Fashion Show: Concept to Creation

I realize it's been almost a whole month since the fashion show, but get ready for several posts about it.
This post, however, will just be about my piece in the show. I will be discussing my ideas, my sketches, my fabric choices, the process of creating it, and finally the final creation.

First, it all starts with an idea. I always have very ambitious dreams and ideas and I had wanted to do a little black dress with a low front or back and a skirt made entirely of feathers. I quickly realized that not only would it be very expensive, but it would also be a lot of work and for not really sewing until this year, it would be very difficult to meet deadlines. So, instead I went to the fabric store and searched through all the fabric choices. I wanted to get ideas from fabrics I would want to work with. I found a black cotton with little white elephants and a tribal print striped loose fabric that I could see myself working with. i found some other fabrics I enjoyed, but when i looked through possible patterns I decided on the two fabrics I discussed above. I decided I would take a dress pattern (high neck, A-line skirt, sleeveless) and shorten it and not put pockets in it. I would use the elephant print for the dress because it would make a cute cotton dress with an exposed, big silver and black zipper down the back. Then, I found a dress pattern that was just a tank top and elastic waistband connecting the top to the skirt. What I decided to do was only make the skirt part and then put the skirt over the dress. I would use the tribal print fabric for the skirt. Lastly, I found a set of detachable collar patterns. At this point I was unsure if I would sue the collars but I thought it would be neat to own them.

After I had all my materials I decided to try and sketch some different ideas. I came up with a sketch for my class that provides a front view and then a short back view of mostly just the outfit.

For class we had to create our outfit out of muslin, like a rough draft so we could work out any quarks that might come up. Over Christmas break I had made a skirt using the skirt pattern I planned on using for the show but with a rayon fabric. After making the dress and collar out of muslin (I didn't have to make the skirt since I had a rough draft already). While making the muslin dress I had to make sure it fit my model, so there were several fittings during the process. Even with the fittings during the muslin I still had to take in my final dress. However, in the end the skirt and dress fit pretty well for my first big sewing project.

This is my outfit before alterations, it's too big and not hemmed.

Then over spring break I found the perfect heels to make my outfit complete. They're wedges with a cork wedge and black straps. They made the ensemble feel more earthy and work  together better than if I had used patent heels like I had originally imagined.

Here are the heels from Banana Republic.

For hair and make up I had envisioned a dark smokey eye with bright red lips, or maroon to match the skirt, with a messy high bun. However, we had to pick from options provided to us for the fashion show. Out of the options given I chose a low bun with a smokey eye and pink lips. Though, when it was done the hair looked good but the eye makeup was disappointing and I still wanted red lips. But, nevertheless I went with it and it all worked out.

I'm on the left with my model on the right with everything: hair, makeup, accessories, and my ensemble.

Finally, for all of my efforts (and I had applied), I was awarded the Freshman award from Purdue's Fashion Association. It was a great feeling to be awarded on the runway in between the Underclassmen/Upperclassmen and the Seniors' collections.

All in all I think it was a great experience. A lot of hard work and effort but I love my ensemble and it fits me, just a great plus side to having a model being almost the same size as you.