It's a day that everyone takes off. If you live in a big city you can feel the pace slow down. An edge of forgiving patience infiltrating the movement, the pedestrians, the drivers, the subways... Here in Ptown people walk their dogs. It's sunny and delicious. In the summers here, Sunday's usually equal for me a 12 hour shift at Kidstuff (381 Commercial come visit). It's a fast paced fun day for which I usually arrive just in time to grab a coffee, turn on the lights and set up the music. The day usually starts with Joni Mitchell and goes from there.
Anyway... The point of this entry is how the West Side Story Dress is done. And she is beautiful. There's only 2 of them- so please come see! Try on. The details that are missed by my phone are really beautiful. We worked hard on them. Here's some pics... remember you saw the mock-up and the table already... this is the real thang...
Here's the organza layer... We actually built the lining first (a stretch cotton), and then this. The seams are sewn by just overlapping the edges and three rows of topstitching in purple, orange and pink. Some bias zigzag details were added with purple and pink.
Here's Rachel trying it on half way through. We put a piece of organza at the shoulders, and tested the twirl. The hem is done with a strip of 2.5" bias folded and topstitched in the three colors. The hem alone probably took an hour each dress because it's so full. Aka Delicious. From here I finished the neckline and armhole with some salmon silk charmeuse I dyed in 2010 for a client, saving the strip of bias I had left for this specific project. That's right. I'm admitting to never throwing anything out.
After cleaning things up I pinned up these pockets which is what gives the twirl it's kick-ass quality. These photos are teasers. There will be a proper shoot soon that displays these clothes and their movement properly.
If you want to talk about movement and 3D vs. 2D check out Comme des Garcons Fall Collection. Those paper dolls are beautiful and hilarious.
And back to the theme- West Side Story. The mock-up earned the name though I had been imagining this for a while. Maria's little red shop dress... But this in real life looks like a war has been going on. There's an element of Phoenix in her; the raw edges on the seams, and the hem looks like a burst of flames that one could fly from towards a new and better land. Which is what Maria does: she rises from her dead lover and walks on- perhaps to devote her life to ending racism in her community. It's that lived-to-tell romance that we all carry. The best love that comes from hurt and the power to survive.
Side-note: When people ask me my target market, I always find it difficult to answer this question because the answer is not so much 25-60 making X/annually as it just a group of people that have enough sense of self to rock and be proud of their experiences- good, bad, and heart-breaking, -wrenching, -warming.
They are my inspiration.
So thanks! :)
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