Hi everyone!

Today I want to share with you how we created the visual for my first Atmospheric Gothic Metal single Drama Queen!

From the beginning, I knew I wanted to shoot outside, surrounded by nature and some beautiful architecture.

Because the song is so openly dramatic and vulnerable, I decided to go all in with the romantic goth look.

I started by creating the dress.
I chose a sewing pattern with a heart shaped neckline. I used black cotton, black mesh and black lace. The back of the dress is smock, a tedious sewing technique that allow to create an elastic piece out of non-stretchy fabric such as cotton.
The pattern I used is the Kitri dress by Apolline Pattern, a french indie sewing pattern brand.
As you can tell, the original pattern is absolutely not gothic!
I used a size 48, and because I am short, I decided against straight lines cutting my body and opted for asymetry as much as possible.
I kept the bodice of the pattern, but decided to use asymetrical squares of cotton and mesh for the skirt.
For the sleeves, I completely improvised, using the flow of the mesh.
The result is a very romantic goth dress, but very heavy and warm due to the multiple layers of fabrics.

Because my hands are quite small and not very pretty, I then designed the hand jewelry piece to try and have something a bit more interesting than bare hands on the pictures.
I created a few versions to choose from on the day of the photo shoot, using various colors of chains. I absolutely love working with these small chains that really flow with your movement.

As accessory, I brought a couple of vintage lace fans and ended up using this beautiful broken black lace fan, a family heirloom.

Now was time to choose the right photographer for the photoshoot.
I spent month browsing portfolios. As a portrait photographer myself and having several pro photographers in my family and friends, I knew what I didn’t want: Nothing suggestive or sexy, nothing with harsh neons or artificial lights… More importantly, I wanted someone who created art, someone whose photos tell a story. And I wanted a professional from whom I could buy the rights to use the pictures.
Someone referred me to the portfolio of French photographer Faallaway and I immediately fell in love with her work.
She creates painting with her images, resulting in very romantic and powerful shots.
I checked her rates and started saving up.
I contacted her and she was kind enough to show interest in my ideas.
I had hoped to have her shoot the video for Drama Queen as well, but sadly my budget fell short so I decided to do the photoshoot and save for videos with her on the following singles.

For the location, we had to change our plans and pick somewhere that I could access easily, so I choose this beautiful parc.
Just so you can see the importance of the eye of the artist, here is side by side the picture of the location and the picture made by Faallaway. I only added the In Spite of Thunder logo and title of the song.

The day of the photoshoot, we found ourselves in the middle of a heatwave.
I did most of my make-up at home, carefully using products that I knew were long-lasting and heat-resistant.
Thankfully I am a professional make-up artist so I was able to create the look pretty quickly.
I used products from Mac (which I only buy on sales), Kiko, Urban Decay and Neve Cosmetics.

We shot in August 2022, and to get this shoot I made mosquitos very happy!
The end result was absolutely worth it and I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Working with Faallaway was very easy, we made swifts creative decisions and she is a very chill and lovely person to hang out with.
I had not modeled in years so I was a bit apprehensive but it went very smoothly.

We ended up with 9 lovely portraits of yours truly and I am very happy to announce you will be able to see those beautiful photos on the leaflet of my first physical release!

For now you can buy Drama Queen here:

Or you can listen to Drama Queen and add it to your playlists on your favorite Music Streaming Platform here:

• Amazon Music
• Apple Music / iTunes Music
• Bandcamp
• Deezer
• Spotify

I hope you enjoyed reading about how this beautiful artwork came to life!
For more in depth content and exclusive music, join the fanclub for free here!
Take care,
Cathy