Keera Sama

Accessory photoshoot at the Palace!

2011-03-24T08:59:00.000-07:00

So I organized and hosted a photoshoot at my place with my multi-talented friends!
here is the post on my Learn to Create blog:
http://learntocreate.wordpress.com/2011/03/24/mini-party-i-mean-uh-photoshoot-at-the-palace/

Making Headbands and Accessories!

2011-03-06T19:48:00.000-08:00

So I've been working on some headbands and belts made with fabrics not only from Africa, but all around the world.
Being a crazy travel addict one thing I love to collect as souvenirs is fabric!
Whenever my friends or family travel it's something they always bring back for me as well ;) So all these accessories I'm making are made up of these fabrics!
I also have millions of beads, rhinestones, crystals, and sequins from my belly dancing days so expect some colorful and sparkly creations!!
Here's a couple pictures as a sneak peak.... :)

Photography by Chris

Fashion is lovely but I want to teach

2011-02-06T11:37:00.000-08:00

I'm still accepting commisions for dress peices but I've currently been very involved in a new project....
take a look:

http://learntocreate.wordpress.com

I'm opening a studio (expect it this summer) that will teach people creative skills, and host classes where you can learn to make a variety of projects (clothing, jewelry, organisers for home) You'll learn how to paint, sew, draw, aaaand create. ;)

Article from Ottawa Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2011

2011-01-26T00:20:00.000-08:00

Here is an article I found about my show for Spring/Summer 2011!
The show went on in October, I had about 17 peices,
The models were great and the new venue is gorgeous, but unfortunately there wasn't much organisation and planning done for the backstage area....
The show still managed to be a success, after alot of steaming, hurriedly dressing models, and getting them onstage I felt so good seeing the girls walking my peices down the runway, I was proud!

So here is the article.

and here are a few photos,
enjoy ;)

Photos from the deadly sins show!

2010-07-12T18:48:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from the show!
Beautiful body artwork by April-Anna
Jewelry by Trashed!

FASHION SHOW this Friday May 21st 2010

2010-05-18T13:21:00.000-07:00

This Friday: May 21st 2010 (Doors open 9:00pm, show at 12 midnight)
Deadly sin party at Privateer
on 1222 Mackay 5 minute walk from Guy Concordia Metro
This Friday's Sin: Vanity
Burlesque show with Eva Sins and Fashion show with Keera Sama and Jewelry Designer Sayeh www.trashedcreations.com.
Body Art by April-Anna Bremers!
www.aprilanna.com

Text me for reduced guestlist (10$) (514)502-4285

Etsy Store

2010-05-05T13:19:00.000-07:00

Slowly but surely I am adding new dresses to the etsy store!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/keerasama

You can view my etsy store on the bottom left corner of this page as well.

This summer you will see some of my summer line in Montreal stores.
Updates coming soon!

Create my itinerary | Portes ouvertes Design Montreal 2010

2010-04-27T10:16:00.000-07:00

Create my itinerary Portes ouvertes Design Montreal 2010

Montreal has an open house for Designers, this is my itinerary for the day!

Ottawa Fashion Week

2010-04-19T14:15:00.000-07:00

Check out all the photos from the Ottawa fashion week show showcasing the Fall 2010 line here

I would like to thank all the coordinators from the show who were so organised and amazing to work with! http://www.ottawafashionweek.ca
And also the Models, from Barret Palmer, Angie's Models and Models International Management
And thank you to Jennifer Laoun-Rubenstein for providing the jewelry and accesories for the show!

The show was a lot of fun,
it was a little stressfull because I received the invitation to present my collection only 2 weeks before the show! but it worked out in the end after many sleepless nights of preperation.
I was just watching a bikini or bust episode where the exact same thing happened to them, they had 2 weeks to prepare for a fashion week: http://www.ashleypaige.com/videos/index.html
the only difference is she had an entire team to help her, I did it all alone. I still don't understand how I managed... I designed, drafted the patterns, sewed all the samples, fitted the models, all by myself : For next fashion week I am definately hiring people to help me out! And I will have more time to do so.
I'll be spending time now getting a team together!

Vacation

2010-04-06T09:44:00.000-07:00

I've just returned from easter vacation, what a way to rejuvenate the soul!

I have energy again, time to get ready for another trip to Nigeria.

In 2-3 weeks (after the stress of buying ticket aquiring visa) I will be flying to Africa (with a stop in Paris ;) I'm so excited!
I'll be starting the process of importing african fabrics into Canada, right now I'm researching all the laws and taxes I need to know about.

