Hello Balenciaga, take me with you

This week I have a dress to share, which I made for myself. This in itself, is a revolution for me, and only happens if I absolutely have the motivation and fabrics available. And time of course. 

I was going to a ball last weekend, in the country. I tend to over-dress for these occasions because, well, I love dressing up. No chance should be wasted!

For this outfit I was inspired by Christobel Balenciaga. I went to the Grace Kelly show in Bendigo a few months ago and found my favourite items were Balenciaga's gowns from the early 1960's for the Princess of Monaco. They had a tighter, exquisite silhouette, than the New Look from the forties and fifties. With a high waisted silhouette to the floor in slim line skirts with the fullness at the waist, it's a slight tweak of the dominant 1950's poodle skirt that's been hashed over and over for the last 30 years in the name of "retro".

The cover of a new book about Balenciaga that I purchased from the Grace Kelly exhibit,
via BeaHiveBlog

Classic late 50's/early 60's line, with wasp waist and full hipline, but a more tapered skirt hem.
via ClosetMelbourne

Balenciaga original: High-waisted silhouette with full gathers at waist,
via Style.com

via CountessdeVintage, originally from theFrock.com

The Prince and Princess of Monaco, Grace in Balenciaga, via Tacchi e Polpette, shown in colour below.

Embroidered Balenciaga bolero, via Tacchi e Polpette

Designed for Grace Kelly by Balenciaga, via Tacchi e Polpette

This dress/ suit above was a knock-out for me. I love the blocked colours, the absolute mastery of tone and texture, the clean lines.

So, moving on, I found a beautiful silk organza at Rathdowne Remnants, embroidered, and ridiculously well priced. 

With 2.5m of this amazing stuff, I made a little tailored bolero jacket, and a long skirt along the lines of these above designs, but obviously not approaching any of that kind of elegance or excellence. We mortals can only try.

I put the jacket and skirt with a velvet corset that I cropped from a tiny op-shop dress, which has very amazing brass emboridery on the front. I wanted to get into the "layers of texture" trend thats coming out of Europe for A/W 2013, so the embroidered silk and brass details together were perfect. The revival of extremely beautiful, Baroque -style gold ornamentation, and layers of jacquards, embroidery and lace has really made me very excited this season. If I could have put more gold braid on this outfit I would, but propriety prevents me from doing so.

D&G A/W 2013, via International Business Times.

Dolce and Gabbana A/W 2013, via MYFDBlog

So here's my homage to Christobel's amazing elegance and foresight. 

Silk bolero and skirt, after Balenciaga. 

Embroidered silk organza bolero, detail.

My pretend Balenciaga bolero and skirt.

Caped Crusader, part 2.

It's that time of year again, where its suddenly so cold that just taking your socks off seems like a bad idea.

Its that time of year again, when the leaves pile up in the street, and I just want a socially-acceptable blanket to wear outside.
But wait! We have just such a thing! 

THE CAPE.

I cannot overstate how awesome capes are, if you are not already a convert, get into them.

I am making a very limited-edition series of short capes that are freaking cosy, and damned versatile.

They are available made to order for only $299.00, and you can even bring in your own choice of wool to be made up: 2m please.

At the moment, these beauties are available ready-made in black jacquard wool, or, a very special one-off vintage brown wool with pale pink spots, and shot pink silk lining. And there is literally only one of those. Patterns to come will include a sweet green and pink tweed, Chanel- style; and a Little Red RidingHood cape. Made, as they are, with a pure wool outer, and a silk lining, these capes are cosy and beautiful to wear.

Black wool melton cape with convertible collar and full lining.
Made to order for Ascot Races. Collar shown tied.

Collar worn open

Jacquard wool cape, available to purchase, collar shown wrapped and pinned with brooch.

The collars can be worn (at least) three ways, and, well, I just think they're swell. I designed this style for a client last year, to wear to a winter wedding, but these little rippers can go over everything from jeans to a formal dress, to race wear or worn as a wedding shrug. Brrr, winter wedding. Get a white one.

Vintage brown and pink wool cape, with shot Thai silk lining and under-collar, shown here tied. One only available. 

Svenja and Seb

This week's bridal gown is a wonderfully unique one. Svenja and her husband Seb were married at King Parrot in the Otways this autumn.

