PS My apologies for slacking on the blogging process here, folks. The good news is you can stay very much up to date on our Facebook Fan Page which I update almost daily! : )

Betty Belts/ Betty B. in ASR Fashion Show SWIM 2011

As a local yoga teacher always says: Come see!

Excerpt from David’s Blog:

My girlfriend, Donna Von Hoesslin, who heads up yet another globally connected small business that is based here (Betty B) told me that she was in desperate need of images for a new line of jewelry which is designed by members of Team Betty.

So we dropped in on the party at J’s, sat in the window booth and shot the girl’s designs there as Bobby and crew rocked. Typically we would do this away in some distant land, or somewhere on the coast. Definitely not associated with any particular business. (I actually have developed a penchant for Ventura night, street shoots) But deciding to both take care of Betty B’s business needs, and provide bodies, texture and a few extra dollars to the day’s till at J’s, allowed for an exponential increase of benefit for everyone involved.

Here is a video that explains in 4 minutes, the gist of Donna’s remarkable company. We did the piece for the Intuit Small Business United program. It helped Donna win a 5000 dollar grant from Intuit, which she used to help fund her Bali expedition.

On Bali last season, Hailey and Sierra Partridge, Jeanette Ortiz, Mary Osborne, and Donna, did a Betty B design trip. Each one of the girls worked with the local artisans who comprise a portion of Donna’s creative team, to produce collection pieces that exemplified themselves as ocean connected women. Each young woman then selected a cause or charity, whereby Betty B would donate a portion of the income from sales of each piece.

Donna’s company is a very active member of yet another organization, which was the brainchild of Ventura’s Chouinard family (Patagonia), which is called One Percent for the Planet. Through One Percent, Donna and other companies support David Booth’s fantastic Organization, the East Bali Poverty Project, which literally is changing the face of Bali, by educating the youth on their connection to the environment via the Arts and cultural action.

So with our country on the ropes, it all starts here. With me. With you. In our own back yard.

The answer is right there in your community: your dollars are a part of your voice. Now do something. Do it for yourself. Do it for your town. But more importantly: do it. By acting locally you affect Globally, as well as Nationally. Do it.

Visit David’s Blog to read more and, of course, see all the PICTURES!

Model Models

by David Pu’u

Recently, NYC based production company Silent Crow was in Ventura. Two writers with the company happened to have connected with Donna Von Hoesslin of Betty B and learning a little bit about her female inspired Eco Fashion line. They came up with an idea.

Producer Matt Bennett showed up to do a little bit of discovery work, and honed a reality show concept that deviated from the norm, in that it endeavors to look at the personalities and lives of the women in both my and Donna’s lives. Silent Crow named the show Bonafide.

Donna and I have long exchanged working relationships with people who we see as unique, and able to be involved in both the editorial market, and branding process, both for the model as a product, and for Betty B’s unique, ethics based, fashion accessories line.

What Matt discovered is that each one of these women is a story unto themselves. Tricky thing to formulate a show upon. I just saw the teaser reel that Silent Crow Produced, and that I contributed footage and stills to. I think they get it. Not an easy thing to do, getting something that is a world unto itself… (continue reading and see more gorgeous shots)

Enchantment is the word that flows through my mind throughout this trip. Bali is incredibly enchanting.

Inspiring…

Gorgeous…

The land of the Gods.

We are almost done here. I’ve been working on new designs with my artisan friends and also with each of the young women from Team Betty who joined us for a portion of the trip. Mary Osborne, Jeanette Ortiz, and Sierra and Hailey Partridge. We surfed, we designed, we created beautiful images. David Pu’u and Aaron Marcellino are along documenting everything in stills and motion for several editorial features and, very excited about this, a film.

Below are some of the images from the trip. Please also read David’s blog, as he has been posting several chapters of our adventure here.

Smiles from Bali!

Donna

Welcome Message from David Booth of East Bali Poverty Project. Copyright David Pu'u

View from the upstairs bedroom at the villa. David shot time lapse of the rice field harvest for an entire day. copyright David Pu'u

Breakfast: Nasi Goreng. Copyright David Pu'u

On the boat to Kuta Airport Reef. Copyright David Pu'u

Sunset at Kuta Reef. The girls are surfing. Copyright David Pu'u

East Bali Poverty Project School Students Line Up for Independence Day Ceremony. Copyright David Pu'u

Mary Osborne and Jeanette Ortiz of Team Betty with the kids from East Bali Poverty Project. Copyright David Pu'u

David filming East Bali Poverty Project festival with his Canon 5D.

