Not really sure how I feel about this new collection...haha...seriously I'm being totally honest...life generally is such a glorious whirlwind with so much growth and goodness going on around you on a daily moment by moment basis that you kind of just flow with it all...as you navigate daily through the ever present...blink and you'll miss them...internal victories that you get to repeatedly experience as a Child of God with the moment by moment divine transformation from glory to glory where the constant out working of becoming who you were created to be on the inside becomes just as exciting and rewarding if not more, as the seemingly large creative projects...as the dreams fulfilled...as the goals attained...and somehow as you're doing life...as you're living this divine adventure everyday feeling after the leading of God...growing as a person...thriving as a being...increasing as a vessel...functioning as you were designed to function...and just living...learning and loving...through both the shadowy valley experiences of life and the excitable mountain top shindigs...somehow you find that in between all of that you've launched a new collection... 

Which is why it's really not been about the clothes as much as about the creative process...which runs far deeper than just artistic license...which reaches a scope far greater that just a creative project...it sees far more than designs manifest...In fact I have found that my creative process has been embedded in who I am...what I carry...my potential...my purpose...all those delicious things that make being a creative as a child of God so very exciting.  When I first started working on this collection back in Autumn I was hardcore battling with watching too much TV.  I was cream crackered...spread too thin across lots of different projects and feeling burnt out. The only way I found myself being able to unwind was by watching TV. I was sooooo tired and run down that I needed a LOT of unwinding soooo I watched loads of TV and I hated it. I felt awful. I felt like I used to feel when I first became a Christian and couldn't stop smoking. I felt as bad about TV as I'd felt as times in the past about promiscuity!! Crazy right?

Anyhoo so I was so down about it and I didn't know how to get free from dependency on TV - after all it's something I'd been doing for like 35 years right - so maybe it was an innate part of life and just one of those things you just have to live with...and are simply never able to imagine life without it? You know you kinda wonder if God will just settle with somehow working your destiny around your TV guide? And that somehow you can still operate at maximum potential whilst being a couch potato...Errr nah not possible! Haha. So basically one evening in September as I battled with so much condemnation about dependency on TV and frustrated about not writing any fresh stuff for my manuscript or not working on the new collection although I should have started designing a month ago or not washing the dishes piled up in the sink...I felt like I'd come to the end of this road and something needed to shift big time. YET DESPITE feeling that, there was still a crazy part of me that was nevertheless still just going to give in to the urge to just lay in bed and watch TV and switch off from all the glitches in the matrix but then my spirit man...the real part of me...the heavenly connected...sober, sensible side of me rose up and said NOOOOOO MORE TV!!! 

And SOOOO instead of finding temporary escape in TV as had become my involuntary custom through that particular season I got up from my bed and with almost a fiery resolve in my heart, went to my sink and began to wash dishes. And then suddenly, no word of a lie...something instantly changed.  The condemnation...the guilt...the weariness...the overwhelming lack of motivation...the passivity and procrastination...simply lifted! It dissolved. I actually felt it! Nuts right?  I literally found myself completely free from the stronghold of TV at that very moment - after a lifetime of unhealthy friendship with television I became completely and totally free. God took my measly little natural act of resisting TV and going to my sink to wash dishes to slay the giants I had battled with for decades! Hahahaha!  Mental glory!  My TV in the living room has not been switched on since that day six months ago.  That same night I designed the new collection in less than 45 minutes.  Wow! God is such a redeemer of time. I burn out, get weary and procrastinate for a month and then in less than an hour God redeems the time. Hehehe! Incredible.

That beautiful little victory was the back drop to my sessions with Richard Smartt at RNDR.  Not having the distraction of TV literally gave me untold hours a week of creative time and when you are not relying on TV to unwind, you truly become productive beyond belief - you simply cannot help but bear fruit when TV is out of the picture...do excuse my little pun there... :)

Anyhoo so my coaching sessions with Richard resulted in ridiculous, scandalous productivity and as I've mentioned before the women's collection was produced in less than 15 days. But then stuff happened. I had to put the collection down for a few months and it wasn't til the end of January that I started working on it again...trusting that I would have everything I needed to get the Menswear and the kids wear collection made as well as organise the shoot and get it all together whilst still pursuing all the other glorious things that hang around in my life. I wasn't anxious. I knew God had it in hand. And every day great things happened. Sometimes they were to do with creativity...sometimes they were not...but in the whirlwind of activity the Whole collection was produced. Amazingly I made the Menswear pieces never having made tailored stuff before. Another joyful victory for me.  When I initially started working on the collection again I wondered if I would have the same extraordinary motivation I had during the coaching. I wondered if it was just a season - amazingly I found that miraculously my mind had been forever renewed and I would be vibing off the 180 degree change in work ethics for the rest of my life. Sooo I found motivation wasn't a problem at all...I just got on with it...day after day...radio on...fabric in hand...at the sewing machine doing my thing.

There's been so much purging...so much growth and overcoming over the last six months whilst this collection has been produced that the collection itself somehow fades in the light of the bigger picture...nevertheless its a collection that I have truly enjoyed making and to see it adorned by girls and now the man dem...will be quite a treat...To see it come to life does fill me with calm delicious delight.  Soooo I suppose I had better talk a little about the collection itself right??? Well...it has an ecclectic...bold...imperial vibe going on...full of strength...confidence and freedom...I used colours and prints that were eye catching, colourful with a deliberate richness...the clothes to me reflect a sense of rest...the quite confidence of the wearer coupled with the loud, vibrant din of the clothes.  The pieces speak of victory...battles won...enemies overcome...freedom fought for...standing firm and boldly yet humbling appreciative of who you are and how far you have come...I also love that the collection I believe is unique and set up...different to most of the stuff we see out there...it has a gorgeous personality of its own...yay.

It was all bought together beautifully at the shoot...the different fabrics, styles and looks both complimentary yet contrasting and at times clashing...the pieces styled by the ever evolving and innately brilliant Bianca Rose...with her amazing creative direction...shooting within the Fusion theme...hence the name of the collection...bringing together an eclectic mix of looks...cultures...merging perceptions to create a look that was something fresh...and hopefully something really rather fabulous. 

xx