Silk Georgette and antique lace with a pop of black silk spaghetti string and handmade black buttons.
I'm going into a deconstruction phase in my business. This phase semi-started last summer with my Tres Noir Collection. What does this mean exactly? Well basically it is taking an existing dress from my earlier collections and remaking it into something else.
I had a lot of fun and success with this, so I’ve decided to continue in that direction this spring.
For this particular deconstruction project, I've taken a dress I originally designed in the 1990's and turned it into two completely different pieces. A simple, basic, minimal look, long silk georgette dress started with a high neckline. The dress fit well but it was lacking hanger appeal and didn’t really have any focal point.
About 2 years ago, I added a piece of antique lace to the waist line to give it some visual interest, however, I still felt it was too much of a dress. Although it was pretty, it wasn’t really attracting my customer.
This year, I wanted the dress to have a younger and fresher feel, and give it little Boho Chic styling. In the course of a few days, I decided to lower the neckline, shorten the skirt, and raise the waist line. Then, I reapplied the antique lace to the raised waist line, and added some to the neckline, and hemline.
The inside of the dress also had some reconstruction. The seam allowances on the inside of the dress were originally sewn in a technique that wasn't working with my brand. I cut off some of the seam allowance to reduce the thickness of the princess seam lines. The dress feels so much lighter, younger, and fresher. I really feel this newly constructed dress is on point with what you might see at some of the runway shows that are showing Boho Styling such as at Chloe and Chanel.
Moreover, so that nothing went to waste, I decided to make a type of blouse using the remaining silk from the bottom of the original dress and using the remnants of antique lace.
For the blouse, I added an additional little flounce to the neckline and I’ve also inserted various antique lace pieces, then laced in the pop of black silk chiffon string to make the neckline adjustable.
This alternative blouse can tie around your neckline up high, or lower around your shoulders. At the opening point of the blouse, I added an additional tie so you can wear it as a blouse with a pretty bralette underneath it or wear it over a tank top, camisole, or simple sleeveless dress.
Keeping the Boho Chic vibes, as another option, this cape can be tied around your waist as a pretty flounce overskirt to your shorts, pants, skirt, or dress.
I’m going be doing more of these type of deconstruction designs. Creating these kinds of styles are really exciting because you really have to go for it. There’s no turning back once you start cutting up the original design so you just got to make it work. That’s kind of a challenge, but it does make it fun to see how it will end up. For the most part, these designs will be original, one of a kind pieces.
Some of these newly deconstructed pieces were previewed at a show over the weekend and the dress sold. It fit my new client perfectly and she loved it and will take it to Europe with her over the summer. The Cape Blouse cover-up is currently still available.
Another deconstruction project was just completed at Brigitte Hart Dress Atelier, and I can’t wait to show you, so stay tuned.
