Author’s Statement on Dress Design
I wanted to create a dress that wasn’t a well-known
design. Since I chose “Beauty and the Beast” for my inspiration, I didn’t want
to end up with a big yellow rushed ball gown. During my process of figuring out
what I was going to do, I was inspired by a “Cinderella” revision, Tanith
Lee’s “When the Clock Strikes.” In this revision, Cinderella is evil, but her
gown is dazzling, the center of attention, apricot and gold. I did not want to
create an apricot and gold dress. That would be my worst nightmare. I highly
dislike those colors. But the idea of an ‘evil’ princess, made me want to create
a princess gown that hasn’t really been done before, a gown that revealed a
darker side within. Of course, now I needed a princess to create this dress
for. I wasn’t sure what to do until I remembered that I had already started a
revision of “Beauty and the Beast” before I even knew I was taking a Novels and
Tales class. It was perfect, and I had my dark Beauty. I needed a time period
in which to set my story and to start my design. I chose the 16th – 17th centuries
when women wore hoopskirts and bumrolls to accentuate their hips and bum. I
wished to create this full skirt look. They also wore corsets or stomachers
which create a v-shaped front to the garment. I chose a rose-colored velvet for
my principle fabric, a yellow-gold crinkle satin fabric for the inner-skirt, bodice
front, and sleeves. I also chose a black gold hinted lace fabric to accent and
cover the yellow bodice front. The black lace helps to give my gown a caged and
confined look along with the corset. My fabric and colors are rich looking to
show that my princess is indeed royalty and rich. My main fabric and lace are
dark in color to show her forlorn demeanor and despair, but the soft gold shows
her hope to be rescued and the kindness that still lies in her heart.
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Works Cited
“Farthingale.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 5 June 2014. Web. 13 December 2014.
“History of corsets.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 9 December 2014. Web. 13 December 2014.
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Here are some of the photos I found for inspiration.
And of course my final design.
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