FiLlLemOoN!!!!!11
I mean he bit my ankle, he's ridiculous
That's not how we raised him
Hi, welcome to my Christmas Vlog
Just kidding, this isn't even, like, this is empty.
I was too lazy to make some chocolate so
it's just an
accessory, so it looks nice with the
thumbnail - should I have a nice thumbnail right now?
Whassup
Um, this video is gonna be in Polish.
I know,
some of you are sick and tired of me using
a language that you do not [comprehend, sorry bad cut]
Sue me.
No, please don't.
But you can switch the subtitles on and that should
be a sufficient help.
Before I spit more saliva down my chin
let's jump into it!
Hi! Welcome tooo
the corner of my room that has never been shown before
It's the place where I keep ruining my spine
because I work here with my computer and I shouldn't do that
and this is exactly why my back hurts at the moment
We're gathered here today so I can tell you about
how I wrote
my book
Because a lot of you asked for details
what was it like, how it worked
So I'll describe it to you.
From the beginning to the end
I already did this in the video announcing the book
OoOh WhAT's ThAt
But I'll do it again. EhEhHEH
Maybe you don't know about this but sometimes when you're recording a video
you're hungry all the time
and instead of focusing on what you're saying you're thinking of pizza, so
From the very beginning - it's Autumn 2017,
aand I have lot's of time
I just finished my degree in Scotland
and I'm not sure what to do next
so I was thinking about starting my own business
like selling stuff online,
I was actually thinking of starting my own online shop
and when I started thinking about what sort of things I would be selling there
- it was supposed to be this sort of a costume-supply shop
sewing stuff etc
- so I figured out it would be fun to have some stuff in PDF
or reprints of old fashion magazines or books
and I actually thought I might write something myself
and put it out there, even as a PDF file or an ebook
But I had no idea what
cause at first I thought, ok, I'll write something on 19th century fashion
but this is a huge topic
and it would be a shame to put effort into it just to publish it online as a fancy online shop product
and I just couldn't
focus on anything in particular
So then I thought I would focus on the short stories that have been published in Polish magazines
from 19th century, cause I started reading more of it
and those stories are really cute sometimes
and I was thinking about making a sort of compilation
with fashion plates to illustrate, or something, I don't know
That's what I was thinking. Anyway
it didn't work out, I was still working on the shop
I really wanted to make it, and then let's say around
February I uploaded the video about Polish... Polish... ?women?
and it so happened that a lot of people have watched it
including people from Znak publishing company.
And so, it was the week when I received so many emails
I just kept staring at my computer shocked
at what institutions and what people wrote to me
And those were congratulation emails, but also some offers
One of those was a very enigmatic email from the publishing company
saying they have an offer to make,
but they'd rather discuss it during a meeting.
And my first thought was "YHH"
"Wow, it would be so cool if it was about a book"
So I went on a meeting, and the ladies told me
they're publishing this book and would like me to shoot a promo video
So I sat down there like "Oh, ok".
And then they started asking if I was ever thinking of writing something
So I said that yes, I've been thinking, but I couldn't even decide on the topic
because it's all really hard to narrow down etc
And so I slowly began to realize that it was sort of a foreplay of the actual offer
This promo video I haven't eventually made
and that it was about this idea to work on something together
Back then it wasn't really clear what it's gonna be, what it's gonna look like and so on
So we met up again a few weeks later
and we started figuring out what it's gonna be and why
We realized that the 20th century is especially interesting when it comes to the fashion revolution that occured
and that people really enjoyed the Polish aspect of my video
That my video showed what it looked like in Poland at the time
And so we thought if we turn the video into a book
that focuses on a slightly different period, because
it covers the 20th century, and not 1910s-2010s
- that it could turn out really cool. And that's when we also started coming up with
some details that I then worked out on my own,
they gave me a lot of space in terms of what the book is going to contain and look like
So I thought, because everyone enjoyed the historical silhouettes so much, that I can include those in the book as well
and I'll try to recreate some silhouettes
Same happened when it comes to some inserts that appear in the book, such as wedding fashions, or fashion icons
I was allowed to do whatever I want.
So when it comes to that I could really blow off some steam
Then it was a little while until I started writing because
I thought I need to educate myself more on the topic.
For example, it was quite difficult to find resources on the 1990s in Poland
because it's a quite fresh decade in fashion, still.
First, I was doing research, I mean I found every single book there is on Polish fashion
in the period that interested me
Some of them I read in the library, some of them I ordered, some of them were borrowed
and I had a huge book pile in my room
Aand magazines
They were fun to look at, but they also often had some really interesting information on what was worn and how
A lot of those magazines I read -
- at least the fashion columns when it comes to regular newspapers - but when it comes to fashion magazines
I read every single article
So there was quite a lot of it, and at the same time, because I knew I had little time
I already started writing, I mean I was researching
but I started writing about the very beginning of the 20th century
without additional research, because it's a period that
I've been researching for a while already, so I wanted to write down what I already know
and then I'll just expand it.
