no matter what level. The Best of Kickstarter 2012 numbers are out, and it turns out that Fashion, as a category, is the least funded, with projects only meeting their goals 26% of the time. The fact that you guys believed that we are a worthwhile project, so much so that you made us the Most Successful Plus Size Project EVER on Kickstarter, means even more given this new information.

Thanks again so very much, and have a glorious next few weeks. I'll be posting again probably when we go to ship to you. Hooray!

All the best, Eden

Following are two images from Cabiria being manufactured (notice the Cabiria label on the bottom far left of the Flaminia in Tropicalia dresses in the 1st image), and a third image with the astounding numbers from the Best of Kickstarter 2012. You guys made this happen.

Factory updates!

Hello friends,

I've been very busy since the Kickstarter campaign ended, and been a little lax in my public blog posts. I am now going to correct that.

By the time you read this post, ALL of the incentive packages for Kickstarter backers will have been mailed out, minus the dresses from the line. As mentioned earlier, those folks will receive their swag now, then when the factory is done and everything is double checked, they'll receive their dresses in a separate shipment.

More good news: all the fabrics and stuff that goes into making garments are in the factory, and in the process of being cut. I dropped by yesterday, and it's really exciting to see all the bundles of fabrics and cut pattern pieces ready to go to the next step, sewing. I love these surreal moments!

In the next few days, I will be reissuing swatch cards to reflect the real fabrics per real styles being offered in the Spring/Summer 2013 line. It will be different than what you may be accustomed to seeing, as there will be limited quantities of each item per fabric. I will update that in the Cabiria Store as well as specifically letting my retailers know what they can order. It's coming together, folks!

In the meantime, I hope you have a wonderful holiday season, and much peace, health and prosperity in the coming year.

All the best, Eden

this is the beginning of packing up all the incentive boxes with our dressform standing watch:

and this is another beautiful silk jersey fabric that will be in the line. Surprise!:

Swag Report and Money Spending

Hi everyone,

I have been busy receiving shipments of swag to my workroom, and it's very exciting! Today the DVDs and tote bags came in, and yesterday the chocolate arrived. I've hidden it from myself or there's a risk of a highly sugared and caffeinated designer running amok.

I've also been working on the cutting tickets, which are the numbers for the factory to Cut, Make, and Trim ("CMT"), and scrambling around buying more silk jersey to complete the orders. Such a great response means that for all my preparation, there's more success to meet expectations! I consider this a wonderful and honorable problem.

Tomorrow the fabrics are being taken to the factory in midtown (made in the USA!), and then we are off to the races making these beautiful things! Hooray!

Thank you all for making me step up my game. And for those who haven't completed the surveys I sent last week, please do! I need your info to ship the magic to you!

All the best, Eden

What's Landing on Our Doorsteps

Hello friends!

Just giving you a heads up since our Kickstarter campaign ended. I've been busily writing down all the requests from donors for swag and adding them to the Thank You page on Cabiria's website. If you have not already answered the survey questions from the Kickstarter website, please do as orders need to be placed all at once per vendor.

Some of the swag that's already been placed for delivery to Cabiria HQ are the bistro mugs, which are 16 oz. (not 14 oz. as previously stated), the tote bags, and the DVDs. I'm still waiting on some coffee orders, then that will be ready to place as well. Yum!

Today I went to see Pamela Bartual of Mark Da Grading services, and she should have my pattern pieces ready to go into production very soon. Tomorrow, I meet with her again, and then with the factory right here in New York City, in order to having everything through the workroom as soon as possible. It's really happening, people, thanks to you!

As a matter of fact, because of your largesse, I was out buying more fabric today to fill more orders. I can't even tell you how exciting that is to me - that my storeroom needs to be replenished to meet demand! How COOL is that??

And finally, I was sent the first shipment of business cards and hang tags by Triple Stamp Press. They were printed using a double pass white ink on heavy black stock, and I think they are some of the sexiest hangtags and cards I've ever seen. Hooray!

Thank you for making this happen!

