When a wedding dress designer, designs her own wedding dress...

As a designer, and one that designs wedding dresses, you might think I've obsessed about my own wedding dress for years. Surprisingly, that wasn't the case.  While I have known for years that I would design my own wedding dress, it's more because it seemed kind of sac-religious not too.

What I have wanted to do for YEARS (and always been too chicken to do) was to go and try on wedding dresses, since I'm a terrible liar, I didn't do this until I actually got engaged. And I really went everywhere. That might be another story that I'll save for another post. But where it relates to this discussion is in how surprisingly difficult it was to find a dress like I thought I wanted, even in just the silhouette. 

Trying on dresses is actually advice I give to all my clients, for exactly this reason, when I found a dress that was similar in silhouette to what I had in mind. it confirmed for me that I was going the right direction with my design. The dress I tried on, I didn't want to take off! I just felt like a film star from the 30's, I was sure that was how I wanted to feel in my wedding dress. 

My idea started with the idea of some kind of short dropped waistline with a flared skirt of some kind, something vaguely art deco maybe bias, and kind of liquid in it's movement.

The easy part was knowing what color I wanted. I wanted this color. This pale green/grey/silver color. 

Once I draped the first draft, I was actually surprised how quickly this design came up and remained basically unchanged yet how difficult it was for me to complete.  (Another post I'll have to share with you is the photos from the fittings... works in progress..)

What I struggled with was my incredible desire for sleeves. I started out wanting removable sleeves. But I started designing in July when the idea of needing sleeves seems crazy in New York. By November I was horrified my sleeves were removable. And I HATED them.

I have to interrupt myself here and discuss my design team. My team consisted of my friends My Phung (who is amazing with fancy dresses), Jenn Rogien (who is a genius at telling story's with clothes, google her, you'll see), Maggi (she's a marketing & color genius), Nicole and Daniel.... I am lucky that I have so many talented designers for friends. It's weird to say that the most compassionate thing they all helped me do was, that they just gave me permission to not like what was going on and to redesign.

So in 3 separate fittings, one with My Phung, one with Daniel and then one last one with Nicole, I totally redesigned the removable sleeves into this half shawl/ half shrug thing.

Which I totally loved!! It added to me feeling like a starlet from the 30's, it doubled as some kind of amazing scarf/collar when I put my coat on. (the coat is another post.) And it achieved what I needed, a way to be warmer and covered earlier in the day and then remove it when I was too warm and wanted to dance.

Maggi also did my make-up and lent me, my something borrowed.

She had some vintage shoe clips from her grandmother (I think) and she had worn one on her wedding. I loved the little bit of sparkle and getting to share that detail from her wedding. It was really so fun how it all came together.

For my fascinator, I made it the last few days before the wedding. With my shrug, doing a big tulle fascinator seemed wrong, and everything that looked traditionally bridal just felt wrong. In the end it's mostly dark green feathers, some peacock feathers and a tiny bit of gold silk flower petals. 

Photos by Voeu Image Wedding Photography

Photos by Voeu Image Wedding Photography

 There is about 12 yards of fabric in the skirt of this dress. Twirling in it was so really fun.

Photos by Voeu Image Wedding Photography

In the end, the dress and the sleeves/shrug/shawl was exactly what I wanted. It could have been more green, but I loved it exactly as it was.... Especially with all the input and help from my friends. They made it so much better!

You Will Have Your Cake and Eat It Too, update!

Right before we all went on vacation, I had a fitting with Katie, my model for You Will Have Your Cake and Eat It Too! This is the beginning of the line! 

Katie was good enough to come to the studio on a day that was getting pretty warm and was then willing to try on these samples while Joe took photos of the process.

Getting to work like this is super indulgent for me, it's pretty exciting. I've always loved to explore what the fabric will do in any particular design. It almost feels like cheating, "The fabric told me it wanted to do that! I just listened..." .
This dress is one I designed a while ago, I keep making little or not so little changes and rebuilding it. I know fashion trends tend to move very quickly, but I've always been inspired by the idea of things/styles/silhouettes that have a longer life.


Years ago I read an interview with Isabel Toledo, she said, some of her designs she would wear for years before she'd add them to her line. She wanted to make sure they worked and that they would last. (I named my first dress form Isabelle after her.) I just loved that idea, of living with a design to see if it works.

I also just finished a great biography on Coco Chanel, Chanel; A Woman of Her Own by Axel Madsen and Chanel had a similar philosophy on design. She was always refining what worked, what was elegant and comfortable. And who really was chicer then Chanel?!

