Flowers in May: Lolita Flora Editorial

At the dawn of Spring I did a shoot with a talented little crew of ladies, and enjoyed the blossoming of the season in the whimsical hills of Berkeley. I created an editorial around a small collection of dresses, embellished with silk flowers. Shoot day was every bit as dreamy as I had imagined... our team was truly full of magic, and enchanted with flower power. If you would like to purchase clothing from this editorial it can be found for sale in my etsy.

PHOTO CREDITS:

Photographer: Regina Marie
Model: Neon Lolita
MU/Hair: Becky Brazier
Wardrobe Stylist: Kaytee Papusza
Wardrobe Designer: Papusza Couture
Flower Crowns: Katie Burley Millinery
Jewelry: Taxil Hoax

Sending Love Letters to NYC in Spring | A Fairytale in Photos by Ashley Garner

As many of you know, my love affair with NYC has been going on for about 8 years now, since 2006 when I decided I was going to move to Brooklyn. At the time I was ripe, eager, in my early 20's and as I would have said back in that day; "Ready to take the bull by the balls." After living there for about 5 years I peaced out and moved to Cali... which has mostly been great for me. But I definitely have those days where I miss that beautiful babe of a Big Apple city. I remember when I was living in Brooklyn I once heard someone say, "New York is a drug, and I'm addicted." I 100% concur, and this sentiment has remained with me in the past few years since coming back to the West. I've never stopped loving her and I hope I never do.

Recently my talented muse, fellow creator and friend Ashley Garner moved to NYC-I was stoked to be able to see her and do some work with her while I was there over the winter, she is kicking so much ass already. I mailed Ashley a box of dresses for an editorial last week, including the magical Love Letter Dress. I was so pleased to see her create a fairytale through photos with it in Central Park. Have a look at this magical story below.

Special thanks to Sanaz Gangei for the beautiful script on the textiles of this gown.

Spring Fever | Color Junkie Sale in Etsy

Spring is in the air, and I can feel it! I had so much fun kicking off the season this past weekend, by having a fabulous and color happy photoshoot with my girls Neon Lolita, Regina Marie and Becky Brazier. I couldn't be more in love with color right now if I tried, and I have been having such a blast playing with it, after months of working only in white and silver while creating my "Pleiades" collection. See a little teaser from the shoot this past weekend included below, along with a few of my other fun, Springy and color happy looks. Proper photos will be coming from this past weekend's shoot soon, but many of these other looks are currently for sale in my etsy, where I will be having a 20% off sale starting at midnight this evening, lasting until Sunday at midnight. This sale is good for *ANYTHING* in my etsy shop... to take advantage of it just enter the coupon code COLORJUNKIE upon checkout.

Photo by Sean Murdock | Model: Vera | MU by Lauren Warner | Hair by Celia Racicot

Photo by Elizabeth Raab | Model: Cayte Bosler | Hair/MU by Eleanor Sabaduquia

Photo by Jill Hannes | Model: Alexis Hutt | Hair/MU by Becky Brazier

Photo by Raymond Haddad | Model Ashley Garner

Model: Annie Su

                                        

Behind the scenes shot of Neon Lolita from last weekend shoot with Regina Marie.

"Pleiades" Collection Lookbook by Gemma Fleming

I am pleased to present the complete lookbook for my "Pleiades" Collection. Please email me for price inquiries or to place a custom order inspired by the designs that are part of this collection: papuszacouture@gmail.com.

Big love and thanks to talented Gemma Fleming for capturing all the looks and laying out such a gorgeous lookbook. If you haven't seen her beautiful fashion film, conveying the magic of the collection, please watch it here. 

CREDITS:
Director: Gemma Fleming
Assistant Director: Susanna Patrick
Couture by PapuszaCouture

Couture millinery by Katie Burley Millinery

Models: Ashley Garner and Alaia Baldwin
Hair: Hikaru Hiranu
MU: Tara Lauren

Custom textiles fabricated by Keelan Kelly. 

