Dark Bloom is out and I’m barely alive.
Dark Bloom is out and I’m barely alive.
Hey guys!
WHEW! I am so relieved after launching the new POPFLEX #DARKBLOOM Collection on Wednesday! I am exhausted in every way possible – mentally and physically – but all the hard work the entire Blogifam put in to this resulted in something soooooo magical. As you guys know, I did a huge photoshoot last Friday in the mountains so I want to share some of the BTS with you! I want you to get to know the team and see what goes on behind a single photo. Note that this DEF does NOT happen every time I take pics for IG (usually it’s an iPhone pic) but I wanted to step up my game and inspire you with new sceneries and looks.
Let’s get started, shall we?
So let’s talk about that banner image you saw on the POPFLEX homepage!
The inspiration behind this photo were fairytales and magic. I have recently gotten into watching Once Upon a Time (I’m only on season 2) and I think it really helped bring out the Regina (evil Queen) in me for this shot! I wanted my crimson red nails to match the apple to match my lips while wearing The Queen’s Coat.
My amazing friend and celeb makeup artist/hair guru Tiffany made sure the reds were ON POINT.
Look how different iPhone pics look compared to a professional photographer’s photo! The difference is like night an day – LITERALLY. That’s Daniel – he’s a really good photag. He’s just a wizard with the camera.
In between the hiking to different locations, we set up this pop up changing tent for me. We did 6 locations and 6 outfits. It was also very very windy and cold, so holding up this tent required some real muscle. Or else I would have flown away in the changing tent kite, naked. That would have been bad. Thanks Sam and Leslie for holding down the fort! Can you tell that it was COLD!?
New location. The rocks at the Rock Pools. The entire shoot was done at Malibu Creek State Park – ugh so gorgeous. Doesn’t even feel like LA.
Tiff put my hair into cute braids and I wore my Fairytale Long Sleeve with Cabernet Pop Shorts and these wedge hiking boots from Sorel. (I don’t recommend actually hiking in these boots but they’re cute for walking!) I recently posted this pic on IG and it’s one of my FAVORITES EVER!!! I feel like it’s an Abercrombie ad or something!
Like I said, it was cold. Like REALLY REALLY COLD. Oh and windy…to the point where it sounded that monsters were howling… and then…rocks were falling off the mountain in our direction, making noises that sounded like gunshots!!! SO SCARY. I almost thought I was going to die.
I’m glad I did not. 🙂
I love this picture. It shows everyone working together in sync. Lexi is the one taking these BTS photos, so imagine she’s right here holding the camera! There were 7 of us total there for this shoot! (I’ll post this pic on IG later.)
This is Laura – she is a good friend of mine, a professional ballerina and my awesome stretch coach! We stretched together 3x or more a week for an hour to an hour and a half in order to increase my flexibility and core balance. We did A LOT of pose training for this shoot. I can’t wait to show you more of my poses – but I’m wearing some pieces that won’t be released til Jan and still need to be perfected…so…I gotta keep it a secret and we’re all just gonna have to wait!
BIG BIG thank you to the entire Blogifam for being with me on this shoot. You guys are amazing and clearly, none of this would have been possible without the teamwork of the amazing souls right here in this photo. From L to R, it’s Lexi, Laura, Sam, Daniel, me, Tiffany, and Leslie!
After this shoot, we were all so tired…freezing…exhausted…but we shared dinner in a cabin in the mountains. It was quite lovely. Then the following Saturday and Sunday, I died. I couldn’t even move my arms from all the posing we did. It was really hard to put up a ponytail on my head. I had to lay to do it!!! Hahaha.
Then on Monday, it was time for the e-commerce shoot!
This time the roles flipped and I was BEHIND the camera, directing and model coaching. Never thought I’d be doing model coaching but I’ve learned a few things in my day to make anyone look good on camera! (As the model coach from my Hot Body Year Round book cover shoot once told me, ARCH ARCH ARCH YOUR BACK AND TIPPY TOES PLEASE!!!!!) I swear your lower back and your calves will be sore for DAYS. It is no joke.