All the best, Eden

Final week of Kickstarter Campaign and a Call to Action!

Hello, friends!

We are four leaf clovers and unicorns! The incredible blog Envynde, which advocates for emerging designers across all size ranges (fantastic yeoman's work) has written an article about us stating that the rarity of a great, high quality, fashionable plus size line such as Cabiria is like finding four leaf clovers and unicorns. Pretty fantastic! They also wanted to write the article in advance of completion of our Kickstarter campaign so they could brag about the scoop. Well done!

Our Kickstarter campaign was also mentioned quite flatteringly in the "Links:Shopping" on the fantastic DIY design blog Not Martha. She really liked our coloring book incentive as well as the dresses! Her blog makes my home decorating, craft-making fingers itch.

We are now in the final stretch of the Kickstarter campaign. With a little over a week to go, we will be reminding you (again) to make those backing pledges which will bump up our popularity on the Kickstarter website. Kickstarter themselves need to be reminded that our numbers prove that we are a worthwhile project, and they should put their considerable marketing force behind us as well. So far, an astounding 81% of backing has come from word of mouth from friends and allies, known to me and new friends, and only 19% from Kickstarter generated links. Thank you for that, you guys! But the power of a strong platform like Kickstarter is that if they believe that the project is worth boosting in the feed, they can make people pay attention. So I ask you two things:

1. if you have not already backed the project, now is a great time to do it. We have 7 days left and every dollar creates a bump of interest across the platform and
2. write to Kickstarter on their webpage. You will need to scroll to the bottom of the page to the "Contact" link in the footer, but then let them know that you think this is a great project and you want to see it gain recognition in the Kickstarter public arena (their Staff picks, their blog posts, and their emailer to backers internationally. Feel free to point out that we are the MOST SUCCESSFUL plus size project EVER on Kickstarter, and why you think we're worth promoting.

Let's make this a record breaker together!

All the best, Eden

Featured in Pratt's Curated Pages!

Hello friends,

I'm in a celebratory mood today - first of all, thanks to your continued support, we are now the most successful plus size project EVER on Kickstarter! That's both in terms of percentage raised over initial goal (133% so far) and amount of money raised. Stupendous! Let's smash that record even more, and show those 1000% funded tech projects what for.

Great news today, other than the election of course, is that as a Pratt Institute alumna, our project was chosen to be featured on the Pratt Curated Page here on Kickstarter. It's great to receive that acknowledgment from such an esteemed artistic authority. Check it out by clicking the big yellow "Pratt" button.

And finally, we've been getting a lot of press mentions in fashion and plus size blogs around the internet. I was interviewed for a radio show in New Zealand earlier this week (I'll let you know more details when it becomes available Thursday or Friday), and have been collecting those mentions on our press page on the Cabiria website.

Let's keep the ball rolling - we still have 14 days in the campaign, and there's so much I can do with stretch goal funds. Thank you again, and please spread the word!

All the best, Eden

following is a screen grab from the latest blog to review us, "My Therapist Told Me to Write a Fashion Blog". See more great reviews on our press page.

WE ARE FUNDED ON DAY 8!!! now onto Stretch Goals!!

OH MY GOODNESS! Yes, I'm shouting! And shaking, although it might also be because I've been drinking a lot of coffee today. But WE ARE FUNDED at 100% now!!!!!

Day 8! 88 Backers! $8,000! I know my new favorite number!

Every single person who has donated or put out a good word has pushed this project into the stratosphere. The person who gave the pledge that knocked us into 100% was a woman who gave me my first job in television nearly 20 years ago. The first person who donated was my wonderful brother and his incredible family. But in between there have been strangers with indecipherable screennames, new friends I wouldn't have met other than through this channel, and old dear friends who have believed in me for a lifetime. I am so incredibly honored that you chose to back me.

Now I move forward with the stretch goals. As I mentioned in previous updates and the FAQ, each one is a mile marker, not an aggregate, so each amount pledged from now on goes towards making those stages a reality as well. We are still 22 days from the end of the campaign, and there are still many opportunities to get the word out.