"Pleiades" Fashion Film by Gemma Fleming

"It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics: You are all stardust. You couldn’t be here if stars hadn’t exploded, because the elements - the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution - weren’t created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars, and the only way they could get into your body is if those stars were kind enough to explode. So, forget Jesus. The stars died so that you could be here today.” -Lawrence M. Krauss 

It was both an honor and a delight to work with the brilliant and talented Gemma Fleming, who directed and created a fashion film capturing my most recent couture collection, "Pleiades". The film was opened and shown alongside my collection at See Me Gallery during NYFW last month. Leading up to this production I spent months of long days working on creating this carefully crafted artisan couture... it was truly delightful seeing the vision come to life through Gemma's mad skill, and the talent of our epic team as a whole, for that matter. 

The one thing that I can say about this whole project and collection-from start to finish-is that I never wanted it to end. I wanted to stay in this dreamed up couture world forever, with these beautiful Pleiades and all of the wonderful friends and people that where being makers of their magical world with me. From the making of this fashion film to the beautiful NYFW Presentation of this collection, I didn't want it to end. But all great stories must come to an end. I guess that's the point of it all. To sum it all up I really just like to be able to remember "You couldn't be here if the stars hadn't exploded..."

See some behind the scenes pics, credits for our awesome crew and film below. I couldn't be more delighted with the outcome. 

CREDITS:
Director: Gemma Fleming
Assistant Director: Susanna Patrick
Couture by PapuszaCouture
Couture millinery by Katie Burley Millinery
Models: Ashley Garner and Alaia Baldwin
Hair: Hikaru Hiranu
MU: Tara Lauren
Visual Effects by Victoria Lahti

Featuring art installation details by Rosanna Scimeca and textiles custom made by Keelan Kelly.

"PLEIADES" from Gemma Fleming on Vimeo.

Shoot with ENR and Tess Munster for "Guerriere" | Wardrobe by Papusza Couture

In November I had the pleasure of designing wardrobe for a shoot with my good friend/talented photographer Elizabeth Raab and the stunning Tess Munster, as our beautiful muse. Needless to say I was elated with excitement about this shoot; not only is Elizabeth one of my favorite photographers, but I have also long admired the beauty, confidence and attitude of depth that the stunning and smart Tess Munster represents in the industry. I drew inspiration from the beautiful and strong yet soft Nordic goddess Freyja for the wardrobe I designed, creating a flowing long gauze and organza gown-with a train flowing 6 feet long-and embellishments including real pheasant wings, hand stitched delicately into place over Tess's shoulders. I also created an antler mohawk crown, featuring a third pheasant wing, as part of the ensemble-this looked stunning framing Tess's beautiful face, done up by the talented MUA Nikki Lopez. I am in love with the way that the image came out-the whole day was such a delight. I truly enjoyed working with all these talented ladies!

A few more taken behind the scenes:

Ransom & Mitchell's "Temperance" at Last Rites Gallery, Wardrobe by Papusza Couture

In October I had the pleasure of working with the talented duo Ransom & Mitchell on a shoot for a show entitled "Tarot Under Oath" at Last Rites Gallery in Manhattan. The opening for the show was at the end of January, and I was fortunate to be in NYC preparing for my show "Pleiades" at the time, allowing me to attend the opening and view the piece. It was absolutely stunning, and stuck out with Ransom & Mitchell's unique and otherworldly aesthetic. The couture pieces I created for "Temperance" where among some of the first pieces I created as part of my "Pleiades" collection. I loved the way that this image came out so much that it was used in the flier promoting the NYFW debut of the collection. Please have a peak at "Temperance" below. I felt truly honored to be part of the team that worked on this project.

PHOTO CREDITS:

Photographer/Director: Jason Mitchell
Set Designer/Retoucher: Stacey Ransom
Model: Kate Connely
Hair: Jaymz Marez
MUA: Lisa Zomer