Dunelm “Dunelf” Christmas Commercial

Who doesn’t love Christmas!!?

In the Film and TV industry Christmas often starts in July and August (no joke) as we start shooting all the festive campaigns and Christmas shows. This year I had the pleasure of designing the costumes for several crimbo adds, one of which was the 2021 Dunelm Christmas ad. “Dunelf”… get it Dunelm… Dunelf? ;)

The whole idea was to encourage shoppers to either come in store and be involved in the stores up-cycling initiative, or to donate old decorations to the cause. The ad starred Katie Piper (who was very lovely I have to say). We were filming in a barn in the middle of no where, the art team had done a beautiful job of transforming it into a crafty grotto - but it was still blooming cold! So there were warm coats, robes, had warmers and of course the trusty hot water bottles on stand-by! Katie was VERY appreciative of the cuddly fleece hot water bottle that matched her outfit.

The director Matt wanted the ‘Dunelf’s” in the ad to feel like mix of Santa’s Helpers and real every day people. So I had fun putting together looks for all 6 of them that blended the two worlds. I added some little accessories to their hats to personalise each Dunelf’s image.

I had some custom knitted elf hats made but a fabulous lady called Jenny who turned them out in no time! It was like magic! I designed them and had them signed off by the client, sent Jenny the designs and 2 days later they arrived.

It was a pretty fast turn around to get the looks designed, signed off, made/brought, fitted and to the shoot. But we did it and I think it all looked pretty wonderful in the end.

Thank you team!

Below are some stills from the day and also the commercial itself! Happy watching!

Px