Concept
This is my current mood board, I wanted to show the simple elegance and the feel that the draping, beads, and feathers give in one picture.
For my inspiration, I chose to use styles that were popular in the 1920's and make them a little more modern and stylish. I chose to name my brand after my grandma who passed away a couple years ago, she was born in the early 1920's and was extremely stylish. I wanted to pay tribute to her with this collection.
This was the first sketch of my final look, it's my favorite sketch out of the whole collection. I was going to add beads to the top and on the front of the skirt but they would've weighed the fabric down too much for the look I wanted.
This is my current mood board, I wanted to show the simple elegance and the feel that the draping, beads, and feathers give in one picture.
Look 1
This dress was inspired by the classic flapper dress, the model this was made for didn't want to show as much skin so I made it a more modest look than the rest.
I wanted to cover the dress completely with the blue beaded fringe but as I was measuring everything out I realized I wasn't going to have enough so I decided to add the gold accent at the bottom.
I really like how the beads sewn in at the bust line came out, it looked very nice when the dress was hanging up. If I were to do anything different, I would figure out a way to create a dress with multiple seams so you're not able to see the tape that the beads are attached to. I think it would create a way classier look but I didn't think it all the way through as I was draping the dress.
This dress was inspired by the classic flapper dress, the model this was made for didn't want to show as much skin so I made it a more modest look than the rest.
Look 2
This was the first step to draping the prototype.
After I finished the front, I finished the back bodice.
This is actually my boyfriend, I needed him to put it on so I could take a picture of how the beads look on the garment while it's being worn. It ended up fitting him very well.
This was the first step to draping the prototype.
Look 3
This look got very wrinkled through transportation. I wanted to create a strapless drop waist look that was covered in feathers. I included a slit in the skirt in the left side seam.
Originally I wanted to cover the bottom of the skirt in feathers and create a sort of ombre effect. When we had to start working from home though, I didn't have enough space to figure that out without an animal destroyinh my work.
Instead I decided to layer the two different feathers so it's more of an accent that compliments the gold band around the top.
This look got very wrinkled through transportation. I wanted to create a strapless drop waist look that was covered in feathers. I included a slit in the skirt in the left side seam.
Look 4
This was the first step of making the woven panel for the caftan. Both sets of 18 strips took around 12 hours to cut out, sew together, and iron flat.
Once the strips were flat, I was able to weave them together to create the fabric I wanted to use on the back of my garment.
This is just a close up of the squares, you can see that each is top stitched down. I had a difficult time keeping the gold fabric from bunching or moving while I was sewing it down so I'm happy with how it turned out.
This was the first step of making the woven panel for the caftan. Both sets of 18 strips took around 12 hours to cut out, sew together, and iron flat.
Final Look
This was my first attempt at draping the front part of the over skirt with the diagonal darts and curved hem.
This was how the first prototype of the panels ended up. I liked how the different length of panels created a step type look, it's very geometric.
This is all the pieces put together, the inspiration for this piece is from Paul Poiret and his hobble skirt that was popular in the 1920's. I just wanted to update the style a little with a more modern overall look.
This was my first attempt at draping the front part of the over skirt with the diagonal darts and curved hem.