Susana's Mom's prom dress gets a make over

Susana came to my studio with this wonderful dress from the 50's with a photo of a modern white dress with layers and layers of Technicolor tulle under the skirt. I got so excited at the idea of this. What a fun way to update and personalize a vintage dress. Even better that it was already a personal dress inherited from her mom!

This dress had a couple issues, the waist line was authentic to the era and measured a mere 20", the front boning was wildly misshapen and needed to be replaced, but otherwise was in really good shape. Susana had a tailor detach the bottom ruffle and replace the entire back panel to make it fit correctly.

So what was left was this short scalloped hemmed, sweet cocktail dress. And that was when I went in and added layers of tulle to the skirt and a little orange tulle piping to the waist line.

We played with different combinations of colors, more colors vs less colors . . . but in the end, I think, we struck a lovely balance:

We kept the feeling of the vintage dress, but added the fun pop of colors at the hem (this must have been so fun to see her dance in!).

And then using the same tulle as her dress, I made her a fascinator, with tulle "peonies" and birdcage tulle "plumes" (keeping with the vintage feel). Her fascinator was really fun to make after we finished her dress. I pretty much made her put on the dress and sit in front of the mirror and I just put things on her head until we found the combination of flowers and tulle that we liked.

(fascinator back view)

I love this last photo of them! They both look so happy but most I love the way her new husband is looking at his bride! Like he just caught the canary . . . so sweet!

Congratulations and best wishes to the happy pair! xophae

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

Alterations meets Reinvention

I used to say that I would rather make something from scratch then take something apart and alter it. but this has a very narrow definition of "alter". That alteration is like, replacing a zipper or making something a little bigger or smaller.

Lately I have been working on projects where "altering" the garment means recreating it. For these currant projects are taking older, vintage dresses and turning them into something new for new celebrations. It's really fun to see these kinds of family history be passed down and then updated for a new generation and new memories. Giving these dresses a new life. It reminds me of the pieces I made for last September's Fashion Night Out.

So with Oscar night and the party that went with it last weekend, I was inspired to revisit some old "reinvention projects" that have been neglected in my studio. (Going to a party is the best motivation.) This originally was a skirt sample that I got years ago when I freelanced at Jcrew, too pretty to decline even though it was 3 sizes too big. I opted to turn it into a dress, obviously...

(I'm not so photogenic these days...)

I did this once before with another skirt I got during the same time. This one I added the bodice to make the skirt into a dress. The beading and detail in this piece was too brilliant to turn down just because it was much too big. (The beading also made the idea of just fitting the skirt a very daunting task... much more fun to add a bodice and call it a dress!)

(You'd trust me at your wedding with a camera, wouldn't you?)

Brings the idea of recycling to a whole new level, yes?

Last weeks Fashion Night Out Event

Somehow I had the very good fortune of getting involved with an event for Fashion Night out that was created by a new company called Fashion Lab in Process (or FLiP), created by Daria Dorosh.

Our assignment as designers was to take an existing garment and turn it into something else. And the end result should be more expensive looking then what we started with, we were "upcycling" not just recycling.

It was a wonderful design exercise. Starting with a garment gives you limits you have to work around and within that can be a really fun challenge.

The other designers were all really amazing. They included Melissa Kirgan and Xing-Zhen Chung-Hilyard of Eko Lab, a wonderful sustainable design collaborative, Meiling Chen of Fearless Dreamer and Laura Bond with her self-titled line.

It was really inspiring to see how differently all of the designers interpreted this kind of re-invention. It was really fun!

The lighting in the space it's self was not very conducive to getting good pictures, but above is a quick snap shot of one of the racks of our pieces. Also featured at the show was Gayil Nalls, who's work included incorporating smells, good ones, into the clothes, above on the left you can see her red top with the lavender flower, the flower actually smells like fresh still in the garden lavender. It's a very fun alternative to traditional perfume.

And below are the before and afters of both of my pieces.

This was an old felted sweater. I'm pretty sure it was originally passed off to me by my sister. Years ago, new to New York winters, I cut off the sleeves and made them into a "warmer". Here I took the remaining sweater vest and turned it into a fully boned corset. Since the wool is fully felted (after years of neglectful washing) the wool has a really nice hand and still retains some of the give of the knit.

This beautiful pair of pants where passed to me by my dear friend Peggy, she'd had them for years and sadly they had become moth eaten. But there was still usable wool in them if I could cut around them. She gave them too me to maybe make a hat or something. Instead I pulled them out for this. And I was able to cut around all the moth holes. To do it, I figured I needed to be clever with my piecing things together. It turns out there are 40 pieces in this skirt (it's fully lined in the same pattern, it's really beautiful on the inside also).

I ended up just returning the skirt to her. When you start with very small pants, you end up with a very small skirt. I really enjoy how the shifts in grain reflect the light differently. I'm looking forward to making this one again. . . this time in my size!

This whole project left me looking around my wardrobe, wondering if there's anything in there that wants to be made into something else . . . but let me know if you have any old felted sweaters, I am totally game to make more corsets!