In the meantime, Thank You So Incredibly Much! Once I stop shaking, I'll start working on the hang tags and stickers again.

xoxo, Eden

below is Eddra Gale from Fellini's "8 1/2" in about the same state I feel like right now

New Cabiria FAQ (and we've got power)

Hi friends,

Just a quick update tonight. It's quite late, and the eye of the hurricane has passed over us, but there will still be another wave hitting Long Island Sound within the hour, so we'll see if we keep our power.

While I've been up watching the storm and checking the light switches, I've had time to put together a new FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) on Kickstarter. There's been quite a lot of hubbub where some things got misconstrued, and I hope this information clears up those misunderstandings. It will also allow me to concentrate on designing the stickers and thank you cards and everything else that goes with a Kickstarter campaign's successful funding, as well as new fabric pattern design and general doodling.

I totally intended to be lazy and watch Blonde Venus again. Didn't happen. Wrote a FAQ instead.

Please forward this around to whomever you like in the Plus Size Fashion community. I hope you are all safe, sound, dry, warm, cozy, happy, well loved and well fed tonight and every night.

In the meantime, here's a photo of me wearing Francesca in Feathers, posing with Gregory's coffee (our $100 swag) which will need sticker labels.

All the best,

Eden

More great news (69% funded!) and an explanation for some critics

Hi friends,

Today was another great day for Cabiria's Kickstarter campaign moving ahead. We're 69% funded on Day 4! Thank you! First thing this morning I met with a lawyer from the Fashion Law Institute Clinic from Fordham University. Yes, there is something as specific as a Fashion Lawyer. Although the woman who runs the program is smartly dressed, it's regarding the specific laws around contracture for sales, licensing, labeling laws, indemnity, delivery, as well as intellectual property protection and trademarks, etc. for a business where garments are knocked off all the time, and designs are difficult to protect.

This may sound cutthroat and not in the spirit of starting a creative project, but as an artist it's also important to think like a businesswoman. Upshot is that I got some great pointers and referrals. Yay!

here I am heading out to a networking event last night in Flaminia in Black Cherries. Tiny Empire State Building in the hazy background.

Afterwards, I found out that we'd been mentioned by The Brickhouse of Style and Skorch Magazine on their social media platforms, and the store Wells & Verne in Portland, OR and Nina Blakemore in London, UK are interested in carrying Cabiria as well! We're international, baby. (hey - the new James Bond is coming out. I can't resist a little Austin Powers impression.)

Then off to the patternmaker, Michael Bevins at 4 Seasons Fashion, right down the street from swag provider Gregory's Coffee to do some final pattern tweaks before being ready for grading and production.

In the past few days, I've gotten a lot of compliments and kudos from people really seeing the value of this line. But, being in a public forum, I've gotten a few critics on one specific question, and I'd like to address that.

Why don't you make higher than a size 24?
The implication in this question - actually it's been outright stated - is that I am becoming part of the problem that excludes plus size consumers greater than a size 24. Since I stop at a size 24, I suppose it's a valid accusation. However, it's unfair to lay the ills of an entire industry at the feet of one small designer simply because I'm accessible with a face and an email address. Succinctly, it becomes a financial decision that I had to make to have any solvency ever.

It took me 2 years to get this project up on Kickstarter, after years of just mulling it over in my head. I worked several jobs, didn't go out and play too much, and saved my money in order to pay for the development and initial launch of the line. I called in a lot of favors, but some things are still costly and set as a fee, such as use of people's factories or services. They in turn have spent money to keep their doors open, much in the same way that many of the indie boutiques Cabiria wants to be in are self financed and run with a very narrow margin of error.

