Galaxy of lovely

"Oh, so long ago,
and so far away,
when time, 
was just a line that you fed me when you wanted to stay,"
Soft As Chalk, Joanna Newsom

Well, it has been a while but here are a few beautiful things that are rocking my boat today.

Last week I went to see Joanna Newsom at the Recital Hall in Melbourne, and oh my, did she do an amazing show. 

I lost track of all time, but her dress (above, by Christopher Kane) and her incredible talent held me glued to the chair. 

As always her modern style was abundantly clear, making all of us with (perhaps romantic) notions of her poetry and whimsy remember that she is a truly contemporary artist.

Also, what an awesome dress to wear whilst playing a harp!

Next, Madeleine Vionnet.

I cannot say enough to explain the absolute admiration I have for this woman; Chanel, eat your heart out. Everyone laudes Chanel for being "liberating" and contemporary, but again, I think Vionnet had the edge, in terms of craftswomanship, and absolute style.

Check it out...

Is this not an entirely modern and relevant garment, 70 years on from its creation? I actually thought it was an Akira at first glance, for its simplicity and "Japanese-ness". But its absolute elegance is unmistakeably Vionnet. I am a sucker for bias cuts too. 

This is one of four newly acquired gowns at London's V&A Museum. Sigh.

Next week; Wedding dresses! My (varied), but experiential, summer of bridal creations.

Spring dresses.. continued.

This is the second of the major jobs I had for Spring racing.

My client bought in a picture of a dress by Christopher Kane; a beaded satin cocktail dress with apricot pleated skirts and tulle. Its ladylike, yet pretty edgey as well, of course.

Samantha Harris in Christopher Kane; image from "Style Me Romy"

Our intention was to get the beading done in Bali, as my client was visiting for a holiday.

I chose duchess satin for the tunic-inspired part of the dress, as I needed shine and weight, as well as structural integrity, to handle the weight of the beading and cutouts.

I got a remnant from Rathdown Fabrics; 2m of pure silk duchess satin for $35.... it was my first purchase there and I am now converted! Such amazing prices, and if you visit often you will find what you need. Its just a bit of a lucky dip.. but I like challenging retail experiences ;)

I had to dye the satin once to get the right colour; a pale kingfisher blue, but not too pale; tricky.

Then I replicated the overall shape with a princess line pattern and cut out the hip panels. I chose silk georgette for the hip panels, over-layed with a pre-pleated tulle to give the layers and reduce my work; i love perma-pleats sometimes!

The next hurdle was that the beading came back... less than useful, shall we say. There were about 11 partial flowers over 2m of tulle, which, had it been complete, I had intended to cut out in the princess pattern and stitch together with the satin panels.

In the end, I cut out all the flowers and spent an afternoon arranging them to look like a "design feature"; as they say in Fashion Design 101, if you make a mistake, make it look intentional!

I added double- layered tulle sleeves with a flower in the centre of each, thankfully there were enough to stretch to that part of the dress. A ruffled tulle and satin collar was also added and, the whole thing was lined in flesh - coloured silk habutae; the best kind of lining, as far as I'm concerned!

The skirt inserts of georgette and tulle were sewn together and gathered, then I pinned them into the cut outs around the hip and arranged them carefully so as not to drag the satin tunic in any direction, or ruin the drape of the georgette.

I used an invisible zip down the centre back and hemmed everything right at the end, then slipstitched the lining to the satin parts of the hem.

So that was our tribute to Mr Kane; we hope he doesn't mind.