Behind the Scenes of my Cheeky Chickadee Swimwear Collaboration
Working with Connie and Alex at Cheeky Chickadee had to be the best possible way for me to attempt my first swimwear design collaboration on a collection that would suit my family and those in my community.
We first started talking about a design collaboration back in May of this year, while my national speaking tour was still in progress. Because it has been such a memorable experience, I thought I'd share a bit of the behind-the-scenes with you as to how it came together!
With Connie being the artist that she is, in her small Sydney studio she hand draws the one of a kind animal prints that feature in their collection. To my ears, that meant the world was my oyster in coming up with a print my girls would love! If I could think it, Connie could draw it.
Designs for our first collection together started in June, and pieces were made available for sale in October.
I wanted something whimsical to capture my girls' playful and magical imaginations, and also to represent how much time we spend at the beach and in the ocean - it is our favourite place to be together as a family. I went with pink & white seahorses and seashells on a lilac background. This collection was a hit with sizes of the one piece selling out in under 20 minutes from launch.
With our first swimwear collection going so well and people asking for another range, Alex, Connie and I jumped on a call to talk about what the next collection might look like.
For this one, I used Clay as my muse. A typical Aussie guy, who's a dedicated father and loves nothing more than heading to the beach with his daughters. I wanted to create something he would be proud and even excited to wear, matching with his minis.
For the first collection, I had never done this before, so I designed focusing on what I know best - myself and my girls. But for this second collection, I wanted to include pieces that would suit my husband, and also anyone with little men.
Because it would be inclusive of both girls and boys, I wanted the print and colours to be flattering and fun for both! I came up with the below vision board for Connie to work with, and you can see a bit of how the vision progressed!
I also drew inspiration from my nephew Raffy, the girls' cousin and Lexi's bestie. He loves everything to do with "big cats."
The latest collection launched in mid-December. We experienced a few delays due to the addition of extra pieces - the new mens & boys pieces, as well as my two-piece! That one took over 5 samples and different measurements to get just right, but I love the fit.
Both collections have been a dream for me. The experience working with Connie and Alex; their seamless processes (not to mention being constantly in amazement with how well they handle a thriving business and the mayhem of day-to-day with 4 young children), their patience, their visions for their business and our collaboration, has been a really great fit.
We've had a lot of fun with this partnership and hope, if you've found yourself and your fam in any of our pieces, that you love them, possibly even more knowing a bit about how they came to be! 💞
