"Once upon a time..."

Once upon a time....

The first time I have seen this painting by Renoir my attention was attracted by the quiet and light sense of elegance that you can feel in the deep  contemplation of the little ladies in this scene . Renoir is so sublime in his soft touches that you can listen to the delicate notes of the music  while the delicate fingers are dancing on the ebony keys.

Jacob Maris , a wonderful Dutch painter is so able to capture an intimate and at the same time delicate portrait of a little girl playing piano in a timeless melody.

Time loses its pointers,the light of the lukewarm spring time afternoon surrounds you,their emotions are your emotions,their elegance becomes your elegance . They are here, with you and wrap you up in the atmosphere of that moment .You are living their dreaming reality, in an eternal spring time .That's all your present.

A full immersion in the study of fashion history is always a pleasure , looking for the key points , the basic elements to identify a period dress line from different painters and portraits. The loving study gives the couturier the opportunity to compare human sensibilities among the different artists of the same period and through the centuries  to enrich the final results following a fine, invisible and palpitating file rouge in the creation of the ensemble.

For example,note the rich dresses of these ladies and their interesting sleeve cuffs
Following the style of the dresses of the  ladies in the paintings you can pleasantly fix the pleats of this pink dress with a refined and  tactful gesture of your hand among the rustling silk
With this inspiration , I have sewn  for you this silk set listed on ebay

The final result is a completely original set of garments .Originality is the key point  of my collections.  I always want to explore new chances of expression of creativity to open new perspectives and new points of views in Blythe fashion



The dress has a high cream cotton lace collar with a tiny pink  bow  and follows a princess cut with a resulting low waistline to recreate the peculiar figure  of the 1870 fashion . An linear  game of  pleats and lace  embellishes the front panel of the dress and a vertical row of antique gold colored Venetian glass beads gives the illusion of an elongated and thinned waistline that in the late XIX century was reached with the use of the whale bones of the corset . The lower part of the skirt shows a controlled pleats hem with more freedom at the back of the dress to give a sense of vitality and movement , emphasized with a fine high cream cotton lace kept high at hip line by two silk beige bows. The sleeves have an interesting  lace and pleat cuff that repeats the decoration of the front of the dress.
The dress is fully lined  with white rayon: bust, skirt AND sleeves.

The silk hairpin  , in an intricate game of multiple bows , follows the bow on the back of the dress with a sense of unity and continuity of inspiration.

The cape has an interesting joke that remembers the typical shamrock of the spring grass in a warm shot silk fabric.
This rich and gorgeous color is the blend of two colors, a deep claret red and  ancient gold  resulting in a final burnt Siena -terracotta with golden and red burgundy reflexes . The cape has  side fronts sections with opening for arms. Four golden  shamrocks decorate the upper and the low edges of the cuts. The cut of the joke on the back of the cape repeats the same  line of the front enriched with three tiny tassels made in silk burgundy thread. A pink silk bow decorates the front .
The cape is fully lined using white rayon fabric.

 
A  real lady of leisure like  Blythe loves pretty bags so I have styled a  fine and coquettishly elegant  crocheted flower bag to have  a stroll in the Spring time air with an Irish rose element in cream cotton thread. A double pink silk ribbon closes the bag and completes the set.

For this period  dress, cape, hairpin and bag I have used  luxurious and natural  materials  : 100 % silk  fabric, 100% cotton lace and threads, 100% silk ribbons.

A NEW creation is coming soon :)

........A new dream is coming , it crossed the oceans of Time ......

Autumn collection on Etsy

The Autumn collection 1 ,2 and 3 is in my Etsy shop

http://www.etsy.com/shop/BlytheVogue


Thank you for looking

Autumn collection 3; Victorian garden

Victorian garden

Back to the art history, I followed the Degas girl carrying flowers picture for this dress.

I have always loved the delicacy and romantic freshness of the typical victorian garden.
The classic cut is softened by the use of the byssus of linen,100% cotton laces,100% silk double ribbons on the puff sleeves,the double ruffle on the neck,the central element of the skirt with two horizontal plane pleats as frame of the lace.


Usually, in these sewing situations the so called 'over' mistake is always behind the corner; I mean the 'over' use and abuse of ruffles, laces,ribbons,pleats ect but I think in this dress there is a sense of quiet equilibrium and serene harmony rather than the excess of the 'wedding cake' effect.
The colours for the dress fly from the natural shades of cream white to ecru,from off white to a delicate antique pink mixing up harmoniously keeping each one its identity.

