Crazy couple of weeks, and more great news coming

Hello friends!

Well, it has been a somewhat crazy few weeks following the NYFW Cabiria show, and all the press that came around it. I think I had underestimated what a big splash we were making with our little company, relatively brand new and all. But people really understood that Cabiria was making history, and with a groundswell of positive public sentiment as well. It was awe inspiring to watch that recognition happen around the globe, and I'm incredibly proud to have been the emissary.

All that attention meant that I needed to move everything into a factory that would take good care of us, fast! We have as of this week gotten into the perfect sized place for us - not so small as to lose the professional touches, and not so big as to get lost, and best of all, in my beloved Garment Center in New York City!

I will be releasing items in waves this time around, as I didn't make it in time to fulfill regular seasonal delivery, but we've gotten order from around the world, and pre-orders for more. New fabrics, and many of those pieces from the NYFW show, so familiar shapes. Separates, and sumptuous fabrics too, and some surprises up my sleeve for spring!

The next step as a small business is going to be growth. Now I have shown that there's interest and a real market out there, I need to do a more formal round of capital raising to get to the next step. Many challenges are on the horizon, but I know we can do it!

In the meantime, here's some teaser fabrics for the new collection - all silk and high quality wools, of course...

As far as press goes, we hit the jackpot. We were on the front page of the Sunday Style sections of MAJOR papers around the world right after the show, featuring my beautiful plus size models. I'm talking The London Times (UK), Suededeutsche (Germany), Al Jazeera America, and L'Express (Paris). And Yahoo's front page, CNN, Nightline, OMG Insider, and ABC News. And major papers in China and Kenya and Oman and New Zealand and Indonesia.

Then there was a lovely mention by Jimmy Fallon on his late night show (he totally got it), as well as an NPR segment and Howard Stern. Definitely hitting the zeitgeist there. And finally, a standing invitation to go on the new Queen Latifah talk show. I love her!

Because I can't even handle how much press came in, here's a comprehensive list, unless of course I missed a few. Entirely probable, actually. Please forgive me! And enjoy catching up if you like.

All my best, Eden

Beutiful Magazine

AFP footage from the show

The Curvy Fashionista

Nightline

NPR with Audie Cornish and Robin Givhan of The Cut from New York Magazine (comment at 2:47-3:00)

Hello Giggles: Queen of The Day

The Gloss

Fashionista post show article</>

ABC News

Dare Magazine (Canada) page 10)

Zaftig Times

Al Jazeera America

Suedeutsche Stil (Germany)

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (monologue 4:47-5:05)

CNN Erin Burnett OutFront

OMG Insider with Emme

Times of Oman

Explosiv (Germany)

Jezebel

Wondervol (Netherlands)

Curvily

Straits Times (Singapore)

Oman Observer

Capital Kenya (Kenya)

Masque Mag

Sioux City Journal

Grown and Curvy Woman</>

Ozarks First

Houston Chronicle

Style Hs No Size (Netherlands)

Amica (Germany)

Girl Talk HQ

Beautiful Curvy (Italy)

Policymic (China)

Terra TV (Brazil)

Fashionista

DNA Info New York

Break Thru Radio

Paozim de Queijo (Brazil)

Fashion News Live

NY Daily News

Yo Dona (Spain)

ENCA (South Africa)

Grazia (France)

Juromano (Brazil)

Sueddeutsche Zeitung (Germany)

Huffington Post

Yahoo Shine

Fat Chic

Agence France-Presse

Today

Moda and Estilo

Culturebox (France)

Pudelek (Poland)

Yahoo Shine (Canada)

Vogue Italia

L'Express (France)

Yahoo News

UK MSN Style

Little Lime Dress

Beleza GG (Brazil)

Fashion Holo Fote (Brazil)

Curve a Porter (Brazil)

Life and Style (New Zealand)

Gulf News (Dubai)

The Times (UK)

Washington Post

Business Insider

She Knows

New York Business Journal

Metro Nieuws Amsterdam

The Atlantic

Daily Life (Australia)

Style Has No Size (Netherlands)

Curvy Is the New Black

Yummy Mummy Club (Canada)

Squishy Gals

Bernadett Vajda

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

Cabiria now in stores!

Hello friends!

Yesterday was a fantastic, red letter day for us: Madison Plus Select launched their first dress from the Cabiria exclusive collection online. Check it out here: http://www.madisonplusselect.com/collections/cabiria

They ordered a number of pieces from us, and are featuring them in a roll out with other brands, but we're up and running!

We are also going to be landing on the racks at the beautiful Bombshell Boutique in St. Paul, MN in the next few weeks. The owner Denise Alden has exquisite taste, and is a real treasure for you in the Twin Cities region.

As of this weekend, I should be done entering inventory onto the online store as well, and will be opening up the Cabiria Store online for direct sales as well. So many exciting things afoot! Hooray!

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.

Bangkok bound!

Hi all,

I have been an errant blogger, I know. So many things were happening in PersonalLand, that it made it hard to stay on top of the demands of a hungry blog audience. I am back now, though!

