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Magdalena Duma Diary And Blog

Summer 2011/12 behind the scenes of the campaign shoot

Magdalena Durma
Sunday, February 19, 2012

Sometimes, to get the best shoots one must think outside the box and Cybelle does just that. 

For the first image we all climbed huge and steep rocks. It was quite a sight, to see a perfectly made model in exquisite clothes climb up the rocks followed by a camera crew, hair and make up artist and myself. 

That was followed by hanging out on the edge of the river bank and climbing trees. 

Cybele then decided she wanted a shot of the sunset. She wanted to get some hight, so off on to the bridge we went. Imogen had to hang out so far beyond the railing that I was afraid she would drop into the water, but she hang on and Cybele got the shot she wanted.

The last shot was to be in the water and although it was a very hot day it did get quite chilli by the end of it and so I am very grateful to Imogen for agreeing to submerge herself in the water. The image is both beautiful and haunting. 

The shoot was both fun and a lot of work but well worth the effort. We were all exhausted by the end of it but the images we got were superb!

M x



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Summer 2011/12 campaign shoot

Magdalena Durma
Tuesday, February 14, 2012


For the Summer 2011/12 campaign shoot I collaborated with a wonderful photographer, Cybele Malinowski from blue murder studios. To continue with my inspiration of the natural world surrounding my friend and muse for this range I wanted to shoot the campaign outdoors in a forest. Cybele suggested the Manly Dam. 

The dam is a wonderful location that provided us with a vast array of backdrops that suited the collection.  I imagined trees, water and the sky in the campaign and there it was in its glory. 

Imogene, the model, portrayed the essence of innocence, femininity and beauty while Cybele shot. The images have as feeling of softness and delicate yearning, making us want to be there, relaxed and light.

M x

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Summer 2011/12 Inspiration

Magdalena Durma
Sunday, February 12, 2012

Summer 2011/12 was inspired by a very good friend of mine, Olivia or Liv as friends call her. Liv is one of those people with whom you atomically feel comfortable with. She is her own person, independent and creative with a heart of gold. I met Olivia when I was in Fashion school. At that time she was studying fine arts. What connected us was skateboarding, yes, skateboarding. We were both skaters with our own boards and crew.

Over time Olivia pursued her love of travel, nature and healing while I continued on in the fashion world. We never lost touch and although our interests are vastly different we hold the same life principle, "do onto others as you'd have them do on to you", basically be nice to people around you. 

When Liv moved up to cairns in 2010 she invited me to come and visit. I had never experienced living on the land and in such beauty. It would have been very difficult not to have been inspired. She lived in a 2 bedroom wall less house  surrounded by her garden. To wake up in the mornings we swam in a near by river, collected vegetables from her garden and took long hot baths under the starts. For entertainment she sang songs. Magic.

There are a few key elements to Olivias style and dress sense. Anyone who knows her will know that she loves leopard print, lace and neutral colours. I used all those features but also added the bright colours of the tropical north queensland. The yellow for the sun, the blue for the water, the orange for the flowers and green for the rainforest. 

It gave me great please to design this collection and I am very happy to have started my online business with such positive collection. Thank you Liv for inspiring me,

Love M xx


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Resort Collection

Magdalena Durma
Wednesday, February 08, 2012
I was lucky enough to spend last weekend in Byron Bay with a few of my girlfriends. We stayed at the amazing Byron at Byron Resort. Sitting by the pool and sipping cosmos I had an idea! Why not have a once a year resort collection that one can buy all year around? Many of us like to go on summer holidays when it is winter in our own home and the only summery clothes available are the ones from overseas. 

And so I decided that I will do a side line of the Magdalena Duma collection and call it Magdalena Duma Resort. The collection will consist of luxurious and special pieces that are easy to travel with, flawy and cool to wear when the heat and humidity hits our bodies. Some of the current summer pieces will be repeated  in the resort collection as I had so many lovely and positive comments from other holiday makers and they won't date for years to come. I will release this collection every year in September and keep it available for purchase online all year round until the next collection comes out.

www.thebyronatbyron.com.au 
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Why Fashion Design?

