Tracy's Elegance

 

Usually, Tracy arrives at her design meetings with tremendous preparation and forethought.  But this time, she had just one goal in mind.  A new gown for International Standard Ballroom that would be the epitome of elegance and sophistication.  But she had no images. 

 

And she also had an idea that the gown might black.  This can be a dangerous choice, if you are not a very well-known dancer, because by default all the gentlemen on the floor are wearing black or midnight blue, with only rare exceptions, and the danger of blending in and not being seen in large heats is very real.

In Standard, the competing is done entirely in closed hold.  The lady dances in front of the gentleman, slightly offset to his right side, and does not separate from him while dancing. So the back of the gown is as important as the front, if not more so, since the back is seen exclusively, except between dances, when the couple separates.   His hand covers her right shoulder blade (or thereabouts) and so, the right side of the back is the best place for sparkle and detail.  In this case, his hand fits beneath the epaulette, and is partially masked by the generous wing.

As we hunted through fabric catalogs and looked at current styles published by my favorite supplier, we happened across a gown that seemed to have many of the attributes we were talking about.  It was black, but also had some white.  It was intensely sparkly, to help it stand apart from all the tailsuits on the floor.  And it was certainly elegant.  With that as a basis for action, we made minor adjustments to accomodate Tracy's specific needs, and had a design we both thought was a just right fit for our goal.
 

 

Generally, Made for Movement gowns are unique, but I have learned in 26 years of designing for dancers that there is nothing entirely new under the sun, and since fashion and clothing are not subject to copyright, there is no real reason to avoid creating something similar in style to existing gowns.  I usually prefer not to copy exactly, but this is very similar to the image we stumbled across.  I think personal fit factors strongly into this equation, and I also think trends and fashion dictate what silhouettes are desirable, and what colors are available for use in fabrics each year.  What is hot this year is something that every dancer wants, and at some point following a fashion trend blurs the lines of individual designs.

Tracy says "I love the boldness of the gown - people say it's unlike anything they've seen in Standard. And I love the volume of the skirt. People also said Scott and I look great together in it because we're both all in black and white. And he brought out his tailsuit for the occasion."

So, Tracy has a gown she loves, elegant, visible, and beautiful.  And we were thrilled to make it!  Now that she has a new Smooth gown, and a dedicated Standard gown, I am hoping that a new Rhythm gown might be on tap for 2014!


  

Cindi's Golden Ribbon Lace

This is the first of my THREE golden gowns this fall.  I swear, sometimes the craving for a color gets in the water!  When Cindi came in for her design meeting, she fell in love with ribbon lace, and we designed a gorgeous gown to put it to good use.  I had so much fun with this design!

This gown was a real patterning puzzle, with loads of twists and turns and confusing bits.  When bespoke clothing is patterned, we do so without seam allowances, to allow us to think clearly and see style lines easily.  This pattern has lots going on!

First the leotard, (the basis for all dancewear) sleeves, and collar are patterned, and style lines are drawn in place.  Then, the pattern is cut apart on the style lines, and each individual fabric is patterned separately and cut out. 

Then a fitting confirms that all the lines are in beautiful places on my client's body and the real work begins.

The upper leotard and sleeves of this gown looked like this assembled.  I imagined that Cindi's left sleeve and side (on your right) might look as though she were naked and sprayed with a light dusting of gold.  Bra cups provide her with ample cover, but the impression was pretty successful, as you can see here.

The lower portion of the leotard looked like this, before the skirt and lining were applied.  The empty space on the garment left side (your right) is waiting to be filled by the white mesh above, which is both leotard and the beginning of the white section of the skirt.

And below are the first of the seven skirt panels, laid out on the ribbon lace for cutting.

Because all of the patterns are applied to the wrong side of the fabric for cutting, they are created upside down, which requires a good bit of thinking and puzzle ability with asymmetrical style lines like this.