They chose an intimate event, with everything from the food to the decorations made by them, and their family and friends, many of whom came over from germany for the celebration.

Svenja wanted an non-traditional wedding gown that was all about her personal style, not the "bridal look". I love this kind of client who knows themselves and allows me to go a bit wild designing them something exciting and unexpected.

Svenja had a strong idea of her references and had collected a good range of inspiration photos including:

Fabric look and movement...

Voluminous grey silk chiffon layered over another colour..

Dress style and lines...

A-line full skirt with Celtic references, off the shoulder bodice and low-waisted line.

Textures and decoration...

Organic, layered, high-contrast,

Bolero jacket....

cropped, cut-away, in strong colours/ textures...

 

I developed three very different styles of gown using these reference points, and Svenja chose a three-piece ensemble, because she really wanted to be able to wear parts of it again, and she also liked the "casual" element this bought to her look, in contrast to a highly constructed "gown".

We worked through a miriad of colour ways from greens and greys, to blacks, blues and finally warm flesh and pinks. 

Svenja had a preference for black, grey and red, high contrast combinations with maximum impact, but we worked away from that and into the world of shades of grey, with warmer highlights.

The important thing about choosing colours for such an event is that even if your preference for a colour in day-to-day life is strong, these may not be appropriate for your wedding day: you want to be the focus of your outfit, not the the clashing colours in your dress. 

Design and colour concept sketch, for Svenja's wedding dress..

In the end, Svenja's wedding outfit was made up of a full circle skirt, layered in grey chiffon shot with silver, over a "cameo" pink crepe underskirt. With this she also had a black lace bodice with dusky pink underneath the lace, and then also a cropped jacket. Made from a grey silk/linen blend, and lined with the dusky pink silk, this jacket also had a hood and black cornelli worked around the bottom hem.

All-in-all, the skirt used about 8m of fabric and was pretty heavy. The lace is a Leavers lace from France, very slightly stretchy, and quite flat texture. The grey chiffon was from Tessuti, as well as the silk/linen for the jacket.

I have previously posted some up-close shots of this ensemble, at Texture Texture, but here are some more.

And here are some shots form the Big Day. Their wedding photographer was Kate Smethurst, at
Ms Jane.

Thank you to Svenja for her beautiful and unusual commission, and to both Seb and Svenja for sharing  their goregous wedding day.

Winter Thralls

Well, here we are again, in the thrall of Melbourne's winter. And my studio is so cold!

Despite this, some excellent far-sighted clients have had me sewing away on some lovely little projects that really show what winter dressing is about!

This boiled wool cape is lined with black cotton voile and has a rink collar. It buttons down the centre front, on the inside. Made to order.

I love it particularly because its such a good example of a client wanting an old-fashioned garment, but with such a modern feel to the aesthetic.
Credit must also go to my colleague Jaimi Kark, for her inspiration to the client from her eponymous label, and the collection, the Interview, from which this concept was derived.

Also happening a lot this winter are requests for"pinny dresses". These kinds of garments fall into the "new utility" trend that's taking off in Europe; they are stylish and simple to wear. Pinnies are excellent for layering, and if made in cotton, they are transferable to one's summer wardrobe.

Geometric print cotton pinny, high-waisted with invisible front patch pockets. Made to order.

Also happening this season is the ever-comfortable knit.
As a dress, long top, leggings or layered cardigans, the wonderful range of softest merino and other good quality knits is really exciting. My favourites are at the Fabric Store on Brunswick Street,
because it has a huge range and good prices.

Lissom Yarn will shortly be stocking a range of knitted dresses-slash-tops made for winter layering, as right, in the black merino herringbone knitted dress. Also available in khaki, charcoal and gray marle.










Stretch rayon knit wrap dress with black and white printed cotton collar. Made to order.



Merino knits are also great because they are a natural, sustainable and far superior (in my opinion) fabric to many other knits that tend to pill and look tatty
quickly.

Stay tuned for more winter ideas, and with spring on the way, I'm hearing wedding bells and other indicators that brides are out and looking for gowns!
We'll be looking at the origins of "the wedding gown" and why our bridal stereotype is culturally a little bit strange. Yay!