Absolut Style at Set Vintage Fair

Bonzie Staff Sammy getting a breath of fresh air!!!

The lovely Rosa in her new Bonzie Coquette Scarf!

Mother and Daughter combo that arrived at the fair for a browse. An absolutely darling couple with a really terrific energy, we loved these gals!! Decked out in a vintage style ensemble too!

These gorgeous little ladies arrived on the Sunday with their Mom for a browse through the fair. One of our absolute highlights of the weekend. The little gal on the left is an aspiring designer and she made her own Easter Bonnet with Tulle, Easter chicks and nestling eggs. She was a vision! Check out their little red shoes!!!!

Here's me getting my Victory Rolls from Paula of Lady Pearl Vintage Hair Specialists in Cork ( More about this fabulous new company later!!)

These ladies need a post all of their own!

As you can see we like to be comfie at work!!!!! lol Ger wearing her day wear shoes!!!

Ger was keeping hydrated..... it was an awfully warm weekend!!!

We kidnapped Brendan Courtney from "Off the Rails" for a picture and he was absolutely fabulous. A really funny and warm character, it was lovely to meet him. ( No TV presenters were harmed in the operation, honest!)

New Bonzie Beaded Necklaces for sale at the Vintage Fair...

The stunning Lauren Bejaoui modelling a bonzie ethereal cape over a stunning antique wedding gown by "Vintage Bride" in Dublin. Lauren was doing regular shoots at the fair featuring items from the stallholders, it was a terrific idea and we all got to have fabulous photos afterward. Photographer Ciúin Tracey captured the shoots all weekend. Will be sharing those shots soon too!

A side view of our stand at the fair.

Organizer: Blanaid Hennessy

Sammy joined us over the weekend to help out with the set up and stall hosting. We had a great time and she got right into the spirit of things. ( see example above!!! lol) We managed to hijack a pair of "high nellie" bikes from gorgous Dutch bike company, This Old Bike!

So we are back from our road trip at the weekend.... We had the most amazing time at this year's Absolut Style at Set Vintage Festival. The Fair was organized by Blanaid Hennessy ( a fashion and Interiors dynamo from Kilkenny!) The stalls this year were amazing and we had a chance to meet some of our gal pals from online that we have only ever spoken to through facebook etc. It was a lovely weekend and we really enjoyed meeting everyone. I will let the pictures do the talking...

xx

Enjoy

bonzie

Beauty Team heading for the Dragon's Den

Uber Glamorous Sarah Jane Hanton, CEO of Beauty Team.ie

Sarah Jane is heading for the Dragon's!!!

Sarah Jane in action styling the most recent Bonzie Photoshoot...

Gals,

I've been biting my tongue for ages in the run up to this little nugget of news. Our gal pal Sarah Jane Hanton of BeautyTeam.ie is heading for the Dragon's this Sunday. Sarah Jane will be pitching her company to the Dragon's Den on the upcoming episode on RTE this Sunday Night.

I can't wait to see Sarah in action. We are all rooting for her here at Bonzie HQ.

Great to see another local business reaching for the stars.

Best wishes Sarah, we know you can do it!!!

Check out Sarah's Beauty and Style company at

www.beautyteam.ie

PhotoShoot Fun!

Model Lorna McGrath showing off those gorgeous puppy dog eyes!

Photographer Ann Power captures some Behind the Scene action....

Beauty Team style director Sarah Jane Hanton putting the finishing touches to Lornas Make Up

The fabulous Loft style Studios at Beauty Team Headquarters...

Professional Photography Studio available for hire ( workshops/yoga/art/photography)

located at Tycor Business Centre, Waterford City. Contact BeautyTeam.ie for further details and rates.

Gals,

We had the pleasure of working with the guys at BeautyTeam.ie yesterday evening and we had a fabulous shoot to capture the new Bonzie Fascinator Range. ( Photoshoot pictures coming soon!)

Beauty Team headquarters is the most adorable loft style studio space with professional lighting, warm fans, good tunes and a friendly hostess with the mostess! Our dear friend Sarah Jane Hanton stands at the helm of this fabulous new Style and Beauty venture, www.beautyteam.ie which is about to go National ladies ( check out Sarah Jane pitching her idea to the Judges on Dragon's Den, RTE on the 27th March. Episode 6) We can't wait!!

Also rocking out the shoot with us was stunning local model Lorna McGrath and of course the photography was shot by both Alicja Hajdukiewicz and Ann Power. Both terrific gals and talented photographers. ( Get in touch if you would like contact details for either girls folks, perhaps you have an event or local wedding coming up soon!)

We brought along our current fascinator range as we were looking to update our sites with some millinery images and the shoot went great.

Many Thanks to the following

The folks at BeautyTeam.ie

Super fantastic Sarah Jane Hanton ( we heart you!)

Photographer: Alicja Hajdukiewicz

Photographer: Ann Power

Shoot Assistant: Shauna Murphy

Gabby Young ....

Green Man Sessions 008 // Gabby Young and Other Animals - We're All In This Together from Green Man on Vimeo.