On another note, the Ottawa fashion week show was amazing! I had alot of fun working with nice and extremely helpfull people, the show was so organised! I had a great experience. and I have the photos from the runway show! :D Fall 2010 line, the full line will be on the website in a few days but here is a sneak peak:

My good friend Robert Gilbert and photographer Michel Cipriani, made the trip out to Ottawa to do photos of the runway shows for Thursday night.

New Domain Name

2010-03-22T20:30:00.000-07:00

Is this amazing?
yes indeed,
I have a new domain name :D

http://www.keerasama.com

So exciting, my whole name! On Sunday I made an entire website, from scratch, in one day, because I just needed something up since I will be having alot of hits from the ottawa fashion week.
It's not the spiffiest website, I must say, but I will have the gorgeous one up once the craziness of the fashion week is over.
And hopefully a french version as well.
These last few days I've just been non-stop sewing dresses for the runway, doing photoshoots, organising fittings for the models (lots of cancelling there:), organising accesories, shoes, music, logos, ad, etc etc
I'm still not happy with my logo.... it makes me sad, I really loved the Lia logo, and I made that one in one attempt, but the Keera Sama one I've redone like 10 times so far and I'm still not happy... I guess it's really important to me since it will symbolise what will hopefully become my life's work!
I'll put up a few soon and set up a poll, so people can help me decide!

woooosaaaaah

2010-03-22T20:06:00.000-07:00

Is that how you write it?
As much as I love being in the freelance business (I could never do the steady 9-5, I need excitement and flexibility), working as my own boss, managing myself,
it comes with alot of snags.
I love being able to work with someone I've never met before on a regular basis. I need to hire out seamstresses, models, photographers, show coordinators, venue owners etc etc.
It's exciting because you make alot of new friends, learns things from interesting people, and you have access to all different circles (I party with the hipsters, the preppy people, hippies, hip hop crowd, the die-hard fashionistas, the belly dance community, and more)
But one thing about hiring out people you don't know, is you have no idea if you can trust them. You have to rely on your instincts, and sometimes you just have no choice. And if people don't know you that well they don't give a damn about screwing you over.
I've had so many instances now where models or photographers would cancel on me last minute... and it's really awful because people don't realise that a lot of planning goes into a shoot, the makeing of the clothing, fitting it to the model, coming up with a theme, booking the time, expenses...
So imagine you spend hours planning and setting up for this thing, not to mention it's quite a feat organising a date where 4-5 people are available at the same time! and then someone calls you up with some made up excuse about, well I'm sure we've all come up with some stupid thing or other when we wanted a day off work. but the problem with a contract is this is the one time you'll work with the person, potentially one or two times more, but never again if you cancel a few hours before the shoot! And paying a model doesn't even seem to make a difference!
The worst thing now is having entire fashion shows cancelled last minute, which is even more time spent for preparation and set up.... PEOPLE IN MONTREAL ARE SO FLAKY!
Being in the belly dancing business for 7 years now you'd think I'd be used to this kind of thing (last minute cancellations), but fashion design requires alot more work and dedication, so all these set backs are beginning to wear me down. This project is my baby!
At least from this experience I've learned that I need to build a circle of people I can work with regularly and be able to depend on, once you build a trust with people I'm sure this kind of thing happens a lot less.
New Goals: 1. Have only 3 in house models I use all the time
2. Use only a few photographers I trust and love working with (I already have a few that I have great experiences with!!!)
3. Organise my own god damn fashion shows.
(although I must make a shout out to Ottawa fashion week, these people are incredibly organised and helpfull, I've been having a great experience with them!)

Facebook and Twitter

2010-03-21T17:24:00.000-07:00

Join the Facebook Fan Page
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Ottawa Fashion Week Event

2010-03-19T09:38:00.000-07:00

I've been running around all week preparing for my runway show at Ottawa fashion week, the show will take place Thursday at 8:45. You can purchase tickets here.

And you can check out the Facebook Event.

http://www.ottawafashionweek.ca/

Yesterday we stayed up all night shooting with Robert Gilbert my two gorgeous models were Mihaela and Kathleen, who are also members of the band XOX, and my good friend Genevieve Joly was our talented makeup artist for the night! We had so much fun, the dresses looked amazing on the girls, and we got very creative with the makeup and the looks, I can't wait to see the finished product!!

As for finished photos, here is one by Nic Small, and model Lynne, Farhat was the makeup artist for this shoot, she's wearing a strapless slightly a-line dress from the spring 2010 line. Fabric made in Ghana.