The pics all turned out so stunning. You’ll be seeing a lot of these ladies – Gracie, Kassia, and Taylor! Their BTS photoshoot blog post can be seen here. It’s a fun read!
Thank you guys for your feedback always. Remember that survey you participated in a few months ago? 40,000 of you filled it out!!!
You openly shared your bra size, your top size, your bottom size, your height and helped us create the perfect fit for the clothes…and drum roll please…YOU HELPED US EXTEND OUR SIZE RANGE. We now go up to size 16 because of you!!! SO BIG THANK YOU for your feedback! I am ALWAYS reading and listening.
This is a REALLY BIG deal for me and for POPFLEX because the plus size market is not well represented, if at all, in the activewear industry. Lululemon only goes up to size 12. Nike, Adidas, and Athleta only go up to XL. ALO Yoga goes up to Large. These are HUGE multibillion dollar companies. They could have made the change if they wanted to. But they did not.
Here’s a ALO Yoga’s size range:
Lululemon offers up to size 12:
In under 1 year, little baby out-of-the-womb POPFLEX has already made the size extension because YOU, our fans, our POPsters, asked for it. And guess what? I am here to SERVE YOU so it was a no brainer to do this. But I will tell you it was an extremely challenging process getting to understand the physical female body at all sizes and shapes, and the way it moves in regards to clothing. We did a lot of “torture tests” on the clothes to make sure they could withstand the “Squat Test” and the “Boob Jiggle Test.”
So thank you guys. You have no idea how much your feedback, good or bad, means to me. I read EVERYTHING. But I’m not just listening. I’m implementing – taking action.
Anyway, random rant on sizing there! This was meant to be a BTS post. Haha. I will do a whole ‘nother blog post or maybe even vlog on sizes at another point and really get into it.
What do you guys think of the new Dark Bloom Collection? I hope you love it! Let me know in the comments below!
76 thoughts on “Dark Bloom is out and I’m barely alive.”
There are Array76 comments posted by our users.
I got super excited when I saw you’d extended into “plus” sizes.
Then I realized you meant you got “all the way up” to 16.
But Blogilates and Popflex still seem to be exclusing actual plus sizes. Like…I need 18s and 20s. You acting like 16 is such this huge size makes me kind of feel like a cow.
I love these clothes, but they’ve ALWAYS pretended like I don’t exist. 🙁
Your collection is so beautiful! I would like one of everything, please! <3
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sukses cantik koleksi semuanya
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These girls are gorgeous, so happy about it!
I love this collection! I already can’t wait for your next collection! 🙂
Can you do a video series with Laura?!?!? that would be awesome.
I’m SO glad you’re doing this dark bloom collection! My daughter even says my personal style is Regina from OUAT. As much as I like the peony and mermaid stuff, I just can’t get into the upbeat colors. Bring on the blacks, purples, and burgundy! lol
one of your models seems to be wearing a front-zip sports bra, will it be part of your collection??
I’m loving all of the colors and styles! You should be so proud of your work!!!
Alsoooo — obsessed with your white sweater in the BTS e-commerce shoot. Where is it from?? <3
Gorgeous collection, Cassey & kudos for changing the sizing and making things available for all sizes! Your customer support team is great! They really helped me out with a mistake I made on my order. Handled it like pros! I will be shopping with POPFlex again for sure. Thanks for sharing BTS and the video about how your garments are born. Wow! Inspiring!
I’m completely head-over-heels for this line!!!! I mean, I’m still so obsessed with acquiring the mermaid and ballerina collections, but these COLORS!!? <3
CAAASSEEEYYYY!!! I just watched the Bodypop video again, and it would be Sooo cool if you somehow did that again for all your new lines!! OO! Like, ballerinas and mermaids could join forces to (gracefully) fight the eeevil queeeen, right? And there's this awesome beautiful battle where the ballerina is dance-fighting, and the mermaid is like summoning a cool like water-cyclone thing to defeat the queen, and the queen does some awesome magic n stuff, and RAWRRR, cool music video/movie stuff!!!
