The fruits of our collective labour

***If nipples offend you, please look away now!***

Here are the final shots from the photoshoot I did recently:

Photography: Murad RM Photography
Model: Clare B
Hair and make up: Beth Alderson
Styling: Frankie Murray
Lingerie: Mint Siren

Photography: Murad RM Photography
Model: Inna S
Hair and make up : Emma Taylor
Styling: Frankie Murray
Jewellery: Swell Vintage
Lingerie : Fred & Ginger

Photography: Murad RM Photography
Model: Clare B
Hair and make up: Beth Alderson
Styling: Frankie Murray
Necklace: Swell Vintage
Ring: ASOS
Lingerie and collar: Loulou Loves You

Photography: Murad RM Photography
Model: Inna S
Hair and make up : Emma Taylor
Styling: Frankie Murray
Ring: ASOS
Lingerie: Ayten Gasson

Photography: Murad RM Photography
Model: Inna S
Hair and make up: Emma Taylor
Styling: Frankie Murray
Necklace: Swell Vintage
Ring: ASOS
Lingerie: Loulou Loves You

So what do you think? I'd love some feedback on the styling and overall look of the pictures, so please let me know.

Much love,

Frankie
Swell Vintage

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Behind the scenes: styling a lingerie shoot

Here are some behind the scenes snaps of the lingerie shoot I styled last week. It was such a fun day, and it was an honour to work with gorgeous pieces from Mint Siren, Loulou Loves You, Ayten Gasson and Fred & Ginger.

Model: Clare
Make up: Beth Alderson

Model: Inna
Make up: Emma Taylor

Model: Clare
Lingerie and collar: Loulou Loves You
Jewellery: Swell Vintage

Model: Inna
Lingerie: Fred and Ginger
Jewellery: Swell Vintage

Bored of photos? Here's a little video I made about it:

If it doesn't work here, you can watch it at the Swell Vintage YouTube page.

So what do you think? I really enjoy styling, and hopefully have a few more things in the pipeline very soon. Oh, and I'm sorry for the mess ups in my video - I think I should probably stick to writing!

I can't wait to show you the final photos next week.

Much love,

Frankie
Swell Vintage

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Just shoot me

I'm always incredibly flattered and honoured when people say they like my jewellery. So, if ever a stylist or photographer asks to borrow pieces for shoots, needless to say I'm overwhelmed.

Recently, the very kind Murad Rm got in touch to ask if he could borrow a selection of necklaces and bracelets for a beauty shoot he had coming up. After seeing his pictures, I was definitely keen to get involved - especially when I found out that Melissa Walton, aka Loretta from Hollyoaks, would be one of the models!

Fancy a look at some of the shoots? Oh, go on then...

Melissa in The Sparrow's Pearl necklace

Melissa loves the Princess Pearl necklace

Stephanie looks stunning in the Times, they are a-changing necklace

Models: Mellisa Walton & Stephanie Tripp
Make up: Hannah Serjeant & Sally Watterston
Hair stylist: Tasha Goodhand-tait
Jewellery: Swell Vintage

What do you think? Personally I think Murad and the whole team have done an incredible job, and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank them for making my jewellery look so beautiful. Thank you, kind folks!

In other news, my next post will be my 100th! Wow, doesn't time fly when you're having fun?!

To celebrate, I will be running a little competition where you could win a special piece of Swell Vintage jewellery. If you'd like to know more, come back next week and I'll tell you all about it.

Much love,

Frankie
Swell Vintage

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It's hip to be swell

The time has come, my lovely friends! FINALLY I can tell you all about the Motorola photoshoot!

Just over two weeks ago, the other four competition winners and I were brought to the glamorous Holborn Studios in the heart of London for a very hip photoshoot. We were there to be snapped with the brand spanking new Motorola FLIPOUT with MOTOBLUR technology and to generally have fun while pretending to be models for the day.

Stu-stu-studio

The FLIPOUT phone of many colours

The shoot was being styled by the gorgeous Alize Morand and Matthew Zorpas of PR Wonderland. I had met Alize and Matthew before, so it was really nice and comforting to see their friendly smiling faces. They did a cracking job sourcing all sorts of dreamy fashion pieces - colour was definitely the theme!

