Robin Fator Creative Marketing AgencyBlog

Iconic Fashion Exhibit

10/1/2019

During the second annual Redding Fashion Week hosted by Redding Fashion Alliance, an installation and reception for the first ever Iconic Fashion Exhibit at Turtle Bay Museum and Exploration Park was held.
Robin Fator Creative provided social media marketing, graphic design, and promo video production.
This first ever collaboration between cultural organizations was a great success that was supported by local sponsors and patrons.
Creative Direction: Robin Fator
Clothing Collection: Aleta Carpenter
Exhibit Curation: Heather Vaughn Lee, Redding Fashion Alliance and Turtle Bay Exploration Park
Graphic Design: Amanda Souders
Photos by MC Hunter

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Generation Skin Spa Commercial Photography

9/19/2019

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Jen Siqueiros is a licensed esthetician and professional makeup artist located in Redding, California. As the owner and operator of Generation Skin, Jen brings a variety of talent and certifications to her work. With the help of commercial photographer Jamie Solorio we created an amazing series of photos that capture the zen mood and holistic treatment of Generation Skin, a Facial Spa and Makeup Studio.

Creative Direction: Robin Fator
Photography: Jamie Solorio
Model: Julia Chaney

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Hope + Moxie Jewelry

2/18/2019

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I loved working with Denise Margart, the handmade jewelry designer behind Hope + Moxie Jewelry. Her style is boho luxe with lots of sparkle, if you know me you already know that is right up my alley. Denise and I worked together to create an Etsy Pattern website, social media accounts, and a look book featuring her products in their best light.

One of the most important parts of marketing your products is brand cohesion. The DNA of your brand should be built into each image and post you promote. One of my favorite things to do is creative direction. As the creative director for the Hope + Moxie Look Book I planned each photograph to feature the most beautiful pieces of the collection while communicating the message of "Be Fun. Be Fearless. Be Fabulous." My team created a series of images that captured that boho, California vibe with a sprinkle of luxury.

Meet the Creative Team:
Jamie Solorio Photographer
Makeup Artist Jen Siqueiros
Robin Fator Creative - Creative Direction
Hope and Moxie Jewelry by Denise Margart
Video Footage by Elevia Ramirez
Retoucher: RJ Retouch
Model Emmy Dunken

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Redding Fashion Week and the Carr Fire

12/23/2018

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Robin Fator and Jan Kearns photo by Nigel Skeet

Creating Art in the Aftermath of Disaster

Growing up in Redding California, summer wildfires have become a part of my normal routine. Every year there is a portion of July and August that smells like campfire and turns the sun into an unnatural looking crimson dot in a horizon of ash. I’ve learned to deal with a week or two of smoky days, and the anxiety that comes with knowing destruction is happening just outside of my periphery.

Nothing could have prepared me for the Carr Fire Disaster. Watching the fire lines cross into the city limits on local news felt surreal. Needing to evacuate my family from my house that is two minutes from an airport and a hospital didn’t seem possible. As the evacuation period closed, we were among the fortunate few who had a house to return to. I feel forever grateful to have been spared the loss and chaos of losing a loved one and/or having all of my earthly possessions destroyed. However, once the immediate danger passed, and the reality set in, I remembered that I was responsible for creating the first ever Redding Fashion Week in less than two months.

I am the co-executive director and co-founder of the Redding Fashion Alliance, a non-profit organization located in the heart of downtown Reddings’ Cultural District. For months myself, and our other co-executive director Jan Kearns had been working towards creating what would become the first fashion week north of Sacramento. Before the fire ever started, I had my doubts about how exactly we would create something that had never been done before, in a place not known for fashion, for a small community whose attention is split in so many charitable directions in the fall. After the fire, I knew that going forward with our plans would be a risk and I don’t think there has ever been a time that I felt less confident about planning an event, or for that matter, 6 days of consecutive fashion related events. I was having a hard time with fathoming the layers of complexity.

When faced with making a decision about whether or not to move forward, my gut kept saying: “It’s now or never.” There was cautionary advice, there were naysayers, but there were also hopeful designers, local businesses, and a community that needed a pick me up. More than ever it became apparent that some positive press for the Redding area could be a temporary antidote to the endless smoke and stream of bad news. So, we built the airplane as we fell off the cliff, and at the last second we made a bumpy landing. Redding Fashion Week wasn’t perfect. We learned a lot of hard lessons. We also did a lot of hard work that paid off. People are still talking about the Fashion Show Gala, as they should be. Not only did we create a professional fashion show with a big city vibe featuring 11 fashion designers (myself and Jan included) and almost 50 models, we also fundraised and created a scholarship fund and an emerging fashion designer fund. We made it look good, and most of all, we made it feel fun.