Pattern development and fittings cost money. Each size that you add to a line adds development and grading costs to the line, which is why numbered sizes tend to fit truer than 1x, 2x, 3x, etc. But it's money, which I'm on Kickstarter to help supply.

a long article on grading and pricing

a long article on what's involved in developing a line with a patternmaker and samplemaker

Also, most brick and mortar plus size boutiques carry up to a 24. Yes, it perpetrates a difficult cycle, but why should a tiny business absorb more risk on top of all the inherent risks already in place? Again, I have a face so I am on the block, but there are LOTS of people with more money than I have who can take the financial risks and change the system. For instance, Marc Jacobs talking about having a plus line, but where is it? And Oscar de la Renta making "plus size" up to a 16. And Ralph Lauren saying they're using the first "plus size model (she's a 12)", when I clearly remember Guess? using Anna Nicole Smith at a size 16 in the 1980s and my dad showing it to me. Just three off the top of my head with much deeper pockets and false promises to the plus community.

I am one woman doing what I can within parameters that will allow slow and steady growth and survival. I am also very proud of trying to forge a path with a very unique line in beautiful fabrics and fabrications, and that's why I'm on Kickstarter.

All the best, Eden

Below are first fitting muslins for a master pattern, taken in 2010, when I first started working on this project.

Kickstarter Swag and Major Interest in Cabiria!

Hi friends,

It's been an absolutely crazy ride so far, and we're only 2 days in. Oh my! To update you on what's happened on the Kickstarter page in the past 24 hours, it's going to take a few paragraphs.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cabiriastyle/get-cabiria-plus-size-ss13-collection-into-stores

There's the link for good measure. So, onward!

We have been up and running for 2 days, and in that 2 days we've gotten 49% of our goal funded, raising $3,972. Woo hoo! Way to go guys! Thank you so much!! Now we need to figure out where we can direct the campaign other than obvious choices.

Another big chunk of great news today: We were contacted by some major players in the online plus size retail community today, interested in how they can work with us. Also, the fantastic Gwen DeVoe who started Full Figured Fashion Week crossposted to her extensive plus size contacts about us, which should bring in some really great targeted interest. Madison Plus is interested in doing a curated sale of Cabiria as part of the launch on their page, Abbey Post wants to use Cabiria when they kick off their selling platform, Mad Chic wants to work with us, and Double Chin Win does too! Market interest! Yay!

And I also found out today that I couldn't upload photos of the swag to the specific areas of the campaign where the backing $$ boxes are, so I loaded them into the body of the campaign. Yes, you can now see what's on offer when you donate!

And for good measure, I'm doing the same thing here.

The Coloring Book:

The Bistro Mug:

The Gregory's Coffee Full Bodied Italian Roast:

The Canvas Boat Tote:

and the Dark Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans:

Thursday brings Day 3 of the campaign, and let's see what an be accomplished. Maybe a new avenue of potential? Crossed fingers!

- Eden

Astounding and Fantastic!

What an astounding day so far! The Kickstarter project went live just after midnight last night, and was on Facebook and Twitter and all sorts of other platforms as of this morning. It's unbelievable to see how supportive and wonderful everyone has been, and how quickly word spreads!

I have been very fortunate to have one Super Secret Backer that has told me that if we get over the $6,000 level in pledges on Kickstarter, that SSB will be a guarantor to get us funded for sure! Huge news! Of course I'd like to raise more than 100% - I'd like to be one of those amazing success stories like my friend Roman Mars, whose 99% Invisible radio show was the most funded journalism project of all time on this site, or another friend Andrew Plotkin, whose Hadean Lands interactive fiction adventure was fully funded in the first 24 hours, then went on to become wildly successful. What can I say? I keep company with winners!

Another great boost was that Jaclyn McCabe of Voluptuous Vixen boutique in New Orleans became a backer. The reason this is so special is because she is also a Retailer of Plus Size clothing, someone whose store I want Cabiria to be in, and someone who is a tastemaker for this market. She believes in Cabiria enough to put her money where her mouth is, and cross post it on her store's Facebook page as well. That's walking the walk, and I love it.

Every backer on this project is helping, no matter big or small, and every dollar is a dollar closer to the goal of getting funded. If you have any ideas for me to cross promote the campaign or the brand, I am listening and very enthusiastic. Please let me know, and keep telling people about us!

Thank you and talk soon.

-Eden

Kickstarter Campaign is LIVE! Raising funds for swag!