One of the students of East Bali Poverty Project weaves Vetiver grass, which is the miracle plant for many of their sustainability projects

Hailey at the edge of infinity. The drop below her is several hundred feet down to the Agung River. Copyright David Pu'u

Sierra modeling a Stewart+Brown dress and the Betty B. "Bo" leather hoop earrings. Copyright David Pu'u

Hailey Partridge looking stunning with Stewart+Brown. Copyright David Pu'u

Sierra Partridge looking sexy in an O'Neill bikini at the pool. We did a lot of shooting in this pool. Copyright David Pu'u

Sierra at a ceremony at Gusti's house tasting the blessed rice cakes. She is wearing the Betty B. Sea Glass drop earrings. Copyright David Pu'u

See more images and read more about this trip on David’s Blog www.davidpuu.com/blog

]]> http://www.thebettyblog.net/2009/09/19/note-from-bali-enchantment-from-august-30th/feed/ 0 http://www.thebettyblog.net/2009/08/09/a-distinctive-style-magazine-interview/ http://www.thebettyblog.net/2009/08/09/a-distinctive-style-magazine-interview/#comments Sun, 09 Aug 2009 17:51:34 +0000 donna http://www.thebettyblog.net/?p=280

http://adistinctivestyle.com/

This is an awesome online magazine, complete with soundtracks and short videos to go with the stories, a very hip must-read (See Kate Hudson on the cover). It’s the Vanity Fair of the sustainability movement. And even better, there’s an interview with me in it where I got a chance to talk about some of the cool things happening with Betty Belts and Betty B.. Just click through to page 86-87 to check it out!

By Sal Ruibal, USA TODAY

On the surface, Mary Osborne looks like a prototypical 21st Century Southern California surfer/model.
But don’t let the 27-year-old’s good looks, sun-bleached hair and athletic build fool you…

Read rest of the article here:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/action/2009-02-25-osborne-surfer_N.htm

They came to work with David (Pu’u) on a Bikini shoot for Hobie Swimwear. They are also sponsored by Hobie and happen to be the first female athletes they have signed since Joyce Hoffman in the sixties. We will keep you posted on THAT ONE.

But the twins wanted to take the opportunity to do a little more work while they were down here to broaden their portfolios. They wanted something glamorous and high-fashion. I had visions of Rita Hayworth and Grace Kelly. We pulled together wardrobe from some vintage jackets David and I had found at a yard sale up the street from my shop one day and pieces I’ve collected over the years.

I put their pretty hair up in hot rollers and did Hollywood makeup, giving them each a slightly different, but very femme fatale look. A vintage pinups book was pulled off the shelf and perused for inspiration for poses and looks.

The result was just the tip of the iceberg. David had only had one hour to shoot and send the twins on their way home to Santa Cruz, already hours and hours later than they were expected to leave.
But as you can see from the images her on David’s Blog he nailed some really spectacular images of them. They went home happy and definitely raised the bar in their versatility as professional models with this shoot.

A hand written resume in the form of a photo album came in to the Betty Belts headquarters in Ventura one day a few months back from
13 year old Asia Carpenter, her pretty face on the cover. I’d heard about her from the Partridge twins, who we discovered back in 2005 when they sent in their cute resumes. They recommended Asia because she’s promising young talent. And I believe talent needs to be continually cultivated and supported.

Long story short, I agreed to sponsor her but wanted to see if we could help her start a career in surfing and modeling as we’ve been able to with other girls on the Betty Belts Surf Team. Mainly through the beautiful photography of the man in my life, David Pu’u and additionally with exposure on the Betty Belts Website, The Betty Blog and in print and web advertisements.

So Asia came down to Ventura. Her dad, two younger brothers plus a friend, her grandmother and various surfboards and skateboards came too. David shot with her over a period of two days, surfing, skating, candids on the beach and a glam night shoot with a faux fur coat. I did her hair and makeup and put Betty B. accessories on her, helping David where I could while trying to stay out of the way.

OMG all I can say is … WOW. The camera loves this girl. AND she can surf! So folks, keep an eye out for this young dynamo. She’s bound to be picked up by major sponsors very soon.

Go see David’s blog about Asia where you can see the rest of the images he shot and read his words.

It was a really special day in Spring, poppies were blooming all over the desert after the winter rains.
The models were charged with an electricity in the air.
There was a lot of romance in the air too.

See it all here on David’s Blog