Golden Couture
Behind The Seams Of A Gold Lace Dress
Today I'm sharing the story of a very special couture dress in gold lace. So reach for your tea and be prepared for an incredible amount of sheer prettiness. And ( cue drum roll…) all the sewing techniques featured here will be featured in upcoming dressmaking masterclasses next year.
One of the joys of being a Couture designer is the ability to create something completely unique, to take a brief and inspiration and push the boundaries to make a piece of art. This commission was undoubtedly that. It was and never will be "just a garment."
Here is a dress created for a Gatsby party, vintage-inspired, but certainly not costumey, fashion-forward and modern too.
Oh my... cue lots of thought and lots more dreaming.
We ( and it is "we" because my client and I worked closely together,) began an inspiration board on Pinterest. A completely brilliant way of collecting ideas, refining a brief and establishing a design direction.
And then the fabric sourcing began. We loved the mix of soft colours and metallics. Our shortlist of gold, silver, pastel colours and sparkles made us feel so inspired.
Once we had set upon this gold lace and soft pink silk satin, we allowed the fabrics to dictate a direction. We loved the dresses worn by Carey Mulligan in the film "The Great Gatsby", and wanted to create the soft prettiness of some of the dresses she wore as Daisy Buchanan. Although the 1930s was the Art Deco period, we wanted to capture the softness of layers of bias cut fabrics and floating panels that would fly with movement and dance. Flowers were cut out and used as applique on the high low hem, both on the lace layer and the linings underneath.
.... soft, pretty, organic and dreamy!
And then we fell in love with the idea of a detachable cape, with delicate appliqué, using the edge of the lace and the flowers too…
And it was beaded with tiny glass seed pearls in gold and dusky pinks. And vintage sequins too.
For a couture designer, this was a dream come true - to be given the opportunity to create something truly special that was hand-finished with lots of love. I hope ( actually, I’m pretty sure I know for certain!) that this couture piece will be treasured for many years to come.
And if this post has inspired you to create something beautiful too, the techniques here will feature in my dressmaking masterclasses next year. You can join the waitlist here.
Happy sewing!
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PPS. For more information on my couture atelier, please click here.
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