 So, here we are! I'm working on the fit and the right construction, what needs bones and what doesn't. I'm loving working with colors and pushing the ideas of what colors make great wedding and party clothes.

What do you think? Here's to more Cake! cheers!

All photos by Joe Tanis Photography

The Green Velvet Dress

Photos by Joe Tanis Photography

I mentioned in my post about Keiko's Orange dress that I would some day share the original dress that has inspired these variations.

So, this is the original dress.

This is also the dress I showed Karolina when we were talking about her Tango dress. She needed a lot of other design details for the Tangoing, but the back was inspired by this dress.

So, this dress was inspired by not having very much of this fabric. A friend of mine gave me 1 yard of this beautiful green silk velvet and I was determined to really use as much as possible of it, hence the inspiration to make a wrap dress. All the draping in the back creates the cowl. I did give it the cut away neck line in the front with the panel of silk organza.

Originally I designed this for a New Years Eve party. It was a big hit, but I'm sure you won't be surprised that I was fairly cold. Ah, winter party dilemma's ... :)

Keiko's Orange Dress with Navy Fascinator

 I just got these amazing photos from my photographer, Joe Tanis and I'm so excited to share them!

Keiko needed a dress this summer to go to a wedding in Japan, we talked about me making her a fascinator and I did (see below), it kind of inspired our Fascinator Making Workshop, but then we also got on about what she would wear with this fascinator and one thing lead to another and well, we both thought she needed this...

Someday I will make a post about the original dress that keeps inspiring new versions, but for now, I think this might be one of my favorites! This is one pattern piece, it's a wrap dress. This one is in a lovely 4-ply silk crepe.

 And I love how the orange dress and navy fascinator look so elegant on her! Really it can be so fun to wear color!

You may remember the fascinator from our flyer... :)

It's always so fun to work with clients that want a little adventure in their party clothes... I'm totally for adventurous party clothes!

Karolina and Wayne, Part 1!

This is Karolina and her new husband Wayne.

I'm not sure how to sum up. This project was such a joy to be apart of, Karolina was really clear about what she wanted. And what she wanted was this beautiful dress, that was very simple looking, but actually incredibly interesting and complicated to make. It was much more complicated then I thought when I first said, "I love that, I'd love to make that!"

Karolina, in addition to having an amazing eye for what is lovely, is also very very patient! She spent hours standing in my studio with me walking around her with pins in my mouth.

I loved every minute of it! It's so fun to have a project that is interesting and challenging in a good way. And it's such a joy to work with a bride that loves design as much as I do! (She's an architect.)

I was so excited to see the photos from the wedding because everything I saw that they did was so thoughtful and lovely (their wedding invitations were so amazing!) I just knew it was going to be a gorgeous celebration all around!

It was a little sad for me when we finished all her projects, part of me felt like, wait you're not gonna come hang out here anymore? Needless to say, I felt like she was an old friend when we were done...

Thanks so much for letting me contribute to your day! It was such a beautiful celebration... Congratulations to you both!

xophae

p.s. Next I'll post what we made her for the reception!

Tara and Kent's wedding

Tara and Kent actually got married on July 21 of 2005, so this is a look back.

Tara is my oldest sister. We look like sisters, we sound like sisters. We are incredibly similar in so many ways and completely opposite in many others. When she and Kent married, they actually were trying to elope.

I got a call from Tara, she was in line at customs in the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. She and Kent had just returned from 3 weeks in Africa. I hadn't spoken to her for the entirety of this trip and it was awful to go that long without hearing from her. So you can imagine I was really excited when the phone rang and it was her.

What she said was, "Sis, I'm gonna need you in Colorado in a few weeks." and I said, "You're dress is gonna be SO simple."

"You're not mad?"

"Of course I'm not mad!"

and then she had to go, it was her turn to see the customs agent. That was it.

Later, we had a conversation about what she wanted this dress to be like. And I said, I think we're talking about the same dress.

Without taking her measurements and without sending her sketches, I made her this dress and got it in the mail in about 7 days. I don't think there is another person in the world that would trust me so completely to design and make the right thing, on such short notice and then get married in it. And it really was the right thing.

Today, Tara let me be a guest blogger on her writer blog, it was really exciting to be apart of her world for a day and write an essay for her audience.

Now I'm extending the invitation to her, so you all can hear this story from her side or maybe she'll just want to indulge in her own love of design and fashion. What do you say Tara? Are you game? It'll be fun! :)

xoxsis

Something Old, Something New . . .

