The Wedding Coat, as promised . . .

All photos by Voeu Image Wedding Photography

It was me that insisted on a January wedding (it's my favorite month). And it was Joe that insisted we do our wedding photos outside. So I made a coat! We were lucky, it was about 35 degrees, a sunny day with a bright blue sky. (The week before the wedding it was about 10 degrees, so we were all really excited about how balmy it felt, hovering above freezing.)

I have been sitting on about 20 yards of ivory wool that Jenn gave me, left over from something, so I figured this was the perfect opportunity to use it! Since it was pretty cold in Brooklyn in January, I doubled the wool. This coat weights so much. But it has pockets! The whole thing is lined in ivory silk. I love how my shrug/shawl thing looks as a scarf! Or a collar or something, but it's actually not attached.

In keeping with my vintage inspired theme, I modified a vintage dress pattern into a full length coat. It was one of the last handful of things to get finished before the wedding and one of my moms spent nearly a day doing all the hand finishing on this coat.

 And while it seems like a good thing to have around, a full length formal winter coat, I've been thinking of having it dyed a darker color or even, someone, I think My Phung, suggested I have it painted! Would be really cool. I love the idea of getting to wear it again.

Any other ideas? or suggestions?

xoxphae

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!

Archive, Jenn's Emmy Dress

I posted photos of Jenn in this dress when she originally wore it, but she was kindly willing to be photographed in it in the studio for my archives.

It was 2 years ago that I designed this dress for her trip to the Emmy's, but I still love this dress! And this color!
As always, Joe Tanis takes such beautiful images..... :)

Interstellar Songbook!

Last summer, I was contacted by a friend of a friend in need of a dress to wear on the cover of her soon to be released CD.

We had such a great time working on this "costume".  Joanne Weaver is an amazing singer, I won't try to explain what her music is like because I'm not fluent in music at all. But, her fashion style is totally inspired by the sultry styles from the 40's. And that era makes my heart flutter a little faster too! So we had a great combination of using that inspiration and still wanting to make her look a little like a star filled midnight sky...... (with great legs!)

The Intersteller Songbook is now here! If your in NY, check her out this weekend in person! If your not in NY, check her out via social media from her links below..

and yep! that's the dress on the cover! :)

Joanne Weaver Interstellar Songbook CD Release Party Saturday, June 2nd Doors at 7pm Show starts promptly at 8pm Theatre80 80 St Mark's Place New York, NY $20 + $5 service fee Each guest will receive a complimentary CD and free entrance to after party. We kindly ask that you buy your tickets in advance. Buy Tickets Here
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www.joanneweavermusic.com

Figure Flaws: a Rant.

Having recently gotten engaged, I have a whole new perspective on my job. It’s part of my job to read and look at bridal magazines. But now that I’m looking at them as a bride, I started seeing things I’ve previously dismissed: all the articles about hiding my figure flaws and finding the right dress to hid my figure flaws. Yuck. Figure flaws. That does not sound fun.

I don’t like the term ‘figure flaws’. In fact, it offends me.

Now, I understand that not all women are 100% in love with their figures all the time. But figure flaws? That's just rude. It assumes that it’s a given, it assumes the viewer doesn’t accept her figure. It assumes there is something about the bride that is flawed and must be hidden. There are so many beautiful women in the world, for what reason are we focusing on flaws? And why do we even call them that?! What’s with the implication that having curves or not having curves or being tall or short is a flaw? The only thing inclusive in that kind of thinking is that we are all flawed. This is just an observation but even women that don’t look like Gisele are beautiful.

Your figure isn’t flawed.

There might be things you love about your figure more then other things. Okay. So instead of calling the things you like less ‘flaws’, can we all agree to discuss instead the things you want to show off, the things you love? I’m completely in support of finding the dress that works for your body, we all look and feel better in some things then other things. Let’s talk about what you feel awesome wearing. Do you feel like Joan Holloway when you wear a pencil skirt? Fantastic! Do you feel feminine and sexy in a ball gown? Fantastic! Let’s start there.