It turned out it's a splendid idea because I didn't have as much time as I thought I have
so it suddenly turned out that
I have to do research and write at the same time
So I remember I was researching the 1970s and writing about the 1970s
I was sitting at the libraries the whole day, at cafes
and I was searching for information that would be useful
that would describe things well. What I also noticed was that
a lot of information were being repeated
while they're not necessarily true
Like, a couple of sources said that something was not available in Poland at a certain time
And then I discovered in some magazines that
it actually was. So someone wrote it and other sources repeated
I mean, I was doing the same obviously,
I read all these books and magazines and a lot of those information are included in my book
It's this knowledge that's sort of circulating
I'm not guilty of plagiarism, this is not what I was trying to say
I've been looking at photographs, I was - I still am overly alert
to Polish 20th century photos, when they appeared somewhere
in some album, or I don't know, in some book
or on the internet, I was quickly saving the picture
I had this spam folder with all the photos
Because I never knew, I could use something to illustrate what I was writing abour
And writing. So I had this particular number of pages in mind
to keep things in order
and I was trying to keep the chapters even, but it quickly turned out it's not possible
And the writing itself
I had this daily minimum that I had to write
and if I didn't make it one day,
I had double the work the next day
I mean, it was kind of odd
You probably remember this if you ever had to write a bachelor or master's thesis
because it felt quite similar in a way,
that sometimes it's just not there.
You spend the whole day in front of your computer and you get half a page done
and sometimes you wake up, you're feeling good and you write twenty pages
I think I had that with the 20s and 30s, I just sat on the couch
and my daily minimum was like two or three pages
and I remember I wrote fifteen
and I was like "Ohh, ok. Cool. So it's possible"
So it sometimes depends on your mood and everything.
[OUTFITS]
At first I had this plan to make everything myself
Life quickly taught me a lesson
and it turned out there is not a slightest chance that I'll manage everything on my own
And so I thought I will only make things that I will not be able to buy or find
Eventually I've sewn
the yellow art noveau gown, the one that's on the cover
I've sewnnnn... the 1920s pants, the jodhpurs
A simple 1950s dress
I've sewnnn... In the 1960s, the later part, I've sewn a geometrical patterned mini dress
And later I also made the swirl skirt.
And that's it from the things I made myself.
Mainly because I was able to find the rest. Or things like
I don't know, a 1940s tailored suit
there was no way I would make it myself
Oh, yes, I also made a 1910s skirt
It's not the best, but I mean, it was supposed to be simple and it's simple
But it all somehow worked out in the end
even though the day before the photoshoot I was still stitching up the art noveau dress,
buying jewelry, and borrowing stuff from my friends
so I came how in the evening to do some more stitching up... but I made it, I made it.
And at the end of August we had a photoshoot
and we somehow managed to get the stuff there,
but what was problematic was the lack of time.
We only had one day, and
there were moments when I had to leave the studio, run to the changing room
and use one hand to remove the skirt, and the other to put make up on
Because I decided, obviously, that I'll be doing my own hair and make up
for every single looks. And I actually think it was a good decision, because
I'm not saying I'm and expert in historical hairstyling,
but I'm good at cheating and pretending a hairstyle is historical even when it's not
So if you have five minutes to make a 1918 hairstyle,
then it's better not to be a trained hairstylist or else you'll have a nervous breakdown
But the whole photoshoot, time pressure aside,
was a lot of fun, and also I decided with Aga Rzymek, the photographer,
that we'll be recreating original poses from each era, for each look
so before each look I was searching for photos and fashion plates
so I could recreate them
A premium example of that is my iconic 1980s leg, I'm not sure if some of you have already seen it
Oh, here's the leg
Because we've noticed that in magazines
and on fashion photos from the 1980s this weird pose often appears
After the photos, I also had to look for illustrations
To be honest, it was only when I saw the edited book in PDF
it all kind of fell in place and made sense, because before that
I wrote the text, and then when I wanted to use an image, I basically just wrote
"Here's an image,
description: lady in a hat, 1907"
While it obviously helped determining how everything is going to look it wasn't a very good read
Damn, it looks nice. I don't want to brag about my own book
but sometimes I just sit down and stare at it
Just because.
And I think, I think that's it
By the way
am I the only one smelling books, because
new books smell either
like fresh print, or they smell like cheese, I'm not sure you've noticed
This one smells like print
Another huge advantage, mention it in your reviews
"Polish Beauty" does not smell like cheese.
With this conclusion I invite you all, those who haven't done it yet
to buy the book
And just to remind you if you're abroad, Poles too
but also those of you that are currently reading the subtitles
because they have no idea what I'm saying
You can order the book from the link I'm going to post in the description
and you get free shipping till the end of December
If not as a Christmas gift, cause it's kind of too late
then maybe as a New Year's gift,
because why not give gifts for New Year's
No, these lights are awful, they look like
Thanks for watching
Merry Christmas.