Studio 7 Dancewear is a family-owned Australian brand that has grown to become a much loved and trusted label over the past 15 years. The company strives to create dancewear and accessories that cater to the needs of dancers, in the studio and on stage. Studio 7 products are now sold by independent dancewear retailers around Australia and New Zealand. The team, made up of many active or former dancers, is led by Victoria Blidman. Here, we speak with Blidman about Studio 7’s creative process and the vibrant new collection.
Victoria, can you tell us about the latest Studio 7 Dancewear campaign?
“We were inspired to create a campaign which showcased the beauty and breadth of our costumes. Not an easy task when we have such an expansive range! But we think we came up with a creative way to do this, by taking everyone on a journey across genres and into a world where our imagination can be sparked by colours, textures and sounds. From there, the concepts for our series of 10 short-themed videos came together – culminating in a finale which is a celebration of all forms of dance.”
Describe the initial brainstorming session and who was involved.
“We had an amazing team involved in this project. It all started with an initial meeting between Louise, our marketing manager, and I – looking at the colours in our costume range and the emotions those colours inspired in us. From there, we invited our whole team, many of them former professional dancers, to give us their take on the mood and feeling they associate with each colour – until we had built a bank of colours and keywords we wanted to capture.
The next step was to invite in the wonderful creative team we were collaborating with on the project – Co-Founders of RISE, Jackie Scott and Mitchell Fistrovic Doidge, who were our creative directors, and Sean Higgins from Shotography who filmed and edited each video. We talked through our concepts and fleshed out ideas until we agreed on 10 video concepts. It was also so special that we had Lucia (one of the dancers featured in our Navy video) completing work experience with us at the time of our creative meeting – so she quite literally got to be involved in the project from the planning stage, all the way through to performing in a video herself.”
For those who are yet to see it, can you tell us about each of the 10 chapters and what each colour represents?
“There are 10 chapters in our video series with each chapter representing a different feeling.
Chapter 1 is red, and is all about passion, power and tenacity. We were lucky enough to work with an amazing professional dancer, Priscilla Stavrou, who is a goddess and absolutely nailed her performance, wearing our Skylar Dress.
Chapter 2 is yellow – representing a joyful and radiant feeling. This delightful video featured our brand new Georgia Leotard, which is magically covered in daisies at the end, which also showcases how our costumes can be embellished and transformed.
Chapter 3 is neon with all the fun, energy and playfulness that you would expect from neon colours! This one was filmed on a free-standing treadmill – which admittedly we all had a go at using at one stage!
Chapter 4 is moss green, with the new Kirra Lyrical Set in the same colour. It represents renewal, growth and awakening – represented through the shimmering reflection of the water.
Chapter 5 is navy, which dives into the focus, drive and precision a dancer pours into each performance. Elements of this video were filmed on a rotating stage to capture the dancers from different angles.
Chapter 6 uses purple as our key colour, but this concept is more than that – it is really a colourful sequin explosion! It’s all about the cheekiness and fun that a sequin costume can bring out in a dancer. These girls had the best time showing us their moves as they embraced their inner girl-band vibes!
Chapter 7 is pink and a celebration of empowerment and inclusivity. It’s important to us that everyone feels confident and comfortable in our dancewear, and we hope that this video will inspire dancers everywhere to embrace their most authentic selves.
Chapter 8 brings us back down to earth from the bright and bold, into blush and burgundy tones. We take the audience back to the quiet of nature, with some of our more delicate mesh costumes for some beautiful lyrical moments.
Chapter 9 is all about monochrome and sophisticated style! This fosse-esque performance commands attention with sass and sophistication. We have many new jazz costumes this year, so we are very excited to share this one.
Chapter 10 showcases our metallic range with an amazing futuristic set built by our team, and a bold and strong routine, inspiring dancers to unleash their inner warrior and feel powerful!
The campaign concludes with a finale which features each of the 10 chapters and tells the story of who we are as a brand.”
What was the connection point between each colour and the concept?
“We wanted to show performances that are a celebration of the senses – bringing together colour, textures, music and movement. After all, that’s what dance is all about, and we hope that the role we play (the costumes) is part of the inspiration for performances and how the dancers feel wearing our dancewear. And of course, we want to wow the audience who are enjoying the visuals of the performance.”
How long does a campaign like this take from concept to launch?
“We brought this campaign from time of concept to delivery rather quickly – it was about four months from the initial concept development and the release of our first video. I think that’s a benefit of our small but experienced tight-knit team and the wonderful professionals we collaborated with.”
What is the best part about bringing creatives together, and how does each skill set enhance the other?
“The two days we spent filming this campaign were incredibly special to us. We had the most amazing creative team together, and we really felt like we made magic happen over those days! The energy in the studio was electric, and the collaborative approach saw us continually bouncing new ideas off each other and nailing each brief seamlessly. However, the most rewarding part of the experience was seeing the sheer joy on the faces of all the dancers who participated in the campaign in what was such a beautiful and supportive environment. My eternal thanks to Jackie and Mitch from RISE who cast the campaign with dancers who have all participated in the RISE program.”
Finally, what is on the slate for 2024?
“We are currently busy developing our new designs for 2024 release. We have a huge range of new class wear and costumes in the design process which we can’t wait to share with everyone – with our first new collection set to launch in January 2024. And of course – we have another exciting video campaign to plan for 2024!”
To shop the Studio 7 Dancewear collection, head to www.studio7dancewear.com.
By Renata Ogayar of Dance Informa.
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