Smashing Darling Blog

Welcome - welcome! New darlings from NYC, Chicago, Cali, Colorado, Texas, Georgia, and as far as Puerto Rico - we are thrilled to have you with us!

Last night was another whirling dervish of a night from one meetup to another! TrishDarling spoke on the NYC Fashion 2.0 Meetup Panel, it was a great evening of shared stories and helpful information. Video of the night is coming soon, and if you are in New York we’d love to see you at the next one September 16th. Later, and downtown, we met some of the fab bloggers in the Coutorture blogger network…more good news in that department coming soon. Sweet deals for you! Cause a Scene mag has offered our designer community an exclusive advertising discount (30% off for first time advertisers) contact Sarah Jane and quote Smashing Darling, for new customer peeps.

We hope to have some great video fun coming your way soon in the Smashing blog. But what about all of you? Do you have video of past fashion shows hanging around? Do you know that there is a spot right in your Darling store to upload that video? Make that video work for you! Simply login to your account> open your store> on your bottom right click on manage video>fill in the blanks and click add and your done! Help us make Smashing Darling a never-ending indie fashion week.

While you are digging around for those video files, send us along your favorite pics of you and/or friends showing us their indie fashion. We’ll pop you in the blog, and oh, look - you’ve shouted out again!

Fashion Week

Fashion Week is coming fast. We would love to help shout out all of your indie festivities and goings on all the time, and especially this time of year. Send us the info and we will be sure to blog about it.

In early September the Darling’s will be at the GenArt Fresh Faces in Fashion event as well as the Brooklyn Royalty show, will we see you there? Let us know! Don’t forget that the events section of the site is another place to list all your indie fashion events.

…more feature how to

Between gas prices, AC, and customers preferring to be lying on a beach this is quite possibly a brutal time for retail. Ugh. Unless, of course, you have a boutique right in the center of Beachtown, USA…or you have a Smashing boutique! Customers can still go to the beach, save on gas, and buy from you! We see Summer Sale signs popping up everywhere…you can create your own summer promotion right in your store, here’s how: Login>Click Your Boutique Name> Click Promote > Click Run A Promo. Go check it out and give your customers a special treat!

Community News and new darlings

Yay! It’s Spring, thank goodness! The days are getting longer which of course makes everyone happier. Soon the daffodils will start to pop their little yellow buds out of the ground to remind us to wake back up…in case we fell asleep over the long winter.

Yeah right, do designers ever really sleep? Even in your slumber I bet you are all still designing; those blasts of imagery that happen just as you are slowly starting to fall asleep. Some of the spring-like images on this page are designers new to Smashing Darling, and some are regulars, with some new spring lines, take a look.

This pic to the left is a new collaboration for spring. Fabulous - the Darling’s love to collaborate! Go take a look at Feen Clothing, a collaboration between PINaR ERIS and graphic designer/makeup artist, Melissa St. Giles.

Before you get back to work be sure to go see another Darling designer, DRES, and his interview over at HandbagDesigner101.com his work is truly amazing!

how to - SHOUT IT OUT

Have you all registered in the Smashing Darling Forums? Have you been over to the Forums at all?

Go investigate! You can post an event, find a designer to collaborate with, give us feedback, get support… We would love for all of you Darling designers to post your events, as well as events happening in your communities. Don’t be shy either, tell a friend or two, or all…they can register and post happenings too. This way we are all in the know, all of the time! Since we are all representing indie communities across the country, we have the ability to keep the masses in the loop, and shopping at indie events everywhere YOU tell them to! If we all chip in, it can become the place to see and be seen…

FotoFinesse Lesson #2-Lighting

Back again with more tips on making your digital photos look their best. Once you’ve gotten the resolution thing down (see Toolbox #1) it’s time to think about the thing that truly makes whatever you’re shooting look smashing…LIGHT, both how it falls on what you’re shooting, and how your camera sees it.

The first thing to consider is where your light is coming from. There’s no substitute for good, bright, lighting to show off every detail of your products. The first challenge may be getting around the little, tiny, light source that that most digital cameras have called the FLASH. The built-in flash on your camera can be absolute death to your shot…it produces an extremely harsh light that can blow out all details (we’ve all seen those “hot spots”), make harsh shadows, and create a very unflattering effect on your shots, especially close-ups and reflective or metallic items.

So get to know your camera … read the manual, and see if there is a way to turn off the built-in flash, or if your camera has a shooting mode that works without it. Click here to keep reading Darling lighting tips.

Other places to SMASH with us

Need some friends? Not to fear, we are everywhere-add us!

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/smashing_darling

Facebook: Trish Darling, Julie Darling, Mo Darling
Flickr: Join our group and show off your indie.
Twitter: Come tweet with us!
Stylehive: MerGirl, Julie Darling

DIYcommunity: MerGirl, Mo Darling
Indiepublic: MerGirl, MoDarling
Iqons: Smashing Darling

Get out there and

Shout it Out:

INDIE ROCKS!

cheers ~ the Darlings