On month from today my husband and I will be in Leicester, England for The DressMaker’s Ball! I wrote a post about this even back in March when I bought the tickets, and I have been looking forward to it ever since! You might recall I shared many sewing pattern inspirations! Today I am sharing the mood board and inspiration behind my dress for the ball, and soon I will be sharing the dress itself.
Originally I was thinking about sewing a voluminous Regency era style ball gown. But after considering the cost of fabric to make one (I think it called for over 15 yards of fabric) I became equally inspired to create a more slim, stealth vintage inspired evening dress. I was heavily inspired by Richard Avedon photos of models (like Dovima and Sunny Harnett) in the 1950’s. The photos were very “French chic” and the dresses were sculptural, often with a dramatic detail. Dovima and the elephants comes to mind as a perfect example. I used to see a variation of this photo at Harper’s Bazaar magazine when I was an intern there, as this was a very famous shoot Richard Avedon landed at age 21. I love the slim streamline look, the elegant hourglass silhouette enhanced by the dramatic cummerbund, and the contrasting colors.
As I looked more at dress inspiration from the late 40’s to mid 50’s, I came upon the “Rose France Grand Gala Gown” by Christian Dior in 1947-48. This dress resonated with me in every way, and if you know me I’m sure you can believe that the two tone pink fabric combination is the biggest element that drew me to it!
I had in my mind an idea of what I wanted to make, and I paid a visit to my favorite vintage antique shop, Vint’illage established by my friend Tom, to look at vintage patterns. I mention this shop often in my blog posts because I find so many great patterns there for projects. This visit was no exception! I discovered Butterick 7943 from 1956. View B was the look that jumped out at me.
Next I illustrated my dress design plan as you can see below. I ordered my fabrics from an etsy shop called “NewFabricsDaily”.
Very soon I plan to have a follow up to this blog post and show you some photos as well as a “video documentary” all about the dress! I have also made a special hat as well as a “Dressmaker’s Ball” inspired evening bag, seen here.
Dressmakers BallMood Boardsewing
By Adrimar
