Dress Developments IX: Say Yes to the Sketch Thursday, February 11, 2010

So I did it -- I finally started the dress process.

Last weekend, I got measured, and as I write this, the seamstress is working on a muslin. But before I visited with her, I had to have a design, right?

I had been working on these, and with all my previous inspirations taken into account, plus my own body type, and some newer ideas from the likes of Amsale, Ulla-Maija and other modern-classic designers, here are the Final Four.

 

Dress 854 is a plain A-line dress. The back is inspired by this one from Amsale; asymmetrical, drawing attention in the right place. The front is a flat front skirt, although the sketch appears to have princess seams. There is some slight gathering at the waistline.

I'll be honest; I really didn't like this dress. It's a beautiful A-line, classic dress, but I wanted something with more... personality.

Dress 858 is a modified A-line (trumpet) with princess seams. Being short and, for lack of a better word, "curvy," I felt like a plain A-line might be overwhelming, especially in light of the fact that I want to wear a full skirt. The problem is that I don't like princess seams, but they seem necessary to get the full skirt. 

And here are my favorites. Another solution to the full skirt problem is to have a seam below the waistline. After all, that gathered fabric has to come from somewhere! This dress has a seam that curves downward, which I hope would elongate the body. It also just looks more modern.

I love this dress! I think it's modern and interesting, but I'm not sure if I am bold enough to wear it. Plus, the seam really does cut the visual line of the body, which may or may not be a good thing. Here, the same dress without the seam (but the fullness of the skirt would be considerably less):

So which one did I choose? I'll show you in the muslin fitting, next week!

Verily, Vera Thursday, October 29, 2009

I'm not quite a die-hard fan of Vera Wang's wedding dresses, but I am a fan of Vera herself. I remember when the Lifetime channel was getting into the wedding-tv craze, they would air a biography of her every so often, and I watched it nearly every time it was on.

When I heard her describe her latest line on the Martha Stewart Show "wedding" episode, I thought it seemed uninspired. What bride wants to look like her dress just came from the washing machine??

But when it comes to individual dresses and ideas, Vera's thought process is so interesting. The other day, yet another celebrity was married in a custom Vera. Ivanka Trump's beautiful dress got lots of people thinking twice about how beautiful & sexy one can be... without showing everything! Ivanka is pictured below, with her dress inspiration, Princess Grace.

A small but vocal number of brides (and photographers, and seamstresses, I'm sure) have been lamenting the recent strapless craze, and just today Vera reported that she is "tired" of strapless dresses. Amen! I can't *wait* for this trend to move along, and for sleeves (or, coverage in general) to be seen as a beautiful option instead of being relegated to the un-sexy, the dowdy, the über-traditional.

Of course, Ivanka is a recent convert to Orthodox Judaism, and presumably decided on sleeves for this reason. But what if that wasn't the reason? Currently, several of the articles describing her dress are quick to make the excuse, almost as if to say, "Well, she could have been sexy, but her religion got in the way."

Yes, we liberated women don't need to trumpet our chastity down the aisle. But wouldn't it be even more progressive if we acknowledged the complexity of both? That one doesn't have to choose, that you can be both sexy and tasteful at once, that maybe your sexiness lies in your decision to be tasteful? That maybe there are other things to be on your wedding day besides sexy?

In this video, Vera talks through her process for Ivanka's dress, and makes some interesting points regarding chastity, class, and modesty in wedding dresses. She also throws out the idea that not too long ago, it would never have been proper for a woman of a higher class to wear a revealing dress. Imagine that!