Check Out our Gal pal British Songstress Gabby Young of "Gabby Young and Other Animals" rocking out in Bonzie clobber. Gabby is one of our favourite gals to dress, she is simply stunning and has such an adventurous approach to fashion. Gabby is a wonderful muse and creates a theatrical presence wherever she goes. Very cool to have this video of Gabby and the guys singing my fave song from the album too!

Join Gabby Here on Facebook

Snowy Inspiration....

Bonzie Couture Embellished Collar ( inspired and photographed in the snow! )

www.bonzie.etsy.com

Vintage Disc Fascinators

New range of Vintage Disc Fascinators in stock soon.

40 Euro Each (53 Dollars Each) Introductory Offer!

Perfect accessory for the party season!

Some reserved to date, be sure to book in early, limited availability on these babies.

www.bonzie.etsy.com

Futura Magazine featuring Bonzie

A special thanks to the lovely folks at "Futura" magazine for featuring 'bonzie' in the latest edition of their mag!

Futura ~ Specialist in Fashion Trading Publishing.

Bonzie Recommends!

For those of you who just can't get enough of all things fashion and style related, we have the very thing for you!!! Irish fashionistas can now help themselves to classes in style and beauty with Style Fish, Ireland’s First Dedicated Fashion School teaching Style & Beauty Programmes for women nationwide!

Here's what the lovely folks over at Style Fish had to say...

"We currently teach in Kilkenny, Dublin, Cork, Kildare, Tipperary & Portlaoise. We offer a Cost effective, Fun & fully personalised Programme for women who walk away feeling completely transformed in all aspects of their Style & Beauty. Not only that but all our ladies become part of the Style Fish Club receiving fantastic offers from Fashion & beauty companies right throughout the year in our Style Fish Newsletter & Online. We guarantee women will make less mistakes when shopping, be much more confident when it comes to their style and we will become their new fashion best friend!"

Sounds fabulous ladies!

Check out http://www.stylefish.ie/ for more information on joining their classes.

Keep abreast of the fashion goss over at their blog http://stylefish.ie/fishfood/

Fancy joining in? Check out their upcoming classes HERE!

Interview on Bufflyleigh!

Hi Guys,

We were recently Interviewed on a dear friends blog over at "Musings of Buffyleigh"

Buffy has an incredible eye for quirky fashion and shares her passion for Independent Design and Uniqueness with her readers over at her fashion blog. Each post is so inspiring and full to the seams of Independent eccentric designers from all over the world that Buffy just seems to be able to unearth from all corners of the Internet. Its certainly a blog on my reader and a good one to add if your also into quirky finds from the fashion-sphere!

A huge thanks to Buffy for featuring our label recently, we are delighted to have our work shared with your readers too. :)

Drumroll Ladies!!!!!

Introducing.................

The Official Launch of our very own "Bonzie" website ( finally!)

Gals you might remember we mentioned gifting ourselves at christmas time with our very own website, well after 2 months of tinkering with html codes, and general all round computer techy stuffamajuff (as my partner would say), that clearly confused the earlobes right off my face we have finally gotten our site up and LIVE on the world wide web. :)

Its been somewhat of a challenge understanding all the bits and bobs that were required to complete the site but we have finally ( after endless damzel in distress style emails to our support team!) have managed to compose the beginnings of what is to be another muffin in the bonzie cake tin. :)

We love the romantic haunted vibe of the website, the tattered fabric, the music, the romantic french swirls, encapsulating some of what we enjoy here at studio "Bonzie". We will be adding a lot more content over the next few months so stay tuned, but for now, I hope you guys take a peek and enjoy the early excitement with both of us. xxx

http://www.bonziedesigns.com/

bonzie & ger

Belle Armoire Jan/Feb Issue out NOW!

Gals the newest edition of Belle Armoire has hit the stands and we are excited to introduce our second edition of the "Tattered Couture" Column. This issue we look at the rise of the humble blazer/jacket ........... hold up, did I say "humble" , sorry, my bad ... I meant the adorned, the bejewelled, the embellished! shall I go on! :) We took a tour of our favourite product and best seller since we launched our handmade label in Ireland all those years ago.

Here's what the fabulous ladies over at Belle Armoire have to say about the new issue.....

"Both fashionable and fabulous, Belle Armoire offers 96 pages of must-make creations. Rejuvenate your wardrobe and inspiration by trying on the latest issue, full of jewelry, accessories and clothing created from scratch. Designer collections showcase the best of contemporary art-to-wear designers, while columnist Bonzie advises on the latest trends. Our Salon and Altered Couture sections show off the hottest designs and re-designs from our readers. Flip through these style profiles to master and marvel at the artistry of clothing and accessories."

Belle Armoire is a must have read for all ye creative types, why not treat yourself to a subscription here!

Our Local Beach!

Yesterday we mentioned the recent photoshoot on our nearby beach, Bonmahon, Co. Waterford! Well mostly I would have to say I think of it more like a "Coastline" than a beach. For me a beach conjures up lovely summery imagery and lets face it the nearest our local beach gets to "summery" is slurping on a 99 ice cream cone!

