#MARCHMEETTHEMAKER DAY 9: MOCK-UP

My favorite part of design is the development stages. It can be frustrating at times but it’s the kind of pain I can push through with a smile because there’s beauty at the end of the journey. It’s just me, my mind and an amazing sample maker working together to make the best of every tiny detail, many of them so small you might not believe the sometimes excruciating process it went through. Swipe through to see snippets of how Shhh.. dudou (traditional Chinese camisole) back detail evolved for today’s #marchmeetthemaker Day 9 on Rough / Mock-Up.

The tiniest of adjustments like hiding 3 simples stitches, or re-locating the back-stitch to end a line or increasing the appliqué trim width by just 0.25 cm (0.1 in) can really upgrade the entire finished look. Like I always say, love is found in the small details.

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There’s actually much more happening in the evolution than these few pictures shown. Like the journey it took to get inspired, the research, the sketches, more planning and countless other samples that were regretfully lost or given away. It’s a lot -AN UNFATHOMABLE AMOUNT- of work to develop a new design/technique and especially harder for independent designers because most the time, they don’t have the endless funds for it. So when people buy a copied version, it means they are disregarding all the hard work involved. Like literally erasing all the sweat and tears poured from their heart. Like, they might as well just burn our hearts.

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Thank you for supporting small businesses. By keeping our craft alive, we are able to continue offering our uniqueness into the sometimes very bland world.

Love, Pillowbook

#MARCHMEETTHEMAKER Day 8: LOVE TO MAKE

I LOVE TO MAKE DUDOUS and MAKE WOMEN FEEL BEAUTIFUL❤️

'because empowering women has always been my jam 💪💪🏻💪🏼💪🏽💪🏾💪🏿🦾

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For #marchmeetthemaker Day 8 “Love to Make”, I want to share why I love to make women feel more beautiful, confident, sexy and ready to fly in a super cape. I worked my way through college as a beauty advisor selling cosmetics/skin care and I had the pleasure of seeing women transform physically and emotionally with a make-over. It was so satisfying to see them leave, chin up, ready to fight the ongoing battles that the world tends to chuck at us. Today, I continue having the same satisfaction but with lingerie. If lipstick is war paint then lingerie is a shiny amour.

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Personally for me, as an Asian-American creator, the Dudou (traditional Chinese camisole) goes beyond confidence and sexiness. You see, I grew up with such huge American pride that it blinded me from appreciating the beauty of my Taiwanese culture. It didn’t help that my American college education didn’t teach about non-western lingerie culture. In fact, the *entire* lingerie industry is heavily Euro-centric so always being the black sheep, I went against it and started championing for the Dudou.

Hello! C’est moi donning a Sirens dudou sample.

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But it wasn’t until more-than-enough customers came back to me fawning about a sense of cultural pride when donning a Pillowbook dudou. Note that dudous disappeared during China’s cultural revolution. Post-revolution, the garment became a tourist’s cheap trinket or baby’s top. Sad! So when women came to me b/c their mother never worn a dudou (deemed it too old-fashioned) so they didn’t know much about it BUT was very curious.... Oh my, the look of pride beaming in their eyes when they tried one on! THAT MOMENT hit me like a train wreck. This is much more than just me carving a niche to have a USP. This has always been about reconnecting to my roots. It took women to shed this light on me and now it’s my prerogative to further empower Asian women and educate others about this little beautiful piece of history.

🎐

Happy Women’s Day

❤️

Love, Pillowbook

#MARCHMEETTHEMAKER DAY 7: YOU

I AM CELEBRATING ALL OF YOU CRAZY ASS AMAZING & STRONG & SMART & BOSSY & COURAGEOUS & FUNNY & everything-gender-stereotypes-tells-you-that-you-can-not-be KIND OF WOMAN! 

Just sharing the final destination to my train of thoughts to Day 7 “YOU” for #marchmeetthemaker. At first, I was confused by today’s topic. Does it mean you the maker (thus, me) or you the audience (thus, you)? So assuming it’s about the maker because it is in fact, “March, Meet the MAKER” challenge, I started on an endless tunnel of blind writing about myself. Then I realized, “without YOU, there would be no me!” Like an “I am still here, creating and keeping Pillowbook alive!” kind of me. So, THANK YOU ALL! Besides, why shouldn’t today be about you? It’s in fact Women’s Day tomorrow and you ladies are my super-women. (Gawd, was that too cheesy?)

😝

I couldn’t think of any other picture to post except some of the wonderful selfies some of you have shared.

Love Your Lingerie. Love Your Life. Love Yourself Lots

Love, Pillowbook