Shoot with Leo

2010-03-16T23:50:00.000-07:00

So I did a shoot with Mr Leo Pelletier :)

One of my favorite dresses, I partied in this while visiting Africa, the small but lively town of Calabar :) good memories

More photos

2010-03-14T13:36:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more photos from the shoot with Dominick :)

I absolutely love this one! it was done in the reflection of some glass, underground tunnel square victoria

Dom brought two cameras, and while he was taking pictures I took some as well, hahaha, I love his camera! I wanted to keep it!!

formspring.me

2010-03-14T13:09:00.005-07:00

Ask me anything http://formspring.me/keerasama

Ottawa Fashion Week

2010-03-14T12:41:00.001-07:00

Ok so I received an official invitation to Ottawa's fashion week. Very exciting but also very scary, it's the most serious show I've ever done!
When they first invited me I freaked out because it meant I had to prepare up to 20 pieces in two weeks, model size (it is so difficult to fit tiny people) and finish my lookbook, press kit, advertisements, runway music all in 3 days!!!! (I got the invitation very last minute) So at first I said no and that I would love to do the next show in September,
but then they told me they really wanted me at this show and they extended a few deadlines so I had to say yes, I was so sad I had said no in the first place, I hate turning down great oppurtunities!
So now I've been going crazy trying to put together my fall 2010/2011 collection,
so far I need to finish 10 more peices, I have 6 done, and this week I have a fitting with the models,
ooh this is an exciting part, I get to use AGENCY models for the first time! After using models from modelmayhem who can be extremely unreliable this is wonderfull news for me! I've been going through tons of zed cards and portfolios picking out my models, it's so much fun! and these girls are gorgeous! they're going to rock my dresses I'm sure.
so after the fitting I'll need to finalise all 17 or so peices and get them ready for the runway...
I still need:
Shoes, Jewelry, and Accessories (I'm thinking brown tights)
Runway Music
More Photography done for Advertisements (any photographers out there?)
Put my new website online

So now I must harrass some stores and see if they'll sponsor some shoes for me...
And I'm going crazy trying to find the right kind of music! I like stuff that is a little more underground with some good percussion (I'm a belly dancer, it comes out in all I do) but it needs to have a solid beat for the walking...
so much to do today! off I go to get it done...

Shoot with Dominick!

2010-03-12T10:02:00.000-08:00

So Yesterday I had a shoot with mr. Dominick Gravel ! http://www.lartisandelimage.com
Shoots with him are always an adventure.
My first model ended up being sick, and I found out only a few hours before the shoot... so I was in a mad panic. So she made up her friend and sent her over,
only problem was she's a size 2 and I had all size 4 dresses, so we only got to shoot 3 of the outfits, but we still managed to get so cool images out of it!
Very artsy so they'll be good for the campaign photos, and our model was Alessandra, an awesome girl from australia.
The shoot took place in the underground city :) The tunnels connecting all the metros if you feel like walking during the winter. There are some gorgeous spots!
We had to sneak away whenever we saw security but on the most part we were left unbothered... except when a hobo stole our box of timbits!!!
So here are a few of my favorites!

Photoshoots

2010-03-08T17:07:00.000-08:00

Last week I did a photoshoot with the photographer Nic Small, and Model Lynne,
we also had the lovely Farhat doing the makeup and hair!
Now I'm waiting for the finalised photos and I'm going crazy waiting for them!!! It's the spring 2010 line.
In the meantime you can see a sample of some of my clothing being worn out in the world!
Florence, and Nigeria

and in my house... lol

City Wear with an African Flair

2010-03-07T20:39:00.000-08:00

After a year of producing a knit wear line I've now decided to put it to rest and focus all my attention on my new baby...
I'm starting a new women's wear line made with fabrics fresh from Africa.
Beautiful textiles with rich colours and unique patterns you won't find anywhere else.
I've provided you with a little preview, these are swatches of fabric that you'll find in my spring/summer 2010 line.
Normally when you think of African fabric either it's relating to the very traditional african dress, or hippy wear you're prone to seeing on Mont-Royal at the tams.
But with this line I aim to make much more modern designs, something you can wear in the city, a night out, a special event, or at the beach on your sunny vacation ;)
All the garments are produced in Montreal, I'm all for supporting industries in my homeland, Canada. But the reason for incorporating African fabrics is that I'm part African myself. Visiting my grandparents in the Nigerian town of Calabar, I got to browse the old style markets where these beautiful textiles can be found in abundance, it was love at first site and I was so inspired.
So this line is the dream that hatched out of that visit to Africa, my grandmother being my number one supporter, a fashinista herself and ex-patriot from Germany.
Being my biggest role model she is the one who drives me to pursue this dream of mine and start up my company.