Making something out of nothing is tough. Conjuring something fabulous out of devastation is almost impossible, but it sure makes a powerful statement.

Photos by Nigel Skeet, Fash Bear, Michael Flanagan, and Rachel Hatch

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Founding a Non-Profit: Redding Fashion Alliance

11/1/2018

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Redding Fashion Alliance Co-Executive Directors Jan Kearns and Robin Fator photo by Jamie Solorio

Fashion Futures 2016 photo by Jamie Solorio

2018 has been one of the most challenging and rewarding years of my life. I'm no stranger to bootstrapping, startup, and thinking outside the box, but this endeavour has stretched me to my limits. Being the Co-Executive Director of an organization that continues to define itself, has forced me to learn at hyper speed, to be nimble, and to apply my leadership skills on a daily basis. From laying down laminate flooring to writing class curriculum, to inventing Redding Fashion Week, Jan and I have made something out of nothing with the help of our generous funders and donors.
During September of this year the Redding Fashion Alliance received it's IRS 501c3 designation letter! We are official, and we are officially making a difference. Jan and I make a good team, it's a balancing act made possible by trust,communication and unique skill sets. Every business and organization is only as good as the team behind the scenes.
What will 2019 bring? I hope next year will bring opportunities to showcase what we do best: offering Redding a place to be creative, a sense of hope, and a chance at a better tomorrow.

What began in 2016 as a conversation about the potential of the fashion industry in Redding, California has become a 501c3 non-profit organization in 2018. Welcome to my life, an ever evolving, fast paced whirlwind of creativity and entrepreneurship.
Redding is a rural city 3 hours north of San Francisco. It has not been, what I would call, a fashion focused region. As a native resident who is also a fashion designer, I found a way to overcome the restrictions of limited resources, equipment, and education through sheer force of will and inventiveness by starting Dark Pony Designs in 2009. Dark Pony Designs is my handmade fashion brand that is sold on Etsy and that has seen sales around the globe, a spot on MTV, a feature on the viral "Little Mermaid Wedding", and features on Green Wedding Shoes and The Wedding Chicks. I didn't realize it at the time, but all of this experience would make me an expert on how to create fashion in a new and different way in a place that makes it unusual.
Enter Rachel Hatch (currently a Community Vitality Officer at the McConnell Foundation and former consultant at Institute for the Future) and Jan Kearns (co-creator of Gold Coast Goods and retired education administrator). In the summer of 2016, Rachel wrote an article for the local newspaper, The Record Searchlight, and posed the question: "What if Redding had______________" Jan answered this by saying "Small batch manufacturing and a creative economy" and I followed up with, "Resources, education and support for makers and designers in the local area." Between the two of us we laid out the concept for what would become Redding Fashion Alliance.
We held a free community event called Fashion Futures in September of 2016 at the Shasta Venture Hub. Over 100 people showed up to learn from the handful of local designers and a local fashion photographer and to hear their stories. We were pleasantly surprised by the interest from the community. From there, we met and brainstormed about what this concept would become, its purpose, and ultimately it's structure.
Beginning in February of 2017 we began the work of becoming an a non-profit by first starting as a fiscal project of the Shasta County Arts Council. We shared space with ArtsMart (an entity of SCAC) in a retail location on the east side of town, we held classes and workshops for kids and adults. We offered booths for rent and applied for grants. In October The Women's Fund awarded us $10,000 fund to run a program called "Making Opportunities for Success" that benefited victims of domestic violence by teaching sewing and entrepreneurial skills. In November of 2017 Jan and I formed a corporation, brought together a board of directors, and started the stack of IRS paperwork needed to be designated a 501c3. All of this activity and hard work caught the attention of the McConnell Foundation. With a focus of activating space in downtown Redding, and a mission to support creativity, placemaking, and education they generously awarded Redding Fashion Alliance a $115,000 grant to move downtown, expand our social entrepreneurial business model, give access to makerspace, and establish a place for local creatives to sell their handmade goods.