But in the end they all realize how beautiful they all are and settle their differences and together create the POPFLEX COLLECTIONNNN…
BOOMMmm… ;D
I’m in love with your work. I especially loved your outfit with the white long sleved top and the cabernet shorts. I was sad to hear that the shorts won’t be made in 1.0 anymore though :/ I’m short and the length of the 2.0 shorts hugs my thighs in a weird place that’s pretty unflattering.
Can u do a tutorial for thses amazing braids?
That photoshoot looks SO much FUN!
Can u do a tutorial on how to do those amazing braids??? Thanks!
i hope my flexibility will come back after my car accident.You really inspired me.thanks cassey
I am so grateful for your hard work and all the effort you put into everything you do and show to us. I know it takes a lot of hard work but if it was only abot the hard work, everybody could do what you do. But you have that something that makes you the one and only. So happy that your dreams are comming true! Loveeee….<3
Your collection looks so good! And you look so good! ❤️ That red lipstick
dragonfruit lemongrass!
I am doing excited for your new line! I have been doing your videos for over a year now and they have become an important part to my daily routine. Thank you for your commitment to your fans, you are inspiring to me. I love the new jacket, it’s my favorite piece!
Hi Cassie, I was just wondering if the PIIT 28 day transformation programme is available for purchase online in Europe? Thanks.
You should be able to get it anywhere, I did PIIT 28 while living in Thailand!
That’s so amazing and awesome. Super happy for you and the ongoing success of Blogilates. Love you Girl!
I love this…your blogs and videos always inspire me so much. Gorgeous photos! <3
CASSEY!
so freaking proud of you for all of the work you spent on designing this. you should feel so amazing- your hard work has absolutely paid off! dark bloom is absolutely gorgeous and unique and I’m so excited to order and to feel like a goddess while working out. you’re amazing. thank you so much.
It’s sooooo cool to see the behind the scenes of all these pictures and this collection is awesome
You look amazing!!! It’s so nice to see behind the scenes of the photoshoot… I saw the final ones on your instagram… you looked like a total rockstar!! the collection looks cool… let me check it out 😀
CASSEY! Your collection is beautiful! I admire your drive to follow your design dreams so much. Congrats, and I hope your future designs are just as successful!
I love it! I can’t wait to make my second purchase and the lines hasn’t even been out but a couple days! Y’all ar amazing team and make amazing magical things happen to active wear!! ?? and I love the new size option! Every girl should be happy with there size and feel beautiful in their active wear! Such a hard topic but I’ve known a lot of people trying to get started in their fitness journey and get discouraged fast specially when it’s hard for them to even find clothes to to feel cute in to get out to the gym! Multiple times I’ve been ready to go to the gym and had friends not find something to wear and not go or even when they made it didn’t feel cute at the gym so had to leave early!
I knew you were feeling Regina from OUAT vibes! I want that jacket so I can cosplay her at Comic Con cause 84 bucks is a bargain. The jacket looks similar to the outfit she wore in the Hansel and Gretel episode. Though I can’t buy it now because I only work part time and pay rent etc. But soon hopefully I’ll be able to buy it. Thank you for all your hard work Cassie. It shows! And beautifully.
Yes it’s a great deal!!! And yes so Regina!
I absolutely LOVE the Dark Bloom collection! Cassey, you really amaze me with all that you do! Keep up the amazing work! I cannot wait to see more pictures from your photo shoot!!!
I’m loving the capris and the colors, and can’t wait to see what else this collection has! (aka sports bras :D) Also, it’d be so cool to see Taylor on the POPFLEX site too! I didn’t even know there was another model until I read this post! Where are her pics?
You can see her pics on https://www.instagram.com/p/BNzZF4Ch6Yz/?taken-by=popflex_active
I love it so much!! Bought new shorts the second I got home 🙂
yay thank you!
Thank you for the capris! I absolutely love this collection! I bought some pieces and my absolute favorite is the coat! I am so excited and I can’t wait until they come in. Great work and thank you for actually listening to the feedback. I’m one of the ladies who took the survey and I’m glad you made pants that fit shorter people.
