Behind the Design: The Inspiration for the Mermaid Collection

It wouldn't be possible for us to have designed a Summer collection without including a few mermaid pieces! We have an inside joke that Wendi is actually a mermaid at heart so this collection was so much fun for us to create.

Inspiration came to us in two different color palettes which resulted in two very different, but equally adorable mermaid outfits.

The first color palette that inspired us was a combination of coral, turquoise, and pink. Funny enough, you really don't see a lot of these colors in most mermaid designs which surprised us! We loved the idea of designing something unique and different that hasn't been done before. 

Here's the mood board we put together:

Now that we had our color scheme and inspiration nailed down, it was time to start designing! 

Coral Ombre Tutu

This became the signature piece in the collection that guided the other designs. We envisioned a beautiful ombre design and it came out even better than we could've hoped for! The coral, turquoise, and pink ombre tulle is accented with gold glitter pin dots and a gold glitter waistband creating such a unique and special tutu design. 

Mini Mermaid Shirt and Bodysuit

Of course, we needed the perfect top to pair with the Coral Ombre Tutu. We landed on the phrase "Mini Mermaid" as a way to celebrate all the little mermaids out there! What most people don't know about our tee shirt designs is the colors in the graphics are actually digitally matched to the colors in the tutus so that the top and the tutu perfectly coordinate. It's one of the features that makes a Sweet Wink shirt truly special and unique! 

Mermaid Girl Hair Clip, Headband, and Baby Headband 

No outfit is complete without a matching hair accessory! The Mermaid Girl design combines so many different textures including sequins, felt, glitter, and tulle. We love combining elements to create a one-of-a-kind creation. As always, we offer this design as a hair clip, a soft headband for babies, and a regular headband for older girls.

Once we had our first outfit designed, it was time to create our second look. Usually we stick to the same color scheme for each drop, but this time we decided to mix things up! We wanted to create a more "traditional" mermaid look  ... can a mermaid look really be traditional, though?! Ha.

Here's the second mood board we created that incorporated more purples and blues that you typically see in mermaid designs:

From here, we got to work designing the next outfit!

Mermaid Scale Tutu

The tulle in this tutu is almost like watercolors incorporating shades of lavender, blue, and seafoam green. The iridescent sequins embroidered onto the tulle create a scale-shape pattern that is just too cute!

Mermaid Tail Shirt and Bodysuit

The tail we designed on their tee shirt has scales that mimic the pattern of the tutu. Again, we digitally matched the colors of the ombre tulle to create the ombre graphic and just love the way it all came together!

Mermaid Tail Hair Clip, Headband, and Baby Headband 

This might one of our favorite hair designs yet! We took your ordinary hair bow and mixed it up by creating a unique tail shape with silver glitter. How cute?! We accented the tail bow with a mermaid scale design to really bring the whole look together. 

There you have it - that's how we designed our Mermaid Collection! Click here to see the full collection: https://shopsweetwink.com/collections/mermaids

Now that you've seen both looks, which is your favorite? The Coral Ombre outfit or the Mermaid Tail outfit? Let us know in the comments!

xoxo,

Samantha and Wendi

The 'S' and 'W' in Sweet Wink 

PS-Make sure to tag us @shopsweetwink and use hashtag #shopsweetwink so we can see your mini mermaids rocking their Sweet Wink designs all summer long!