What a pair of beauties - Alize and Morand

All the colours of the rainbow

The INCREDIBLE Georgie Bee shoes I got to wear

Marc Jacobs ring...don't mind if I do!

Not only was the styling amazing, but the rest of the crew were absolutely outstanding. The make up by Becca Harrison was stunning, the hair by John Birchall was totally insane and the photography by Adam Lawrence was mind blowing. In fact, everyone was wonderfully welcoming and talented. It was such a fun day.

Other winners Sabina and Amy get dolled up by Becca and John

Nic gets snapped by Adam

Anyway, I think I've done enough 'behind-the-scenes' stuff. I think it's time to show you the final products:

Lady in blue

Woman in black

So there we have it! What do you think? I'll be honest with you, my dear readers - I was in a state of absolutely terror throughout the whole shoot. As you can see, I am quite obviously not a model, so doing something like this where I was the focus threw my far, far away from my comfort zone. However, I am really pleased with how the photos have come out, and I think it's a testament to how talented all the people behind the scenes are.

I want to say a massive THANK YOU to everyone involved for an amazing day and for giving me this experience. I also want to say special thanks to the gorgeous Nik Thakkar and Milly Hill of JCPR for organising the whole thing and making it so much fun. It's definitely something I will never forget!

To see photos of the other winners, as well as some extra bits about the brilliant FLIPOUT phone, visit http://www.motorolasquare.com/.

Much love,

Frankie
Swell Vintage

Phone-a-face

Apologies for the quickie nature of this post. I hope you don't feel cheap or used at all.

I just wanted to say a HUGE "thank you" to everyone who voted for my face in the Motorola #hip2bsquare competition. Turns out I am one of the five lucky winners, and my photoshoot is taking place this very weekend - eeekk! Between you and I, because you're a good friend of mine, I'm absolutely terrified! I'm not a model by ANY stretch of the imagination, but I think the whole experience will be a lot of fun. Please cross your pretty fingers for me?! I'll need all the luck I can get!

Here's the sexy new Motorola phone that my face will soon be associated with:

Photo courtesy of Motorola

If you're nosey or bored on Saturday, you can see how the shoot is going by following me on Twitter (@swellvintage). While you're there, you should also follow the fabulous brains and stylists behind the whole shoot - Nik Thakkar (@nikthakkar), Matthew Zorpas (@prwonderland) and Alize Morand (@alizemorand).

In other news, I'm also very excited to be attending a brilliant blogger meet up on Friday, kindly organised by my dear friend Fiona of Save Our Shoes. I will be taking lots of pictures for your viewing pleasure. Hopefully I shall see you there, lovely ladies and gents!

Much love,

Frankie
Swell Vintage

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Swell shoot

Hello again!

How are you all? Have you had a lovely week? I do hope so.

So the other night I went to my lovely friend Joanna B's house and she took a few photos of me wearing my jewellery. Being in front of the camera rather than hiding far, far behind it was pretty weird experience. It's given me an insight into how hard "modelling" actually is! When the camera started shooting I froze up and hardly moved at all! I don't know if I'd do it again, but it was lots of fun. It was so nice to catch up with Jo and to finally meet Jo Saville, who kindly did my make-up. They are both such wonderful and talented ladies.




So what do you think? I'm definitely no model, but I'm really pleased with how the photos have come out. I can't thank the Jo's enough - thank you, ladies!

In other news, I saw The September Issue last night - have you seen it yet? I really enjoyed it. Initially I thought that it was going to be a fluffy Disney-style look at Vogue, attempting to lay the "Anna is an Ice Queen" stigma to rest, it was actually extremely honest. Anna Wintour is such a fascinating (albeit terrifying) creature, but it was actually Grace Coddington that really stole the show for me.


The shoots she styled were out of this world, and her feisty 'no-nonsense' attitude shows just how strong you need to be to survive in the Vogue universe. She truly is a flame-haired inspiration. What did you think of the film? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

That's all for now. Let's all go outside and enjoy the Sunday sunshine!