Hello friends,

What a great day! In addition to launching the line and getting huge amounts of wonderful feedback and interest on social media platforms, we got approved for our Kickstarter Project! It's called Get Cabiria Plus Size SS13 Collection Into Stores and that's exactly what we plan to do.

The web address is http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cabiriastyle/get-cabiria-plus-size-ss13-collection-into-stores. Click on any of the links in this post or copy that link into your browser to be taking to Kickstarter's Project page.

We have until November 21st - the day before Thanksgiving - at 5:08pm EST to raise $8,000 or we get nothing at all. What a challenge, but one I know we can meet. The $8,000 is to pay for grading (sizing up and down) costs for each pattern, factory productions fees (higher here in the US than abroad, but so important to keep skilled jobs local), shipping costs, website development, and marketing to let the buyers know about our SS13 line.

This is what the front page of the campaign looks like, including our URL:http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cabiriastyle/get-cabiria-plus-size-ss13-collection-into-stores

If we raise more than $8,000, I have big plans, including expanding production abilities, printing our own fabrics, showing the line at trade shows, upgrading our website and e-store, expanding into new markets, and paying photographers, models, assistants and web developers, etc. a fair wage for their services.

I NEED YOUR HELP TO ACHIEVE THIS GOAL!!! Please donate what you can; we have great incentives in the offer starting at ridiculously low pledge amounts, so that little drop in the bucket plus others makes for a huge flood. And even if you don't choose to contribute, please boost the signal by passing along the message to all your pals. Anyone who believes in equality entitlement, or body pride, or American small business entrepreneurship, or just beautiful clothes. Every ripple outward helps.

I can't wait to see what's in store this month, and I am already so thankful!

- Eden

Crack the Champagne, it's Opening Day!

OPENING DAY! It's here, it's here! After many months of hard work, today is launch day for the new website, the e-store for presales and wholesale, the unveiling of the SS13 Lookbook, Collection in catalog view, and the Behind the Scenes video, which shows the making of our lookbook, and is an important part of our Fundraising Campaign.

Currently we are waiting final approval from Kickstarter to launch that campaign, which means that while there are links to the campaign on our Incentives page and our Thank You page, they are not yet functioning links. I know this already, so no worries! As soon as that campaign goes live, I will let you all know, for sure.

We are also listed as "Coming Soon" on all the items in our Online Store. This is to give an opportunity to Plus Size boutiques to order for delivery in late winter so you can all have access up close and personal with our sumptuous clothes. Once we cover presales, I will open the store up at a retail level for online direct to you ordering.

Thank you again for following this amazing adventure and believing in Cabiria so wholeheartedly! If you have any suggestions for better site functionality that either I can achieve or you know specifically how to implement, please let me know immediately and I will try my best to put it into action. Also, please Subscribe to our newsletter which will help cut down on redundant cross posting, and "Like" us on Facebook, which will help as well.

For Press and Publicity inquiries, please email press@cabiriastyle.com.
For Wholesale Access to Linesheets, Terms and Order Forms, please email wholesale@cabiriastyle.com (you will need a password).
For all other inquiries, please email info@cabiriastyle.com and I'll respond as quickly as possible. Thank you again, and stay tuned for the Kickstarter campaign!

Let's crack some champagne on this hull!

xoxo, Eden

Everything Coming Together This Weekend

Hello friends,

I have been working really hard the past few weeks to get all the ducks in a row and to introduce you to the new line, website, lookbooks, and videos for Cabiria. I have had a lot of help, and it's really great, because no one can do something this ambitious alone.

I have also learned a lot in the process. For instance, my initial desire was to launch all the new website, e-store, and Kickstarter campaign all at the same time. I should have read the fine print that said it takes up to a week for Kickstarter to approve my campaign application. That's okay - it means that the website and e-store will be open and tested live.

Live? Did I say live? Yes I did! And that's the most exciting news of all: we are going to be ready to launch and show off the website and lookbooks and catalogs Sunday or Monday! Tell your friends, tell your neighbors! In the meantime, here's another teaser from the photoshoot, the back cover of our lookbook:

And one more, with our music credit for El Haru Kuroi:

Mama Dog took quite a shine to Maxey on the location shoot - protective sweet old girl.

