Art Deco Preservation Ball and The HIGH STYLE exhibit at The SF Legion of Honor

In May, Mark and I were able to attend the Art Deco Preservation Ball at the Scottish Rite Center in downtown Oakland.  It was a magical evening, and the experience rivaled that of making my gown for the event, which took a little over a month. I absolutely love designing and making historical dresses for art deco events. 

And, I LOVE to go to fashion exhibits SO the High Style exhibit at the San Francisco Legion of Honor was quite the treat.  Of course the two dresses pictured above were my favorite and a total inspiration for next year's event.

Here are some photos of my dress in progress:

I started by draping the gold brocade on the dress form front.

I hand smocked the side panels on silk charmuse, as I wanted to have some soft drape in the skirt but a fitted bodice. Smocking was a great way to reduce the fullness on a large part of the fabric.  It's also an older technique and seemed an appropriate accent for a 1920's style dress.

I wanted the lace edge to be curved from front to back, so I cut out the scallop design on both borders and shaped the full width of the lace so that it was curved on both sides to the center of the panel.  You can see the finished effect in the photo below.

Front View

side view

Back View

 I also decided to make a corset to wear under my dress.  I really wanted the silhouette to be authentic.  It was fun to make, however, I needed to add a stretch panel in the back as the original design was a little (ahem) small.

Here are some more photos from the event:

Exploring Fashion - SF Fashion Incubator

 

 Tuesday our young Fashion Journalists traveled to San Francisco to visit the SF Fashion Incubator,  located at Macy's Union Square.  The ladies had a unique opportunity to meet and interview the 6 designers in residence - Justin Jamison, Bethany Meuleners, Tamara Jaric, Sabah Mansoor Husain, Tony Sananikone and Paloma Von Broadley.  

Each designer in the Incubator has an individual perspective and take on fashion.  They all started with a fashion business and have entered the Incubator to learn more about the business of fashion.

Looking at the timeline for the 9 months in residence.....

Design Inspiration boards from the designers in residence

Bethany Meuleners speaking with Jeanne Allen and our group about Mansoor Scott

EF: Where do you get inspiration?
Bethany & Sabah of Mansoor Scott: Other arts like pictures, painting and movies.
EF:How do  you choose color?
Bethany & Sabah of Mansoor Scott: Forcasting companys.
EF:How did you get in the fashion Incubator?
Bethany & Sabah of Mansoor Scott: A fashion blog from the Academy of Arts.
EF: When did you become interested in fashion?
Bethany:  10 or 11 years old
Sabah:  When I was a little girl 
EF: What are your favorite colors in Fashion?
Bethany: Blue & Gray
Sabah: Neon Orange

EF: Where do you get inspiration?
Justin Jamison: Buildings with angles, so basically architecture.
EF: How do  you choose color?
Justin Jamison:  I look at Blacks, White, Greys and Blues
EF: How did you get in the fashion Incubator?
Justin Jamison: I heard about it at CCA
EF: When did you become interested in fashion?
Justin Jamison:  Since High SchoolEF: What are your favorite colors in Fashion?
Justin Jamison: Blacks and whites

EF: Where do you get inspiration?
Paloma Von Broadley:  Every day women and Architecture
EF:How do  you choose color?

Paloma Von Broadley: It's really emotional.  From pictures and odd colors and painting.
EF:How did you get in the fashion Incubator?
Paloma Von Broadley: I heard about it from on of my teachers at CCA
EF: When did you become interested in fashion?
Paloma Von Broadley: At a very young age of 16
EF: What are your favorite colors in Fashion?
Paloma Von Broadley:  Teal

EF: Where do you get inspiration?
Tamara Jaric: Emotions, pictures, feelings
EF:How do  you choose color?

Tamara Jaric: by the seasons
EF:How did you get in the fashion Incubator?
Tamara Jaric: I heard about it from a friend
EF: When did you become interested in fashion?
Tamara Jaric: at 12 years old
EF: What are your favorite colors in Fashion?
Tamara Jaric: Blue

     

EF: Where do you get inspiration?
Tony Sananikone: Old Movies
EF: How do  you choose color?

Tony Sananikone: Depends on the season
EF: How did you get in the fashion Incubator?
Tony Sananikone: I heard about it online and from a friend.
EF: When did you become interested in fashion?
Tony Sananikone: My mother taught me to sew when I was six.  I was smaller and need to hem my clothes.
EF: What are your favorite colors in Fashion?
Tony Sananikone:  Fushia!!

Exploring Fashion - Jean Paul Gaultier at the De Young

Yesterday we traveled to San Francisco for an exciting adventure at the De Young Museum.  The museum is housing an absolutely amazing exhibit of Jean Paul Gaultier's work over 3 decades.  Here is what our blogger's have to say about it in their own words:

Emma - My favorite part of the exhibit was the tights that had special designs knitted in.  I especially like the tights with the Eiffel Tower on the back side.

Emilie - My favorite part of the exhibit was by far the dramatic use of the pyramid shapes and the feathers . The image below is my favorite piece of the whole show. The way the light makes the hips and the breast pop with the sliver body leotard and the blue and salmon feathers really caught my attention. I was just utterly mesmerized by the way he used such geometric shapes but made everything look so elegant yet so raw/edgy.

Lucy - My favorite part of the exhibit was the revolving catwalk. The diversity of the outfits was unexplainable. The way that they moved so slow was smart so that audience could see every detail of the designs.

Cate - I completely loved the runway !!!!! I adored the way all the clothing was thought out of the box.  My favorite were the ones that included Paris themes !!!!

Jocelyn -I love the way that he made all of the designs different. I also love the way that there are so many shapes that are some what similar but when he adds the designs it becomes a completely different outfit.

Jennifer - The manequins were fantastic.  Photography could not do justice to the projected faces not to mention the voice given to each one.  Some of the girls were a little weary of them at first, but I think the humor of JPG and what his visage was saying in the early part of the show helped to make it all the more exciting and incredible. 
I was so inspired by Gaultier's use of the French Sailor theme as well as all his work with Corsets and can't wait to start creating.