Cindi's left side and sleeve are glimmering with Aurum crystals, the most expensive rhinestone money can buy, because they have a fine real gold coating on their surface.    The white center section is drenched in Crystal AB sew-on Rivolis and many sizes of flat backs.  The gold ribbon lace was so splendid on its own that we chose not to apply rhinestones to it at all. 

Now, no laughing!  I was sad when it came time to create jewelry for this gown, because it didn't really need much, but I did get to make a pair of earrings!

The competition at which Cindi will debut her new gown is in HAWAII! next week, and sadly, I cannot be there to take pictures, but I am hoping she brings me back a shot or two to share with you.   Maybe something with a palm tree in the background, or a sandy beach???   

American Beauty (aka "Cruella")

My personal taste in dancewear comes bursting out when I design a gown to be placed on my rack for sale, instead of the custom design for a specific dancer that is the vast majority of my work.  I love texture and print, so I am often motivated by a piece of fabric.  When I found this dot print, I fell in love.  I was really pleased that the fabric was not specifically "polka dot," as that has a kind of sweetness that I don't find appealing.  I immediately wondered if it might be possible to emulate the dot pattern with Swarovski Jet crystals, in varying sizes. 

The gown sketch featured a skirt that dropped from the low hip, but high enough to disguise a wider thigh, and included additional fullness in the shape from the knee down. This is a year of multiple layers of skirt, so I also found some crisp, sheer organza and cut an underskirt that had a pretty mass of flounce, again, from below the knee.  

A simple white, off-the-shoulder leotard with a v-back and long flounced sleeves to emulate the shape of the skirt was cut.  Once assembled, a Jet Swarovski application sample was done and then turned over to Michele, who created a jig to help with randomizing the crystal  pattern.

As a side note, it is amazingly difficult to create randomness.  I just watched an old episode of "Num3ers,"  which is a TV show based on the usefullness of a mathematical genius in solving crimes.  In this episode, the genius asks a group of people to distribute themselves randomly around a room.  They do so.  And then he points out that they are all equidistant from each other, and (of course) proceeds to solve the crime. The same thing tends to happen with random rhinestoning.  It's very hard to accomplish, unless you intentionally plan to put some closer together and some further apart.  But, enough random rambling.

When Michele returned it to me, I asked a client to put on the gown, and immediately saw the sleeve made for too much volume overall and cut it off.  Amazing how differently things look on a person, as opposed to my dress form!  The black and white print had an mildly gray impression, so I knew it would need a bold contrasting color addition.  Being symmetrical, it was so stable as to make one wonder if it COULD move, so I also decided that my contrasting additions would need to provide a sense of potential action for the gown.

A bold red emerged as the best color option, adding a nice drama to the piece. I wanted the gown to be both dramatic and a little playful (in deference to the dots) so I experimented with bows, ruffles and flowers, and the elegance of roses was a favorite, with substance and shine being desirable characteristics.  Samples were made and tested in several different fabircs.  I loved a red silk sample, but when I washed my samples, the silk had the least color stability and ran into the white lycra, so a poly crepe back satin won out. A couple days were spent crafting red roses and buds.   Then I arranged my mountain of roses to create some action in the gown.

We have not hemmed the gown, waiting for an owner to establish the final length, but I have ordered 25 yards of red satin hem binding, so all that delicate organza flounce will eventually be red swirls of  accent at the foot, beneath the dots.  We've made a couple of simple pieces of jewelry, a satin choker and cuff, and a pair of earrings, but have other options in mind as well. Final choices will really depend entirely on the new owner, and the impression they want to create on the floor. We're calling the gown "American Beauty" for the multitude of red roses, but I can't resist giving it a sub-title, "Cruella."  It has a Cruella De Ville quality that makes me smile.  Perhaps I should have added a touch or ermine?

We seem to be in a "White House Black Market" mode over the last few weeks. We are also working on a new Latin gown with a similar color scheme, which I hope to reveal at the Minnesota Star Ball on May 15th.  Will you be there?  Please stop by and try on our new black and white beauties!