However, chilly coastline it may be, I have to admit there is a certain level of mystique about our beaches/coastlines and the photographer really captured some of that magic yesterday as the sun was going down! We might not be able to catch any rays on said beach too often but it sure looks nice on a postcard! :)

x

bonzie & ger

Neck Adorned!

Spring is coming ( I know gals , I'm being a bit premature but living in Ireland Im really feeling the urge to shake the winter off as soon as possible!) So in honor of having our eye on all things spring sprongish here's a shot from a really enjoyable shoot yesterday with a local edgy photographer, Shane O Neill. Shane has a really great eye for angles and perspective and injects a bit of art into all of his shots! You can check him out at his website

http://www.aspectphotography.net/

It was absolutely freeeezin on the beach yesterday and all of us behind the cameras were shivering under layers of parkas and such so its a bit of a miracle that my model/sister managed to keep a spring serene glow about her whilst the tips of her big toes were quickly turning a funny shade of blue!

All in all it was a really great day and I'm looking forward to sharing more shots with you guys over the week. x

bonzie & ger

New Artfire Studio Launch!

We are very excited to introduce another venue to peruse our newest line. With a large number of designers and crafters joining the Artfire community we decided to fill a studio of our own. http://www.artfire.com/ is the latest craze in all things handmade and with many things in beta stages its a brand new playing ground with lots of new features coming online as everyone tests out the waters. You can check out our shop HERE

In honor of our newest venture we are offering free "Bonzie" corsage brooch to the first 10 buyers. :)

Expect to see lots of the typical bonzie fare with a large selection of boleros, corsets, wraps and much more, with lots of new products on the way for 09.

Why not take a peek to see what all the buzz is about.

x

bonzie & ger

Treasury Thank Yous!

We were very fortunate over the christmas to see some really gorgeous treasurys on the front page of Etsy.com including some of our pieces. In fact one night while I was sleeping, I awoke at 4 in the morning and felt an urge to check our etsy shop online, I snuck into the kitchen and turned on my little Itouch (IPod) where I was able to log on straight away without making too much noise in the house, and low and behold there was one of our pieces on the front page just as I logged on. I tell you my ESP (Extra Sensory Perception) was in full swing that night! lol In facct that happens now and again, I will get an overwhelming urge to check in online at the most inconvenient of times only to find a nice surprise there that I might have missed otherwise!

We wanted to personally thank those that regularly support our work and include us in their treasuries on etsy. Huge thanks to Talula, Spelfenmeisje and JealousyDesign for the awesome collections above that made it onto the front page this month. :)

A wee thank you token is on its way to you all. xxx

bonzie & ger

Double Trouble

A while back I mentioned about some really awesome news that I was really excited about. I wanted to share this with you guys to keep you informed with whats going on with the label each step of the way. :)

At a point along the way I had realized that doing absolutely everything alone was a bit of a task. designing, constructing, emailing, shipping, wrapping, marketing, sourcing, buying....yada, yada, yada, the list goes on but you get the drift! I was longing for someone to share the experience with, sombody with the same obsessive passion for it as me, someone as anal about "the look" and the finish as me and someone mostly who I could rely on and could share the journey with. As fate would have it that somone was under my nose all along. In fact the lady I asked to join me was no other than the very person who inspired me to start creating in the first place way back when I was too young to even hold a scissors! My Auntie Ger, one of my Dads younger sisters. Ger has joined the "Bonzie" starship enterprise as my partner, my rock, my other half and head of production. Ger is also a fully qualified designer and tailor bringing years of bridal experience, in fact we joked at the beginnning about how we are now like yin and yang, Im a fan of randomness and Ger is a fan of precision and between the two of us we are creating some interesting new pieces and bubbling with plans for developing the label.

Its so lovely to have someone to share such an awesome experience with and I can't think of anyone I would rather be sharing it with. Even during times of stress and impending deadlines we manage a giggle. Recently on the day that I was heading to Kerry for the recent bridal mag photoshoot we had a bit to do on one of the pieces that contained hundreds of handmade corsages, we were working literally against the clock and both of us on the studio floor sewing beading in a frenzy... needless to say hysteria kicked in and we were so stressed we got into a fit of the giggles, rolling around on the floor covered in organza until I decided that wasn't funny enough and stood on the pot of pearls ( the one that Ger keeps with THOUSANDS in it) which went rolling all over the floor, there we were now in a sea of pearls, organza, and both of us in the foetal position laughing hysterical, all the while this skirt was still sitting unfinished on the mannequin and time was running out! To finish it off I then decided that it would be a good idea to sew the skirt right through the mannequin cover so that we couldn't even get it off, at this point Ger was purple in the face and choking on the giggles.

Its the days like these that make be a design duo absolutely fabulous!

I hope you guys welcome Ger to the blog too and I want to thank her for bringing her drive and passion to something that means so much to me.

Welcome Ger!!!! Heres to a fabulous year!

x

bonzie