My friend My Phung asked me if I wanted to work on this project with her and of course I said yes, I always learn so much and have so much fun working with her on things.

So this is Jodi's dress before we started, it was her grandmother's wedding dress.

We all liked the bones of this dress, but we also agreed it could be a little more fun and maybe less modest. We immediately removed the sleeves and lowered the front and back neck line.

My Phung remade the actual dress, adding silk tulle to the front and back, while I worked on the part that isn't really so visible, I rebuilt the vintage slip that goes under the dress. In the end I think both pieces came together in a really lovely way.

We kept some of the vintage look for the original dress but made the whole thing look way more like Jodi.

And then I made her a fascinator using some grey bird cage tulle and feathers to tie in her grey belt. I wish I had a shot of her shoes, they were this amazing bright fascia, so fun!

It was so fun to work on this kind of project, watching something new emerge from something old. It's a brave bride that will pony up a vintage dress and let someone recreate it right in front of her eyes!

Thanks Jodi! It was so fun working with you and My Phung on your dress, I had a ball!

And congrats on your new marriage! xo

out with the old

Silk and tulle corset, silk bustle and tulle and cotton skirt

4 ply silk crepe cocktail dress

I just realized I forgot to post these. And they were my favorites. . . what do you think? So this is it for the old, now I'm working on a project I'm really excited about , more about that piece to come!

xophae

More from LA . . .

I have been working on some dresses to use as samples or jumping off points when I work with new clients. It's been good to start with familiar shapes, they kind of feel like blank slates. They also have worked remarkably well as jumping off points for myself and what I want to do next. And they have inspired me to rebel a little, do something new...

The dress above is a silk taffeta and tulle corset with a multi colored tulle skirt. The head piece is made of handmade silk flowers with some feathers and bit of birdcage tulle.

This dress is silk taffeta with a feather neckline detail. The hat is hand stitched petals made of silk taffeta, silk shantung, silk organza and tulle with feathers.

The little hats, fascinators really, have been so much fun, I might make them a much bigger focus of my studio. . . They don't have to be only for big special occasions, they're good for small special occasions too, like dinner parties.

We'll see what's next . . .

photo credits for this post and the last (as well as the header) goes to Lee Paulson, please see more of his work here.

Oregon-ization . . .

I was talking to a friend of mine last night and I mentioned I'd recently bought an A/C. I said, "My inner Oregon girl fainted. I think I just became a real New Yorker." Really I bought the A/C for my studio, it's difficult to work when it's too hot to turn on the lights, let alone the sewing machine and iron. It's a business expense, right? I still feel a little guilty. "Portland is the greenist city in the county", I said. You can take the girl out of Oregon but you can't take the Oregon out of the girl.

So he mentioned to me that he's just read an article about the Oregon-ization of the country. This article about the Artisanal movement seems to be growing across the county. (The article is here if you're interested.) Apparently my goal of having a Portland lifestyle in Brooklyn (or anywhere else) is not just mine. This idea of having something unique and hand made instead of mass produced is growing in popularity. Hallelujah. It's true I grew up in the DIY-er's corner of the country, where people remodeled their own houses and made their own jam from the local berries. We didn't call it Artisanal back then, but this idea is very ingrained in me. Now when my family gives homemade jam or liqueurs for holiday gifts it feels like pure luxury. It's beautiful to see it spreading around the country.

After working in the corporate fashion industry I missed the world of making only a few of something and working directly with the person that was buying the dress, bag, pants or hat I was making.

So this is why I left my full time job to start my studio, to work with the people that want something handmade. It feels like the next step to being challenged as a designer and to try to live in a more sustainable world. Apparently I'm not alone. Hallelujah.

me and Fifi

I'm not a costume designer . . . except when my dear friend Peggy Queener has a great idea of what one of her characters will wear and I convince her to let me help her create it.

Fifi La Grange is such a fabulous character. when I heard about the dress Fifi would need to be wearing in the final scene of Peggy's one woman show, Fifi La Grange; The Road to Fabulous!, I only said, I'd love to help you! In the end, it turns out I meant, "Please give me all your inspiration and let me do this! You can watch!"

Peggy was gracious enough to let me bring her character to life and do something much bolder then I am normally inclinded to do on my own. I love working in this kind of collaborative way.

Her show went off as a wonderful success. If you missed it, you can follow the story of Fifi here.

cheers!