Stay tuned over this weekend, and get all the new developments as they come together!

xo, Eden

Almost ready to Launch!

Hello friends,

It's been pretty busy here with Cabiria - we're gearing up to launch the e-store, the Lookbook and Collections Catalog will be online shortly, the Behind-the-Scenes video is almost cut, and we're about to launch a public crowdsource funding campaign next week!

I will be sharing all of the links to our visuals next week when we're 100% ready, but here's one I love from the photoshoot. The lovely Maxey Greene enjoying life on location with a little help from her waiter Josh and a Pinot Grigio. Hard work, right?

Oh, and that's the Giuseppina dress in our Butterflies 100% silk jersey she's wearing.

Please stay tuned for the launch coming very very soon!

-Eden

Post-punk bossa nova, anyone?

Hi friends! Lots of details are coming together now, getting the GORGEOUS photos together and editing the behind the scenes video. Exciting news tonight is that we've been granted rights to use the music by fantastic post-punk bossa nova East LA band El Haru Kuroi!

Check out this video of them playing live a little while ago:


Sexy, swinging, and post-punk? Yeah, I think we've got that covered. Talk to you soon!

-Eden

Tales Of Glory from the Photoshoot

Hey friends, Wow, what an insanely wonderful photoshoot and videoshoot we had on Saturday! It turned out spectacularly well, and I couldn't have done it alone.

Actually, I truly want to point this out. I could sit in my apartment drawing pretty dresses all day long, but launching a business and getting all the various and sundry pieces and details together to get it out of your head and into the world is a process that only happens with good people around you. I am so honored to get to work with so many great and talented people, that I am going to do a credit reel at the bottom of this blog post.

There are two reasons I wanted to shoot a video along with the catalog and lookbook. One, everyone likes Behind the Scenes videos. Everyone. It's an internet fact or something. Two, and more importantly, this video is going to become part of a Kickstarter funding campaign, so we can put together the money to produce these pieces at the quality level that makes Cabiria a different product out there, and to do it in the USA and utilize the craftsmanship here (by the way, this link is about the factory where I'm producing the garments in NYC). Job creation! (it's an election cycle - I can't help but use buzz words).

For another perspective, one of the beautiful models, Allison McGevna, also posted on her own blog about Cabiria and her experience on set.

There was a LOT of preparation going into this shoot, in part because I take pride in being as professional as possible to make sure my entire crew and talent get what they need to put out their own creative work, and in part because I don't want to miss opportunities because I've forgotten an important step, like a street permit, or to talk to a location's manager, or snacks for the green room. Details become important.

The whole week before the shoot was super rainy, and I kept hoping it would get over and done with before our shoot day. Also, there is a bad flu going around, so I lost several of my crew members 2 days before due to illness. Thursday night, in a panic trying to replace my sick crew members, my roommate came home with a friend. Turns out, she was interested in helping, so at 2AM, as I sat in my living room lounge chair in my pajamas, I scored my final crew member.

On the prep day, Friday, it dumped buckets of rain on us as we ran around the city picking up gear and groceries, and loading into the theater where we'd shoot the catalog work, but with help we got it all done.

Before dawn on Saturday, I picked up my photographer with my awesome houseguest-now-PA, drove into the city and started to set up the theater space, stage area, and green room. Friends started arriving shortly after, picking up the carts of coffee and baked goods for our breakfast, laying out makeup brushes and camera gear, and even delivering the last of the samples that needed to be assigned to models.

Soon, two of our models were in the makeup and hair chairs, getting even more beautiful than they already were (how is THAT possible?), and it was time for my video interview!

My hair was done, my nose was powdered, and I did some yoga breathing and jumping up and down to let go of my on-camera nerves. When we were done recording my interview, everyone in the room cheered for me. Apparently, what I had said in all earnestness on camera resonated with them - about loving beautiful fabrics and garments, about feeling excluded from the opportunities to even try those garments on in most stores, and about how much I wanted to bring an equal level of garment quality and construction to the plus size market. It was very rewarding for me to get that immediate feedback. A real gift.

