And Some More About The Lucy Dress

June 13, 2016June 12, 2016 / Adam Lid / Leave a comment

It’s been a few weeks since the Lucy dress had its debut at the fashion show at Clockwork Alchmey and we’re slowly getting settled back in to our normal routine here at the Atelier. The Lucy dress represents an exciting new departure for us in that we decided to try something with a decidedly “Goth” inspiration.

Named after Lucy Westenra, the ill-fated friend of Mina Harker in Bram Stoker’s Dracula and the subsequent Dracula movies, the Lucy was inspired by images, gardens, and midnight gallivanting, and a touch of Midnight in Garden of Good and Evil… 🙂

And now for some inspiration, there’s nothing like an old sepulcher:

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And of course, a cemetery located in the deep south, in this case Savannah, Georgia.

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And of course, we had to include the iconic image from Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil… 🙂

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Now for a little more on the color pallette- Our color pallette is based on shades of amethyst: amethyst by day and amethyst by night; in short, it’s a series of shades of blue-based violet colors. The blue-based violets are a considered tertiary colors, combining a primary color, in this case blue, with a secondary color, violet (which lies midway between the primary colors of blue and red).

Here’s just one of several color pallettes that we drew upon:

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For our purposes, we wanted fabrics with the violet being iridescent, suggesting the play of moonlight over the fabric. Here’s some of our inspiration from the natural world:

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Now here are some views of the dress itself:

Rear View Of The Train

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The creative path we took was a fascinating one, especially since these sorts of colors are not ones that we usually worked with in the past but we are very pleased with the results and we fully intend on pursue this more in future designs. Stay tuned for more in future posts. 🙂

Hooray For The Stars And Stripes!

June 7, 2016 / Adam Lid / Leave a comment

With the Fourth of July rapidly approaching, we thought that we’d share the following pictures:

Reception Dress, c. 1880 – 1882; Manchester Art Gallery

Left Three Quarter Rear View

Right Three Quarter Close-Up Rear View

Close-Up Of The Back

It’s too bad that we don’t know more about the provenance of this dress but there is little doubt that it was a patriotically-themed dress most likely meant for the Fourth of July. 🙂 That said, in terms of style it appears to be a day dress circa early 1880s- perhaps 1882 or 1883- because of the lack of a train. What is interesting is that the bodice and overskirt are a sea foam or celadon color with a red-striped under skirt. Both overskirt and bodice are decorated with black stars and trimmed in ivory lace and red-striped ribbon. Finally, the neckline is trimmed with small American flags.

This is a nice, spirited dress with relatively clean lines and simple decoration and trim with an interesting color combination and is definitely a strong candidate for recreating. 🙂

Convention After-Action Report

May 31, 2016 / Adam Lid / 4 Comments

After battling some of the worst traffic we’ve ever experienced, we’re finally back home. Wheew! What would normally be a five-hour drive became nearly an eight-hour drive and everyone was exhausted, even the terrier peeps. But, after a good night’s sleep, we’re ready to sort out everything from our trip up north and start working on various new projects. 🙂

In spite of the long drive, we do want to add that Clockwork Alchemy was a delight to attend and we have a very good time. Naturally, the fashion show was the high point of our experience and it went off for us without a hitch, in spite of having to do some last-minute adjustments in the hotel room the night before (when it comes to fashion, that’s a given).

Getting Ready For The Show

The show staging was amazing and the director masterfully designed and executed his vision with the assistance of an extremely dedicated and talented staff. As an alternative to the catwalk that’s a staple of fashion shows, the director opted to utilize more of a salon setting in which the models occupied various risers scattered throughout the room- it was a large ballroom- with each model framed with a large picture frame made up steampunk style to simulate metal with rivets.

Setting The Scene

Showtime!

The lighting was contrived towards creating an evening scene, utilizing bright LED lights, and engineered to show off the clothes in the most optimal fashion; the background tended to blue out thus bringing the model forward. While the LED lighting tended to wash out the faces of the models, it did emphasize the clothes; taking photographs was a bit of a challenge but in no way did it detract from the overall experience.

I’m Ready For My Close-Up

Striking A Pose

Once everything was set, the doors were opened and the public was admitted. The show was well-attended by a large crowd and it seemed that everyone was taking pictures of all the models. The models were instructed to strike any sort of pose that they wanted and to change periodically- the goal was not to create stiff figures as if they were in a painting. Also, the models could interact with audience, responding to their questions in regard to their outfits.

Dressed For Success As The Light Man Does His Magic

The Lucy dress was modeled by a good friend of ours who did an excellent job of making the dress come to life, displaying its details to the greatest advantage and especially with the train. 🙂 Karin modeled the Camille dress and her position was such that it was the first dress that was seen with people entered the room. The modeling took place over an hour and while it might have seemed effortless to the audience, it’s actually pretty draining but our models rose to the challenge and went far above and beyond. Kudos to both of them! 🙂

A Full-Length View Of The Train

The last day of the convention was spent with Karin visiting with clients while I gave our last presentation on Victorian fashion styles and the American West. Finally, with a quick wardrobe change into travelling clothes and began packing everything up for the long trip south.

As we sort through our various pictures from the fashion show and the convention in general, we’ll be posting them along with commentary so stay tuned for more. 🙂

Showing Off The Train – A Vision In Amethyst

The Fashion Show – Lily Absinthe At Clockwork Alchemy

May 30, 2016May 30, 2016 / Adam Lid / Leave a comment

After much hard work, staying up late many nights, and otherwise working out a host of logistical details both big and small, we’re happy to say that it’s all done and we are extremely happy! We presented two dresses, an evening dress and a day dress, both following an amethyst/violet color palette. Below are just a few pictures to whet the appetite, we’ll be providing a more detailed overview in future posts:

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The evening dress on the left is our latest design, the “Lucy”, named after Lucy Westenra, the ill-fated companion of Mina Harker in Bram Stoker’s book Dracula and the subsequent Dracula movies. The dress on the right, the “Camille” is a lavender day dress in shades of lavender with amethyst accents. Both dresses are executed in the Mid-Bustle Era style (late 1870s/early 1880s) and represent some our most recent creations. In future posts, we’ll be providing more details so stay tuned. 🙂

Here are a couple of pictures taken post-show against a very interesting backdrop… 😉

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