No shoes, no shirt, no problem!

These shoes are by Alexander McQueen, and I'm drooling over them!

The second photo is from an Italian magazine from the 1970's. Trompe l'oeil at it's finest. The story attached to the photo explains that designer Ruben Torres started this idea in a moment of panic at the inauguration of the pret-a-porter salon in Paris. None of his clothes had arrived at the stand, so he quickly thought up to design the collection on the model's skin. He declared, "no more problems with fabric and sizes!" He decided to offer this genius to his clients. It would have cost you 1000 francs for a design from Ruben himself, or a reduced price for a design from an assistant.

On a related note, when faced with the strike of her seamstress two weeks before a fashion show, Elsa schiaparelli and her head designer, salesgirl, and one tailor pulled together to put out a show despite the seemingly impossible task. They worked together day and night and refused to move the date of the show. On the day of the fashion show, they sent down the runway jackets with one sleeve, or none, sketches pinned to muslins, evening gowns cut in muslin with the color fabric swatches pinned onto the gown and handwritten instructions of the finalized garments written down the sides of the samples. And you know what, it sold very well.

A little creativity can go a long way.

Cannes photoshoot

While at Cannes, Kellyn had a small impromptu photoshoot on the beautiful French Riviera. Here is the link to the photos.

(Kellyn with the producers of the film "Where are you Sophia?"-the director, Nagendra Karri, is to the right of Kellyn)

Kellyn Lindsay in Suite at Cannes 2009!

I have been lucky that Kellyn being the sweet girl that she is, has sent me lots of photos of her in the dress. She was supposed to wear the dress last wednesday, but due to less than spectacular weather in France, she wore the dress to the showing on friday. The dress looks absolutely stunning on her!
More pictures to come later this week!

The fountain of youth dress

Well, I just got word that the dress arrived safely in New York. I am happy with the result. But let me take you back a couple days....

After 30 hours of straight sewing my eyes were beginning to have problems focusing on anything further than a foot away from me. Thank goodness claudio surprised me with an automatic espresso maker for my birthday. Because let me tell you, strong coffee at the push of a button got me through the wee hours of the morning when everything around was quiet and my bed calling.

While sewing plumes of a feather onto the ruffles of the back of the dress in order to resemble the spray of the fountain, I realized that I had forgotten to get Kellyn's address....I FORGOT TO GET THE ADDRESS....how do you do that?! Did I forget to mention that this is wednesday morning in Italy-3am New York time, and my Fedex deadline was fast approaching? Should I wake up Kellyn? Would she even answer an international phone call at that hour? I made a last minute decision and ended up dragging my good friend and old roommate from FIT, Annmarie, into the situation, by shipping the dress to her office in New York. I knew I could trust her to be on top of it and get the dress to Kellyn.

I hopped on a train to the Fedex in Florence with a tread and needle in my bag. It was time to make a headpiece.

I had this idea to create a simplified bird on a band of navy silk to tie around her head. Of course, when you have to sew on a train, plans change. I ended up only being able to attach some feathers to the band. I must admit that I am disappointed that I couldn't see out the full idea of a bird over a fountain. Sometimes you just have to make it work though.

When I got to Fedex, I was sadly informed that the dress might not arrive in New York until Monday-Monday being the day that Kellyn will catch a plane to France. But Fedex pulled through and the dress was at Annmarie's office on THURSDAY!

In my rush to send the dress, I only snapped a few photos, but it was a really sunny day and I took the photos in front of a window, making it difficult to see the details. I know, photo taking mistake No. 1, but the other side of the room was a mine field of straight pins, scissors and ruffles.

I have decided to call the dress "the fountain of youth dress". I think the fountain represents the overflowing excitement and prospect of a bright future for a young actress like Kellyn.

Late nights

Some things you just don't want to see at 3am. This is one of them.

(bad draping)

I have a bad habit of hastily cutting away at fabric to make things. I wanted to cut the top layer of the skirt as panels on the bias. For this, it is ideal (and easier) to make a pattern on paper first. But not me! No, I draped the panels. And of course they fall all wrong. I hope everyone had a good weekend, because I spent it draping, sewing, seam ripping, steaming, re-draping, re-sewing, re-seam ripping, etc. And guess what? I can squint all I want, but it's not working.

So, around 8pm tonight I moved on. When I was at the fabric store, I was drawn to a silk chiffon print. It reminds me of the bleeding a fountain pen makes if you leave it on the paper too long. I had thought to use this print under the light blue fabric to add visual interest to the front of the dress, which is relatively simple. I really had no intentions of using the print, however, as a main fabric. But under the blue, the print resembled a cow print to me, because the watercolor-like spots became almost solid spots.

I feel like I have a couple options at this point. I can make my way to the fabric store tomorrow morning to buy more blue chiffon, or I can make the print work. I'm going to go to bed and think about it, but the print is really growing on me-it's totally pretty and modern.

Here is a picture of how I am using tons and tons of ruffles to build the water in the fountain on the back of the dress. I think it is looking pretty, especially with touches of single feathers here and there to give the feeling of the spray of the water. I really want to take the idea of the fountain as far as I can. Oh, and I think I will make a headpiece for Kellyn to wear with the dress. I moved my deadline to tuesday morning-looks like tomorrow will be another late night!

Bet you can't eat just one/ Decisions, decisions

Today while cutting out the top of the dress in layers of periwinkle and white silk chiffon, I reached for the paper I usually use to cut shifty fabrics. For all you non-sewers and beginners, it is useful to use a layer of paper between the layers of fabric that can shift during cutting. During high school when I started to sew, I never knew this technique, and the pattern pieces changed to unrecognizable shapes during the cutting.

But anyway, while reaching for this paper, I thought about all the new paper that is wasted in this process. So as an alternative, considering the pieces of the bust of the dress are relatively small, I grabbed an old magazine.

I mean, I'm sorry to say, that I'm not that interested in the fact that Brooke Burke eats chips anyway.

Here is a (albeit not very aesthetically pleasing) photo of the set up.

This next photo is me experimenting with the idea for the bottom of the dress. I originally thought of a simple gathered skirt that cascaded to the floor. I feel the simplicity would balance the organic look of the back of the dress. In order to create a graceful gathered skirt though, I would like to cut and gather it on the bias. This requires a lot of fabric. And although I bought many yards of fabric, I only purchased 7 of the periwinkle. So today I played around with the idea of tiered ruffle layers for the skirt. Ahhh, just the thought of the amount of hemming involved makes me sweat. But as you can see, I need to make some serious decisions tomorrow.

Building blocks

Today I worked out the fabrication placements for the Cannes dress I'm working on (see below).

I have decided to go with a white silk base, then with a top layer of periwinkle blue silk chiffon. The white brightens the blue, giving it a beautiful airy feel.

I also created the foundation of the bust of the dress. I am using a nude color china silk, which I figure will prevent any camera flashes from rendering the dress transparent! To give the dress more structure, I am inserting boning encased in the china silk. This will also help to hold the dress up and in place.

The foundation of the garment may not seem that exciting, but a good foundation is crucial in the case of an evening gown. With all the work and details that go into the base, it almost becomes a work of art.