I was fortunate enough to be fully supported by the lovely people around me, who first thought it was crazy to make this project happen in a couple of days. But we managed to get everybody together and besides the fact that we froze during the couple of hours in which we ran around the city like rebel teenagers, everything went well.

I thought of the dress, Flo styled it, Florina made the Josephine necklace, Cristina Radonici was the bravest of us, wearing this outfit at -9 degrees Celsius, Adriana Unguras made her face look like a very angry but chic clown and Vlad Gilcescu & Ale Flamy where there to capture everything. Lots of ‘thank you’s’ for all the support.

I am so lucky to have creative and amazing people around me who say ‘yes’ most of the times to all my crazy ideas. And if these pictures spark any kind of commentary or motivate you to protest in your own way, for what you believe in, well then all the work and freezing was well worth it!

If you follow me on all the social mediums I am using (tumblr, facebook, twitter), then you probably noticed that I posted some pictures with fabrics and looks from the next fall/winter 2012 collection. We are working on it since the beginning of the new year and I am hoping we finish it by the end of the month. We have 10 more looks to do and then re-edit the collection for the photo shoot of the look-book. It’s one of the most exciting parts of making a collection – deciding on the styling, accessorizing and adding finishing touches.

I promise to keep you updated on the process!

The color palette for the next fall 2012 collection.

Florina published her new Josephine collection of jewelry today and I had to share it, as I made the dress for these photos (click to see the full post if you want to better see the dress) taken by Andi Popescu of the pretty Romina. Anca Mihalache was responsible for the perfect fall/winter make-up. How amazing are all the vintage golden and bronze frames behind her? The photos were actually taken in a local store in the Unirii Square in Timisoara, where they are actually produced. Thumbs up and support for local businesses who survive in this economy!

Alex Matusciac took these photos last year, but I forgot to post them. I made this navy velvet stretch dress for the photo shoot, very last minute, but I love the glam feeling and atmosphere of the photographs. Makes me crave for some sunshine.

”The Rainbow Dress’ photographed by Vlad Gilcescu, modeled by Davina Sinjorz.

The idea and inspiration for this colorful collection came from my painting background – I studied painting all through grade and high school and then I went to the Art University, so you can imagine just how much I enjoy working with color (even if I mostly dress myself in black – the world that I envision in my work is very bright and colorful). Everybody knows the basic colors and color combinations, so I wanted to make a collection of dresses using only primary, secondary and tertiary colors meaning: red, yellow, blue – orange, purple, green (as they are combinations of primary colors) and the tertiary colors are actually combinations of primary and secondary colors.

Fabrics that we (me and my sister, as she helped me a lot with the concept and sewing of the whole collection) used for the collection were mostly chiffon, silk chiffon, light cotton, Georgette, silk organza – meaning light and transparent fabrics for a very ‘summery’ effect.

We did not plan ‘the Rainbow dress’ from the beginning. It was late one night when me and Flo saw ourselves surrounded by all these bright, colorful fabrics, so we thought of a dress to feature them all.

The initial sketching of the collection.

These are the colorful dresses on hangers before we went to Valiug for the runway presentation.

I made this collage for you to better understand the idea of the collection. Taken separately, all of the dresses have elements in common, being either draped details, cotton colorful ribbons or colorful silk handmade flower attachments.

Look book photographs by Andi Popescu, model: Oana, make-up: Anca Mihalache, jewelry: Josephine.

You can see all the looks detailed on dianabobar.com in the category ‘Collections’ by clicking on the Spring/Summer 2012 link.

We had the opportunity to show the dresses in a summer presentation at Ponton Casa Baraj in Valiug. These pictures make me miss summer so much! Photographs by Vlad Gilcescu.

The end of the presentation – me posing with the lovely girls who walked for me.

Theo Manusaride asked her friend Andreea to pose for her in Paris. I loved to be able to take part of the project by making the wedding dress for the photo shoot and Florina made the Josephine headpiece. I custom made it for Andreea, she lives in Paris and she sent over her measurements, meaning we had no way to make the fitting, so I made the dress and sent it over hoping that it would fit her – and it did! I was pleasantly surprised when Theo posted the pictures online, as they were even more beautiful than I expected. Paris is indeed an amazing city, hopefully I will get to visit it more next year.

I also can not wait to be able to do more projects like this one in the year to come.

Me and Florina work in the same atelier, in Timisoara, so it’s very easy to have this on going collaboration. She knows exactly what I am thinking about and what I want with every new collection that we create. You can of course order any of the Josephine items and even have them custom made using crystals in a different color. Right now we are actually thinking of a new collection, so I can not wait to see what amazing pieces of jewelry she will make for DB in the near future. Also, there will be a new Josephine collection for brides for which I will be making two or three dresses.

Sometimes I am so excited about new ideas that I really can not wait for the time to pass and see the results.

Photographs - Andi Popescu, model – Adina Ciobanu, jewelry – Josephine, make-up – Anca Mihalache.

You can find select DB items, both samples from the collections and special items created from fabrics I love (but which are edited out when we organize new collections) in the Pinkat Concept Store in Galati. I am in a very good company with most of Romania’s young/new designers. Do read their cute new blog and follow them to get updates on the items available in the store.

The new year will also come with exciting new collaborations with stores, both online and offline, so I can not wait to make everything happen.

Andi sent over the look book for the new collection, fall/winter 2011 and I am very excited to finally post it online.

I first started thinking about this collection at the beginning of the year, when activity is slow for everybody and there is enough time for me to focus on new work. Right after the New Year’s, when everybody is asleep or at home, that’s when I love to work. The quiet and the loneliness of the city, of the atelier, inspire me and give me space to think and to concentrate on the direction that I want to take the DB-girl-look-mood next. So I cut and sewed most of this collection in the first week of January 2011. I did not finish and therefor we did not photograph the collection then, because the orders for the summer started to come in and I found myself flooded with work and employee problems, so the creative part took a backseat. After about 7 months of work around the clock, constant trips for clients to Bucharest, fittings and a gazillion evening dresses finished, we finally found the time to re-think and edit the fall collection, to style and photograph it accordingly.

You can see the look book below. My website will be updated soon, so you will be able to zoom in on the looks on dianabobar.com.

Photographs - Andi Popescu, model – Adina Ciobanu, jewelry – Josephine, make-up – Anca Mihalache.

Mood-board for the DB fall/winter 2011 collection.

If there is a word to describe this collection it is ‘wood/woods’. I started from the color green and from the feeling you get when walking alone in the woods, being close to nature, observing all the tiny, pretty flowers that grow naturally all around the trees. I thought of a cold winter, so the layering of lots of pieces of clothing – as an idea of dressing – came natural to me. It is a collection of layering blouses, vests, wrap cardigans over cotton and wool dresses.

The color palette is also restrained, cold: beige, grey, light blue, brown, green, olive and some highlights of yellow.

The collection ends with cocktail and evening dresses made from printed, pleated silk chiffon fabrics – however the prints stay in the same range of color.

I will post all the mood-photographs and close-up shots of the jewelry exclusively created by Josephine for this collection in a following post, as soon as all the images are ready for publishing.

If you have any other questions regarding this collection or the availability to order any of the looks above, please contact me at diana[at]dianabobar.com