Thank you for all of your feedback! It really means everything to me.
I love everything about #DarkBloom and I look forward to seeing more from the collection! 🙂
Yes there will be more in Jan!!
so excited!!
Cassey, this collection is beautiful. I’m obsessed with the Queens Coat and wondered if it was Once inspired! It’s my favourite show and I’m so thrilled you are watching that now:) (I just sewed myself Belles blue dress from Once to wear to Disney’s D23 con next summer at Disneyland in fact! Lmao) Once I have disposable income again, you can bet that coat is the first thing on my list to buy! Gorgeous! Great job on part 1 of this collection!
Haha the shoot was OUAT inspired but when I was designing the coat, no it was not! I started watching the show several months after I designed the coat!
Well that’s quite serendipitous then! ☺️
Love seeing the behind the scenes. The photos are beautiful!
http://www.wonderlandsam.com
Thank you!
I was one of those people! I’m a size 16 so seeing you carry the additional sizes is honestly wonderful. I appreciate everything that you do for your amazing community Cassey. I can’t wait to hopefully add this to my workout clothes collection! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!
Yay thank you!!!!!
Gee…up to a 16. How about us gals who wear 1X, 2X, 3X?
Have a look at the size chart! We do have 1x and 2x! https://www.popflexactive.com/pages/popflex-size-chart
But…16 is not 2x. In the US a 2X is generally equivalent to a 20.
I love seeing these BTS footage, and I absolutely love the theme of this collection! ?
Yay I am so happy you like it!
Thank you so so much for adding XL sizing. It means so much as a plus size gal to be recognized as a legit customer. The struggle of finding fitness clothes for plus size gals is a real barrier to getting fit, and I want to thank you for helping be a solution and not being excluded us.
You are so so welcome.
Cassey,
Thank you for inspiring us all that it is possible to follow your dreams and to not forget where you came from in the process!! The new collection is gorgeous (and I must admit I bought a few pieces to treat myself)! 🙂 Maybe moving forward, you could incorporate models of other ethnicities?? This is not coming from a mean spirited place, I just think you are so ahead of the game with extended sizing and listening to your audience, that having difference models would be the NEXT step! This is because it allows your audience to see what they could potentially look like in your clothing…Keep up the great work we all love and appreciate you!!! 🙂
Brittney
Cassey I loved getting to see these BTS shots!! I absolutely cannot wait until the rest of the line drops! I will be obsessively thinking about it until it does! Good job!! Best line yet. Best color scheme!!! You should be proud!
Ahhhhh thank you!!!! I love this line so much too!!!
You did an amazing job of NOT looking like you were freezing to death in those photos! This collection is gorgeous!
I haven’t ordered anything yet, but I will! The colors are wonderful and the fit looks amazing! I can’t wait.
Thank you so much for this gorgeous collection Cassey!
I knew before that you worked hard, Cassie, but after reading this and seeing so much of the work and efforts this required, I love you even more! xxx, Marie
<3
I’ve always adored all your work both in fashion and fitness. I love how you listen and pour your heart in everything you do. It is truly inspiring! I can’t wait until the next wave of Popflex comes out! I hope it comes out around my birthday to celebrate!
By the way thanks for making capris! My short body thanks you!
When’s your bday?
January 22!!
That shrug though… and the jacket – in love! This is making me reconsider purple as my favourite colour again. Plum is life.
Plum IS life!
Ahh Cassey you’re amazing!!! So is everyone who worked on this collection! I couldn’t take my eyes off of the new bras and tops, so glad you said they will (might?) be released in January!! Cannot wait to bring Dark Bloom home!!
So much more stuff coming!!!
I knew it was inspired by once upon a time because I remember when you had just started getting into and was sharing with us how obsessed you were! But anyways I love this collection! Purple is my favorite color so I definitely will be getting the jacket and the scarf (I’m obsessed with scarves). Great jib like always ?
OMG I love the scarf so much!
I love the new collection! I can’t wait to see the other pieces in January! Well done. 🙂