I’ve had well-meaning friends suggest that I wear a padded bra to my wedding, thinking I guess that a padded bra would create some kind of cleavage. Um, I don’t have cleavage, with or without a padded bra. I know this kind of discussion comes up among friends even if there isn’t a wedding coming up. I would just like to suggest a different perspective in this conversation. My fiancé knew what I looked like when he proposed. He accepted me ‘warts and all’, as the saying goes. I would like to suggest that yours did too. And wouldn’t this whole process be more fun if the conversation was about what makes you feel the most beautiful? And happy?

Women of all shapes and sizes and backgrounds fall in love and get married everyday. Love doesn’t discriminate against different bodies types. Wedding dresses shouldn’t either. Love is inclusive.  Dresses can be too.

I saw a quote in the April issue of Vogue from Alber Elbaz, the fabulous designer of Lanvin in Paris that said, “When I think of women, I don’t think of size or age, I think of beauty.”

I say yes, of course, exactly! And thank you.

Cake for everyone!

Where do I start? I love getting to design and make things for people. I meet the most amazing people doing what I do.

(photo by me at my sister Briana's wedding 2005)

And it seems a little silly sometimes, that I just want to spend my day playing with fabric. I admit I talk to the fabric and the dresses. Designing feels like a conversation with the materials.

So when I started this whole Kickstarter Campaign, I was sure I would make my goal, somehow. I thought everyone would give me $15. And I was so excited by that! What I didn't realize was how much everyone else wants to see me succeed.

Now, designing feels like a conversation with a community. And I love that. I have 6 more days to reach my goal and it is so close!

I have spent the last 2 weeks just being floored by the love and support.

With my heart in my throat, Thank you. I can't wait to show you all what we've created!

Originally, my inspiration was Nora Charles (or Myrna Loy, depends on how you look at it!) from the The Thin Man movies from the 30's and 40's. Now I think my inspiration is a little bit Nora Charles and a little bit of everyone that's contributed in thought, spirit and backing.

What will you all wear to the party? And what kind of cake should we have?!


xoxophae

"Take My Picture!"

Um, it's no secret that I've been working with Mr. Joe Tanis for my Photography. I met Joe at my sister's kitchen table. (I meet the coolest people there.) And we started talking, he's a photographer that wants to take editorial photos of brides and I'm a designer that works with brides, one thing leads to another and we have some really fun photo shoots and Voila! Suddenly I have all these amazing photos of my work! This one above is one of my favorites. I love the mood....

What I know about really good photography is that it tells a beautiful story. And Joe Tanis is a great story teller with his photography. You might not know this about me, but I actually got my first degree in Photography, I know how difficult it is to tell really great stories with pictures. It is so difficult that I became a designer instead. Turns out I'm better at telling stories with fabric and clothes. My education left me with a profound appreciation for the people that do it much better then me.

There's so much that goes into really good photography, the lighting, the composition, getting the model to relax, the photo retouching so everything is perfect, all of it works together to tell a story.

On Tuesday and Wednesday Dec 6th & 7th, he's creating a portrait studio to work with people one on one and photograph them. He's created this branding photography event to work with people to help them tell the story they want their pictures to tell. If you need your business or your portrait to tell a new (or better?) story, check out his event here.

He's also offering a Thanksgiving discount ($150.00 off), use discount code: "Thanksgivingdiscount"

Check out his event, pass it along to people you like that need awesome photos. You could pass it along to people you don't like too, but generally anyone you like, must be an awesome someone to photo.... :)

cheers! xophae

Nov. 30, UPDATE
Joe updated his day, do you're own hair and make-up and the total cost is $150, he's got a new discount code that is "friends" I think, it's listed in his link to the event. links above still work! Or let me know if they don't and I'll get you the link directly!

xophae