on shoot location SS21 shoot.

Back in late summer, early autumn we were busy prepping and organising ahead of our SS21 shoot here in Woven’s home town of Brighton. I was on the look out for a location that would work with our brand ethos and ideally somewhere local due to ever changing restrictions and government announcements when The Studio popped up on my Instagram feed.

The Studio is a new creative arts space in Brighton in association with Ceyda Tank Dance and I remembered someone telling me about it so I called and went along to see for myself. It really is quite a special place. Every part of the interior has been lovingly restored by The Studio team that includes @sandinteriors who has a beautiful aesthetic and eye for detail. Their use of natural materials, earthy textures and neutral colour palette has created a calm open space that fits perfectly with the Woven brand and I knew immediately that I’d found the perfect shoot location.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and on a wet Tuesday in October shoot day was upon us. This shoot was especially exciting for me because the growth of Woven had afforded the opportunity of expanding our shoot team and after the year we’d had so far it was such a great feeling to be working alongside other people again.

It just so happened we were an all women team on the day. Myself, Amber and Nicky the Woven interns, Georgia who kindly came to assist and act as runner for the day, our models Petra and Mizzy and Jane from Dove & Myrtle who came to help with the floral styling. There was a real feeling of community and of women coming together. The conversation flowed over lunch and there was a purveying sense of positivity, support and humour throughout which contributed so much to the day.

There may come a time when it’s no longer possible but you may have noticed that for now I choose to employ friends over professional models to model the collections. Shoot days are long and seriously hard work but having friends model adds an element of fun and always brings something special to the shoot. I know they’ll feel comfortable from the start and to me it’s extra special shooting our pieces on women that genuinely do love and wear the collection. My models are friends who love what I do, the story and the ethos behind it. That level of comfort means they’re not afraid of putting forward their own ideas when it comes to styling and most times those ideas genuinely work. I also hope that by using real women who aren’t typical model height and size our customers are spared unrealistic comparisons and can see just how attainable these looks are to them.

After my initial planning it was such a luxury to have Amber, Nicky & Georgia on board to allow me to step back a little from certain tasks and focus more on the styling. It was a much more productive way of working and I believe that shows in the images from the day. This edit is very much moving towards a utility and dressed down style of dressing and a more layered and androgynous way of putting outfits together.

I have changed the edits up a bit for Spring 21 and added in a super easy to wear lounge edit. Having the option of shooting in different rooms and spaces at The Studio allowed us to separate the edits while still maintaining a cohesive vibe throughout. It really brings the edits together in a way that I’m incredibly pleased with including the lifestyle shoot in the kitchen area, possibly my favourite room of all. I had an idea in mind of how I wanted to style the shoot and had fun collaborating with Dove & Myrtle to add the dried floral touches.

I hope you enjoy the edits and the images as much as we did putting them together.

Alby x