When we create photoshoots for Gloomth there’s always a lot to consider, and quite a bit of thought and planning goes into how we do the hair, makeup, and accessorizing of the outfits- along with the environment itself and theme. Today I just wanted to write a bit about that process for a closer look behind the scenes at what we goes into a Gloomth ‘shoot! 🙂 The accompanying photos were all taken at the shoot by our photographer Russel Hall.

When I originally began sketching ideas for this shoot we wanted to evoke a party atmosphere, but keep the colors muted and strange. Sort of like an acid-colored tea party. This provided some challenge to the set building (can’t really go to the party shop and buy the acid-theme set of decorations) and also how to create unique hair styles that wouldn’t clash or look out of place in the environment I built in our studio!

A chaotic Gloomth tea party began taking shape the day (or so) before the actual shoot. The set itself involved lots of my vintage textiles, doilies, tablecloths, and even antique cotton sleepwear! I mixed that with loads of giant candies, a fake cake, vintage teacups, some of my pastel planter collection, and paper streamers.

We enlisted the extremely talented Savija Ellis again to help turn my idea of “candy made of hair” into a reality! I cut approximate candy shapes out of hard foam for her to use to sculpt around.

Savija took it to an amazing level and made our over the top candy shapes a reality! All out of the models’ hair and a few sneaky extensions.

As I planned the makeup I wanted it to be as close to the concept for the set design as possible- messy and dark and a little immature. I chose to do large black blurred eyes with loads of lashes and winged eye-liner to mimic the pops of black in the set. Then smeared green/gold glitter on the cheekbones of all our models. We finished each look with black or pink lip glosses for a girly touch!

Both my kitties are quite used to having their living space taken over by models and sets so they behave (relatively) well. Atticus mostly just shows off for the models or tries to snog them, and Goblin is her regular mischievous and confused self.

I accessorized the designs for the collection with black pvc accessories. Pvc is not a fabric commonly seen in lolita outfits, and I wanted something a bit shiny and reflective to contrast the soft set behind the models. I made little bow cuffs and collars for the models and lots of pvc hair bows! They turned out quite cute for such a quick hot-glue job I think. 😛

We had an amazing team for this shoot and I am so grateful for the opportunity to regularly collaborate with so many awesome people! 🙂

-Taeden