Magdalena Durma
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
"Why  fashion design?"

 -Is what I get asked a lot and, "when did I know I wanted to be a fashion designer?" The answer is, I always knew, even before I knew what that meant.

I grew up in Poland during communism. My family was in the clothing industry, well if there was such a thing, as private companies were not permitted under the regime, my grandparents and later my parents had small, illegal businesses in their homes.  I was surrounded by patterns, fabrics and people getting fitted from the moment I was 
born.

My first and biggest influence was my grandfather. He’s the one in the pictures. He was a tailor. As the firstborn grandchild I was his number one. When the adults were playing cards I set with him and helped him decide which cards to put down, when my parents would drop me off to get babysat he would take me for long walks or bike rides.  (see picture below) I would go into his workshop and ask questions and he would patiently answer all of them then he'd show me how things work. When his clients came for fittings I would observe how he worked. There was always coffee/tea and cakes that my grandmother baked for the clients after the consultation.  I loved that his customers were welcome in his home, his private and personal space.

In the 80’s many people wanted to be trendy like the people in the western videos, movies and magazines and so my grandfather ventured out and started making leather goods. I still love the smell of neoprene, a type of glue used to make leather goods. At the same time my parents started manufacturing trendy clothes made from fabrics that were smuggled in from East Germany and Turkey. Nothing was easy back then.

When I was a baby my mum would make my clothes and later on, I think when I was about 3-4, I would look through German department store catalogues and ask my mum and dad to make me some of the designs I saw. They always did.  This continued until I was about 15 when my dad said that it was time for me to make my own clothing.

When I was about 7, I received a fully functioning sewing machine. I collected scraps from my family to make clothes for my Barbie dolls.  My grandmother taught me how to embroider, hand stich and sew on sequins onto garments at about the same time. Those were my interests.


I learned about quality and customer service from my grandfather, I learned to love and follow trends from my parents and from my grandmother I learned how to do the small detailed and creative work.  As you can see being a fashion designer was inevitable and natural for me.

M xx


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Spring 2011 fashion show.

Magdalena Durma
Monday, December 19, 2011

The Fashion Parade took place at The Piano Room  at Kings Cross. It was so much fun and I got to meet some very talented young ladies who modeled my clothes. They looked absolutely fantastic and really did my clothing justice.

I was lucky enough for Peep Toe Shoes to sponsor me and they supplied the footwear which looked great with my clothing.

I hope you enjoy some of the shots from the show.

Mx

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Spring 2011 collection photo shoot

Magdalena Durma
Sunday, December 18, 2011

The spring collection was simply inspired by spring. Obvious, I know, but after the wet, cold and long winter we had I just wanted to see colour. The brighter the better so when I found the beautiful orange and teal fabrics I was inspired!

The photo shoot took place in Sydney Park at the chimneys. I thought that the bright colours would look fantastic against the red bricks of the lower chimney buildings. These are some images of behind the scenes.

Frank Farrugia -photographer
Lizzie MacPherson-stylist
Brook-model
Rebecca-H&M 

It was a very fun shoot although it was pretty hot that day and the make up had to be re-applied a number of times, you all know what that is like I am sure. The model had a broken ankle too so we had to help her move from spot to spot but she did an amazing job!

Check out the next blog about the fashion show.

M x


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Welcome to my blog!

Magdalena Durma
Saturday, December 17, 2011

This is my first blog on this site or ever!

I’d like to welcome you first and foremost to my website and introduce myself to those of you who have not met me at the store. My name is Magdalena and I am the designer and owner of this label. Everything you see on this site and in my store in Newtown has been designed by me and produced in Sydney. I love what I do and I am fortunate enough to make a living out of it thanks to you my wonderful customer.

In the future you can expect to see and read about what inspires me, where the creativity comes from and how hard I work to bring it all to you. You can also expect to read about the people whom I find fascinating and read my opinions on pretty much everything!

I do hope you enjoy what you read and see and do let me know what you think.

M

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