Much love,

Frankie
Swell Vintage

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Swell shoot

Hello, my lovely friends!

See, I told you I'd be back, posting regularly again. How have you been?

I've been very good thanks, especially because the final photos from the first ever Swell Vintage photoshoot have been coming over from the wonderful Joanna B! She is such an incredible photographer, and I really can't thank her enough for all of her hard work.

To tell you the truth, I was so nervous about this photoshoot. I felt like my pieces weren't good enough, and that I was totally out of my depth working with such talented people. But when I got there, the team was so lovely and welcoming, and I instantly felt at ease. It turned out to be a really fun day, and I absolutely love every single image I've seen so far. I still can't get over how well my jewellery went with Mint Siren's incredible lingerie!

Fancy a little taster? Here are a few of my favourite pictures so far:





I think you'll agree, Rosey and Skye look absolutely stunning in these photos, and the hair by Amber-Rose Peake and make-up by Maria Papadopoulou fits the vintage style aesthetic perfectly.

What do you think of the pictures then? Any thoughts or feedback will be greatly received and appreciated. Would you like to see more pictures from the shoot? Let me know.

In other news, sales of my collection in Edinburgh have been going really well and Trinket have requested six more pieces! I'm over the moon that this collection is doing well, as I was worried it was a bit too extravagant! Thank you, lovely people of Edinburgh.

I've also had some very exciting news regarding Queens of Vintage. I'll tell you more when things are more concrete...

I hope you've all had a lovely weekend. Did you get up to anything fun?

Much love,

Frankie
Swell Vintage

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Return of the swell

Hello, my lovely friends!

It's been a LONG time! I can't believe it's been over a month since my last post. How have you all been? I've missed you ever so much!

So much has been happening in the little world of Swell Vintage since we last spoke. I don't want to bore you with an insanely long post, but I will break it down into easily digestible bullet points:

• First things first, I moved house! I now live in sunny East London, and I'm loving every minute of it. It's so nice to live near civilisation and to be near my friends. My flat is also rather lovely (I will post pics one my room is finished).
  
  
• I had the first ever professional Swell Vintage photoshoot! It was such a brilliant day, and I'm so grateful to my friend Skye for organising it for me. We collaborated with the amazing Josefine of Mint Siren, who provided us with the most incredibly gorgeous vintage-style lingerie. I'm starting to get the finished photos over from the wonderfully talented Joanna B, and they're looking amazing. I'll post them when I have them all, but for now here's a sneaky peak from behind the scenes.

Here is the beautiful Rosey, being snapped by Joanna B.

All hands on deck! Skye has her amazing hair done by the lovely Amber-Rose Peake and her make-up by Maria Papadopoulou.

A perfect match! My jewellery and Mint Siren lingerie - I don't think we could have matched the colours better if we tried!


It was so much fun! Thanks for a great day, ladies!

You can see the rest of my photos on my Flickr, but watch this space for the final shots!

• I did my first ever fair! As mentioned in previous posts, I attended the Winchester Handm@de fair on Sunday and it was so much fun! Everyone there was so nice and welcoming. I love the community aspect of doing what I do, and it was great to step out from behind the computer screen and meet real people for a change! Here are some photos of my stand:

I had so much fun at the fair. I sold a few of my pieces, and I also got offered a very exciting opportunity - yay! I'll definitely consider doing another fair, especially a Handm@de one. There was so many talented people there. I could have easily spent all of my profits!

• I've sent off my second collection to Trinket in Edinburgh! It's definitely my most extravagant collection ever, so if you live locally why not pop in and have a look?
  
  

• It turned 23 the other day! It's a pretty insignificant age, but I had a truly amazing time and celebrated with some great people.
  
  

I think that's more than enough for now! Now that I'm settled in my new place I'll be blogging regularly and posting pictures of new pieces, as normal.

Thanks for reading, and please stop by again soon!

Much love,

Frankie
Swell Vintage

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