So the current news is that I will be going to Thailand in December and January, and while there, I'll be working with a wonderful Thai costume shop called Siam Costumes to build my patterns and first samples. They have experience working with vintage clothing cut for modern bodies, and a backstock of period fabrics as well. I'm really excited!

I still plan to manufacture the production line in the US, but there's just no way I could resist master cutters working on my samples while I ride elephants and give monkeys cocoanuts. Truly.

In other news, I'm also going to work on the Fall Winter 12/13 patterns and samples at the same time. This way, no matter what season we end up launching, Cabiria will be ready to go running into production. How exciting!

With that in mind, here's a dress, sans fabric, from the FW12/13 collection. You, my readers, are the first to see it!

There are many changes afoot, and I think the new approach will better serve my vendors and customers in the long run. Making plans then completely remodeling them seems to be in the air lately, but it's all good stuff!

Let me know what you all think, and I'll try to be more diligent on that blog posting thing!

-Eden

Pattermakers, Accountants, and Other Fun Updates

Hey there folks!

It's been a few weeks, and there have been some new combinations afoot. One of the things I'd done was learn Adobe Illustrator, at least the basics, so I could make flats of my garments for the patternmaker. Since I seem to do everything from the ground up, I'll happily share my flat plus size template for drawing out clothing on a truly plus size figure:

There were many like this available in mainstream sizes, but of course, like with so much in the plus size world, I found none so I drew that one myself. You like?

I've also changed patternmakers - while Werkstatt is a wonderful resource and she is obviously a talented patternmaker, it wasn't the perfect fit. I did manage to track down the patternmaker and samplemaker I'd worked with over a decade ago, when we were at Lucy Barnes (now wholesale private sales only). When I designed the line and envisioned the quality, it was always with this woman's craftsmanship in mind, so it's pretty genius to get her on board.

Finally, I've been reworking the business plan. I'd always thought of starting up with crowdsource funding and using that collateral to gain business loans, but now I'm trying to research what options are available with business partners and shared equity. I'm a workhorse, but I don't know everything about business and accounting, so finding someone gifted in the arena would be amazing. If you, dear readers, know of anyone who would be interested in contributing knowledge, resources, or/ and funds to bring Cabiria to market for love and profit, please contact me. I'm very open minded!

Monday begins a new phase of development, and hopefully my next posts will be about finding wonderful size 18/20 models in the New York area soon!

-Eden

Getting it together in New Yawk...

Hello all!

I know I've been horribly delinquent in posting how things are going for Cabiria. I am officially hand slapped. What I've been up to has been administrative, mostly - establishing the new LLC in New York State, talking to New york based patternmakers and samplemakers, and hunting for new workroom furniture, including an enormous cutting table. So much whirlwind activity, blogging ended up slipping to the side. Mea culpa!

The upshot is that dresses like this one:

will be coming together here in New York soon!

Stay tuned, folks. Stay tuned.

-Eden

Speaking of feathers...

Hi guys!

My fabrics have started coming in!! It's an incredibly complex formula because I'm buying job lots from wholesalers, which means I can only buy however many yards exist. Sometimes it's a few 100 yards, and sometimes, like in the case of this amazing Italian cotton feather print, it's only about 5 yards - enough for 1, maybe 2 dresses.

Isn't it gorgeous? I love how organic the pattern is; how it looks like both anemone and a George Grosz pen and ink drawing at the same time. Swoon!

What that means for Cabiria and my customers is unique and special - some of the pieces we'll create will be only a few of a kind, or maybe one of a kind. The style and size will be standardized for the line, but the fabrics - oh, the gorgeous fabrics - will be very rare indeed. How cool is that?

-Eden

First patterns and fittings!

Hey all!

I came back a few days ago from a VERY exciting fabric buying trip in NYC, and today I had the first fitting of a block with the patternmaker. Very exciting to see it moving forward, inch by inch, and know what beautiful fabrics I have in store for you all!

Now I know it looks a hot mess right now, but it's kind of like jazz; a little science, a little invention, and a little arbitrary detail zhuzhing. Please don't ask me how to spell that one right. But it's the basic shape of a big girl with many, many curves, and it's the building block for everything else to come. More to come!!

-Eden

Big steps forward!

Hey everyone,

This week has been a huge leap forward for Cabiria coming to fruition! The bids came through for the patternmaker, and she's off and running. I met with my web development guys, and gave the go ahead, so soon I'll have the Phase I website up and running. I found some great fit models and photo shoot models, I borrowed a video camera so I can make a video to show you all what I'm up to, and I attributed style numbers and determined the first line. THE FIRST LINE!!! I know that's nothing to those who aren't fashiony and all, but for a fashion company, determining exactly what I'll be offering as a collection for the very first season of production is ENORMOUS!

I even got samples in of my swag for donors, and have a very sexy bistro mug about to go into production.

I'm insanely excited that this is moving forward - I know it seems like it's taking forever, and in some ways it is, but I'm Going Big here, so I'm trying to cover all the bases. In the meantime, I have a buying trip in New York scheduled this coming week, too. Fabrics are calling to me!

Happy Spring, everyone! I hope it's as productive and fruitful as mine is so far!

-Eden