On to the cyc! A cyc, short for cyclorama, is a big background for the photographer to shoot against. We shot all three models in 12 looks, for a total of 7 different styles, some in different fabrics. I wore a style that is still in development, pending interest from buyers, I will bring to market as well. One of the unique aspects of Cabiria is that I hunt high and low for the best possible fabrics and prints to make our pieces. This means that sometimes I can get 12 yards of silk jersey, yielding about 3 dresses total, and sometimes that means I can get 1000 yards yielding about 250 dresses, but I have to have the orders in place to make that kind of purchase. Again, why the Kickstarter campaign becomes important for our success and growth. This rarity creates such cache as well - to have a dress that's very unique for a price that falls into a very competitive price point window compared to what is available in the marketplace. So for our catalog, we shot a sampling of what different fabrics can do in different styles.

After lunch, we moved outside to shoot on some picturesque street locations. Since we didn't have permission to stop pedestrian traffic, we got a lot of passersby offering their very favorable comments. Choice favorites were: "Beautiful dress!", "She has a beautiful figure.", and my personal favorite "That looks nice...oooh! and it has pockets!".

I love pockets and put them in almost all my dresses.

We shot until the last light faded towards the horizon over the Hudson, then boogied on to wrap out and head home with our gear. An absolutely fantastic ending to a wonderful day with talented folks. I continue to be a very lucky designer indeed.

Huge thanks to my entire crew and advisors, including:
Bergen Swanson
Catherine Wolfe
Chevon Coleman
Colleen Davie Janes
Deb Malkin
Fabian Garcia
Janie Martinez
Matthew David Powell
Jendra Jarnagin
Jen Kennedy Martin
Jennifer Fisher
Kim Thompson
Michael David Bevins
Ragnar Steingrimsson, Jenn & Vinstri
Rebecca Ralph-Farella
Robert Segal
Stella Sensel

and of course the gorgeous models:
Allison McGevna
Farrah Olieri
Maxey Greene

and finally, the gracious Spasso Restaurant, HUB Cycles, and Marc Stuart Weitz of The New Ohio Theatre.

Stay tuned for the relaunch of the website with the photos and video, and the upcoming Kickstarter campaign!

-Eden

First Press Interview!!!

Hi everyone!

Today I have a big milestone for Cabiria - our first Press Interview!!! So unbelievably excited.

Amanda Hudson of Stop and Style contacted me (disclosure: we know each other in real life too) about Cabiria's progress, and has made us their September Stop and Chat! How cool is that?

Here's the whole article on the website Stop and Style NYC, right around the NYFW buzz, too. Again, so cool!

Seriously, check out her site: stopandstylenyc.com it's just lovely for so many great resources. Have a great day! Eden

Location locked!

Hello friends!

I've been Tweeting away in 140 character updates this week, but it's been pretty spectacular for updates. We've got our location for the catalog portion of the photo shoot locked down inside the epic Archive Building in the far West Village:

So far, I have 3 finished sample dresses in my hands, courtesy of the superlative Michael Bevins at 4 Seasons Fashions, who slaved away during NYFW for me. The brilliant photographer Matthew Powell and I have been scouting the exteriors with a lot of promising results. If I haven't already mentioned it, Cabiria is lucky to have the stellar talents of Farrah Olivieri

Maxey Greene

and Allison McGevna

Insane how gorgeous these ladies are! We've also found great, hardworking PA's and the hair and makeup dream team of Fabian Garcia and Stella Sensel, as well as the talented behind the scenes documentary shooter Jendra Jarnagin and our inimitable video segment director Colleen Davie Janes.

SO MANY WONDERFUL PEOPLE!! I am so lucky. Can't wait for this all to come together in a few weeks, but in the meantime, back to paperwork and permits... it can't all be glorious, right? So why am I smiling so wide?

-Eden