Ember's Icy Skyline

Ember is an accomplished woman, with a busy life as the Chief Advancement Officer with Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota. Known for her work as a broadcast political analyst, she is also an attorney, former Minnesota state senator, former radio personality, and enjoys acting in local community theatre productions. 

After some years away from competitive ballroom dance, she visited my studio last fall to ask my professional opinion of several gently used gowns she was considering buying for use in a local "Dancing with the Celebrities" charitable event. I gave her my thoughts and we artfully adjusted her choice (a Made for Movement gown) to fit. She looked great in the gown. and dazzled the crowd at her event with her winning performance.  Here you see her with her Dancer's Studio teacher Chris Kempainen, (also wearing a Made for Movement ballroom suit) holding their trophies.

She must also have been having a good time, because she decided to return to competitive dance and asked me to design a custom rhythm gown for her for the Snow Ball, which I was glad to do. 

As her career would suggest, Ember is a conservative woman, at home in tailored suits and not really interested in ruffles or overly-feminine details on her clothing.  As a dancer, she has both good performance skills, and long, attractive lines to display.  Ember wanted a gown that would be reflective of her stately elegance, and also her joyfulness at her return to dancing.

We wanted her gown to have simple, sleek lines, and be all one color.  Ember chose fuchsia, (a very popular choice in the last year) and it certainly is a joyful color.  We wanted her rhythm look to flatter her body and be tasteful and appropriate to her age.  We chose a longer, soft skirt with nice movement, but not fussy frills or ruffles, and sleeves to connect her slim arms to her body and emphasize her long lines. 

Ember is dancing here with her dance professional and teacher, the wonderful Scott Anderson, who is also the organizer of the Twin Cites Open. Ever an aware guy on the floor, he noticed me with my camera, and moved closer, so my photos are a little better than usual here!  Ember has a lovely hourglass figure with a very small waist and we planned to reveal her waist while de-emphasizing her bust and hip with diagonal design lines, meticulously placed in fittings to flatter and define.

Although her skirt is long, we used a diagonal hemline to allow us to see her legs and knees in action.

When it came to embellishment, in keeping with Ember's dislike of the overdone and fussy, I let her look through a collection of prom dresses. She found one with details she liked, and I used those details as inspiration for the rhinestone application, as you can see here.

I applied the stoning to the top of the bodice, and my partner Michele did the hip line.  I thought (perhaps influenced maybe by working on this gown in January) that the detail looked like icicles on a roof.  Like the story of the blind men and the elephant, Michele thought it was a lovely representation of a winter night time city skyline.  I'm fond of the cuff detail as well.

Ember was a joy to work with, and we look forward to seeing her again, when she is ready for her next custom gown.

Leslie's White Peach

I first thought I would call this post, "The Gilded Leslie" a play on the idea of "gilding the lily."  But gilded lily implies a false shell of beauty, which she does not need.  She is delicate and subtle, and reminds me very much of a white peach, which is also a great name for her new rhythm gown.  She is my second "Golden Girl" of this fall.  She brought her teacher and coach, Kate, to her design meeting and Kate provided a video of a gown she thought would be a good style for Leslie.  I agreed.

Kate's style suggestion was a white slip dress with lace panels, which allowed the sides of the dancer's body to be seen through the openings in the lace.  It had the quality of lingerie, and was sexy in a subtle way.

Leslie is a very modest woman.  She didn't really like the idea of appearing in lingerie, so we were careful to use opaque and substantial fabrics, and also to finish the hem with braid that made it clear that the beautiful end product was a rhythm gown, NOT a slip.

Leslie's new gown is white, and made of two different fabrics; a soft matte white lycra and a voided white lycra with a sheer pattern of interlacing loops and scrollwork at the sides.  Leslie didn't like the idea of being visible through the sheer at her sides, so we backed with voided lycra there with the matte opaque, but used its see-thru beauty in the godets at the base of the skirt, carefully cut never to reveal thighs or hips in turns.  We also added a demi sleeve to the design, which really flatters Leslie's beautiful decolletage.

The gold enters Leslie's picture through her rhinestone choice, Light Peach AB, which gives the gown a delicate golden glimmer.  I filled in the beautiful scrollwork at the sides with the stones to emphasize the pattern, and used less stones at the hem to allow glimpses of Leslie's legs.

My jewelry design takes advantage of the loops and scrollwork in the pattern of the sheer.  I used both Crystal AB and Light Peach AB in the loops, a very subtle difference, that paves the way for a beautiful pair of Crystal AB earrings Leslie she wanted to wear with the gown. 

I think the lovely Leslie wore her new gown last night, at an Dancer's Studio Showcase event, "Under the Big Top."  I missed the event, but I hope she enjoyed herself in her White Peach!