#draping

[brainscramble95]

Lady Capulet fitting for 1860s (ish) inspired production of Romeo and Juliet. It’s just a mock up but I’m super happy with the silhouette and the fit was really close. The designer chose to not have any of the performers corseted which is a unique challenge to get the shape we want without any sort of support underneath. This really couldn’t have gone any better though.

The black tape is to mark some more details I’ll drape on top of this foundation. I’m super excited to keep going! And to hopefully get to figure out some cartridge pleats in the skirt😅

[lostangel-moon]

Working on a wedding dress

[liesandbrokenhearts]

[photosofchaos]

Valdrin Sahiti Resort 23

[robertpallesen]

Covered Car, Portland, OR © Robert Pallesen

[mahoganygold213]

Zuhair Murad |Spring Summer 2024 Haute Couture

[ace-of-rabbits]

The sketch vs the final

It was super fun getting to learn historical techniques, and for my first time ever wrangling steel boning, I think the lobster tail turned out pretty good!

[professorpski]

Party Wear Early 1930s, Or Just Look at Those Seams (low whistle)

Fashion does not actually work by decades, so these early 1930s gowns for sale at Augusta Auctions have some of the hallmarks of the loose torsos that we associate with the 1920s, and the handkerchief hemlines too. But by the late 1920s, skirts were lengthening down wards from their mid-20s high point above the knee and belts had crept up from the hipline to reach the waistline again.

These two silks evening gowns are from the early 1930s, glowing in crepe back silk satin in what they call "ashes of roses" i.e. a greyed rose and in what they identify as pale pink which shows dark cream on my screen. I am featuring some of the close-ups, so you can see how they were draped just below the waistline, a feature that would draw attention to the sway of a woman's hips.

And you can see the complex piecing of the skirts. See how the cream dress has a diamond shape set into the bodice, and then multiple angles cut into the skirt which echo one end of the diamond. These look like cuts and seaming that include multiple bias choices which takes both careful cutting of the fabric and careful seaming so as not to overstretch the elasticity of the cut edges. By using bias-cut fabric around the hips, the designer gives a woman a bit more room to move, and also adds an erotic feature as her movements are closely followed by and revealed by the fabric. With such a sheen to the fabric, these movements would have just that much more slinky glamor in the days before stretch fabrics.

This is part of their Fall into Fashion Vintage Sale which you can learn more about here: https://augusta-auction.com/auction

[eternally--mortal]

For fun I’ve been sporadically draping Marinette’s dreamscape gala dress from @buggachat’s BEAU, and today when I set it up on my half dress form a little beetle flew onto it. For a solid three minutes I got very excited because I thought it was a ladybug.

It is not, in fact a ladybug.

This is Gertrude. She is an ‘Asian Beetle’. The internet tells me that they’re a bit more hostile and smelly than your average ladybug. So far she has been quite polite.

She has more spots than a ladybug does (and thus she does not match the dress).

Anyway, Gertrude has been safely relocated and is hanging out with me while I type. We’re buds now. I have no idea how she got into my house. It’s been years since I’ve run into a ladybug or an Asian beetle inside. She was a nice little surprise.

[infinitiumme]

Vera Wang, fall 2012

[brainscramble95]

Small updates on Lady Capulet. After what feels like 17 years of flat lining and rolling it’s starting to look like a real bodice!

[maze-of-tones]

[liesandbrokenhearts]

[iwantitinpink]

Propaganda, Vivienne Westwood AW05

'Westwood said that this dress was her most important work to date. Comprising a beautifully constructed and boned bodice as its base, the gown has been draped, fitted, and spiraled around the body in one unbroken length.'

In the collection of The Costume Institute at The Met.

[robertpallesen]

Storefront, Portland, OR © Robert Pallesen

[labratstudios]