Several things....

It's been a month of total craziness.

Today I am taking a breather from the sewing machine to get other important tasks done....like this!

So, catchup...

London Alternative Fashion Week is just over a month away, and as you can guess....I am busy as a bee. I have been constantly sourcing shoes, jewellery and all the other shenanigans that must accompany my creations on the catwalk and it's taking up quite a lot of my research time!

Aside from this I have been designing new costumes, including a samba inspired bikini and wing combo in white and silver to be worn in Las Vegas and a Marie Antoinette belly dance costume for the wonderful dancer Hilde Cannoodt.

Super excited to see the new Elle cover:
How super sexy is the finish of multi colour crystals on nude coloured lace?
Effin super sexy!  

Bella De Jac's Black Marilyn Dress

Bella De Jac is one of the most hard working burlesque performers I have ever met. Not only is she the official burlesque dancer for Pulp Pres Publishing but this year she won 2nd place in the Best UK Newcomer at the London Burlesque Festival.

I first met Bella when she modelled for me at my first Club Smooch show in March earlier his year, and now I am happy to count her as one of my clients. I was especially excited when she approached me for her first costume which was to be a black version of the pink dress Marilyn Monroe wore in Gentleman Prefer Blonde's.


Many watches of Diamonds are a girls best friend frame by frame revealed many things about the construction and further research on the fashion designer Billy Travilla, revealed that the dress was made with only side seams, folded into place and secured with a belt. Woh!


It would have been vastly impractical to have made Bella a true remake so I made several concessions for the benefit of the costumes longevity and the practicality of Bella's performance. A side zip was added, and the dress was mould onto Bella's body using as few pieces as possible, and then the folds stitched into place to retain the shape. Th bow proved to be more of a challenge. We wanted a really big bow, and after several trial sizes in which the bow kept dropping over we found a size we could both live with. The original bow was stuffed with horsehair and ostrich feathers, but I had to be satisfied with some pretty stiff net for now.

Resources:
http://www.marilynmonroe.ca/camera/galleries/costumes/travilla/
http://www.travillatour.com/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7533476.stm