Before embarking on next season's photo shoot, we analysed our customer and brand. We wanted to focus on who we are talking to and where we want the brand to sit.
We knew we wanted our customer to get lost in an aspirational lifestyle 'feel'. The Maxted woman dresses for nobody but herself. She is in-the-moment, effortless and confident.
For those of you who have gotten to know Maxted over the years and regularly comment on its sublime quality, you will understand why we have updated our mission statement.
Maxted's mission statement is no longer 'Effortless, Essential, Knitwear' but has changed to 'Effortless, Quintessential, Knitwear'. Essential felt too basic - we deliver a quiet luxury.
Our chosen location was a private estate called Hillbrook - the perfect choice for our shoot. With its own private beach, it delivered quiet luxury and spoke to the aspirational lifestyle of our brand.
Hillbrook is set above the Pacific Ocean in the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand and was Maxted’s first international shoot.
The collection was delivered early, so when we arrived, it all needed to be unboxed and styled with props we had brought from Australia.
A big shout out to Worn for Good for letting us select some of their pieces. And, another thanks to friend-of-the-brand Imogen Roberts, who let us borrow some of her wardrobe.
Styling the collection is a HUGE job, and we wanted to really step this up. All our knits work back with jeans, but we can't wait to see how you style our next collection.
Hillbrook's Marketing Manager, Nadia, was so helpful with helping us find a hair and makeup artist and a model agency. I recommend Hillbrook for a luxury destination wedding, as everything was managed effortlessly by Nadia and her team.
The model Emma from Super Management in Auckland was so professional and a pleasure to work with. Her day started at 4:30 a.m. when she left Auckland to join us for the full-day shoot.
We connected with Gabrielle Houghton for hair and makeup, and she was able to support our vision.
Finding a photographer was the hardest part. We needed them to capture the brand accurately. So, we stuck with a firm favourite, a staple of Maxted's and flew over Jess LaFrankie. The idea of working with anyone else was overwhelming. Utilising Jess for this shoot kept consistency across our collections. Plus, Jess and I already have a fabulous relationship.
We were so lucky with the weather - the shoot was stunning, with blue skies and bright sunshine. It was towards the end of winter, so NZ still had a bite in the air, and our luxury knitwear was well-suited to the temperature.