The silk belt ends on the back of the dress in a ribbon knot and the little roses crown on the same silk allows this dress to come aut from a fairy book and the Degas picture to be the protagonist of your fairy tale.

The underskirt is more than a simple lining;100% cotton made,it repeats the horizontal elements as pin tucks at intervals between the cotton lace to recreate an ideal effect of fullness and wideness like the victorian crinolines.

The dress is fully lined with white lining: bust , skirt and sleeves so that, where possible , the lining elements are part of enrichment (double sleeves effect and double skirt) and final touches.

Autumn collection 2; Ullallà

Ulallà

This dress takes life from a playful idea;a jesting , easygoing Blythe girl ready to jump out of a 1930' movie to incarnate a modern version of Darla, the little female heroine of Little rascals series with all her grace and witty sense.

In my opinion, a 1930 little girl and Saffy Blythe have a lot in common and I have tried to emphasize these elements by a dress that ,in its pattern, uses the lateral cuts to keep intact the central and symmetric continuity for an increased lateral volume control for a rounded shape.
The lines of this pattern are carefully studied to avoid repeating the 'usual' girl dress with an orizontal cut all over the waistline like in the usual 1950's dresses.

The cheeky flair comes out the use of a blue and white polka dots 100% cotton fabric; even is the blue colour may seem quite solid the white and red elements as ribbons on the sleeves , rounded neck and skirt hem give movement to the dress.


The ribbon for the hair, repeating the central elements of the dress, gives a sense to the symmetric pattern of the fabric always carefully followed.

The dress is fully lined by white silky lining ; skirt,bust and sleeves.
The little Bunny toy is the natural party to the pranks and so has a similar dress and ribbons hairdo.

Autumn collection

I have got the inspiration for this outfit visiting Minerva' square in Rome:the Elephant of Bernini has reminded me an element of a picture of Dali, the master of surrealism.

The rarefied atmospheres,the suspended time,the bright colours mixed to delicate shades,the feline and sinuous geometries.The choice of the 100% cotton fabric had to have that elements inside of it and had to be adaptable to the making of the ideas.I am happy for the choice I have made.

The promenade of elephants is reflected in the cutting choice of the pantsuit. Elaborating the profile of an elephant the first outfit starts living in the fabric; the long legs transform themselves into the dressing legs of the pantsuit,the tusk gives definition to the curvilinear cut of the high waist, the ear takes the form in the inusual geometry that follows the scapula ending on the shoulder with a particular round connection.




The vitality of the elephant is reflected in the fluid cutting lines following one another so that they chase each other to meet in the pantsuit structure adopting all the variables of the paintings-linearity, circularity, colour







In the dress the construction of the pattern ,in the cleanliness of its lines,follows the idea of Dali sense of time given by the Dali's clocks.Usually the darts are hidden and used to shape the fabric on the variation of planes between the upper and lower part of the bust.Here they are open and , using a sewing technique different that the usual one , they accomplish the structural function giving regular and continous movement on the front of the dress.This is a new interpretation of an A line for Blythe and I am quite proud of it :).

The front rings of the chain express the passing by of the time and the sense of suspension between time to time like between ring to ring.The dress is fully lined by white silky lining.


Trait d' union : the cape. Trasparent ,light, impalpable like the Dali's palette makes the colours of the dress and pantsuit delicately shaded to show,at the same time ,the same colours brightly in their expressive completeness in the lateral cut.This game is made possible by the use of 100% silk voile and cream tulle to achive that transparent and structured look.The neck of the cape, geometric , linear gives fluid definition to the shoulders without interrution of the lines .The little elephant on the front of the cape ,in one of the wider rings,is a direct homage to Bernini and Dali






The hairdo takes origin (and then ri-elaborated for Blythe)from a 1967 Vogue magazine picture and follows the central idea of the outfit with curved and rectilinear lines that is the basic theme of the ensemble.

At last...

at last the hot sun of August is calming down and I can start sewing again :)

The Dali ensemble and the historical ones have taken just a little more time to be fixed in their prototype versions...August is terribly hot , here...... but the final results are exactly what I was looking for so I have ordered the materials on internet and all the elements I need to sew them.In particular, the historical dresses have needed a long research ,not only for the pattern but for all the embellishments too, the techniques to reproduce them in the best way ect.

Anyway on next week my fave material shop will be open again and , waiting for the materials coming I can sew some other dresses I wanted to make for my blythe friends :)