Fashion Show Garment 4

My favorite dress of all. If you've been reading my blog, you may remember that I wrote about making this dress last summer to wear to a party at Lincoln Park Zoo. If you would like to read about how I put it together, go to July and it is under the post, The Mouse That Made Cinderella's Dress. When I wore the dress last summer, I did not wear gloves with it,but for the show I thought they would make a nice touch.

A close up of the hip detail.

There is an attached bustier in the dress. There's probably enough boning in it to build a bridge. The most wonderful thing about all the boning is that once the dress is on, it is so secure that I never once think about the dress. So no yanking on the top of my dress all evening long. The boning came from Susan Khaljie. It is a must for a strapless dress. You can go to her website and order it. I just can't say enough positive things about this boning.

The hat came from John Kock. He was in a recent issue of Threads Magazine and the article was all about how to create hats. He is a master. I always love what he comes up with. This hat was not originally meant for me. He had made it for a client in Florida. Oh how I wanted the hat. After all, it was perfect with my dress. At first we thought that he could recreate it for me but we weren't able to find the elongated pearls that he had used for the stamens of the flowers. Luckily, his client didn't like the hat and sent it back. It was mine. Meant to be.

For a favorite dress, you need a favorite pair of shoes and by far these are my favorite pair of shoes. They are from the 1920's. Simply spectacular. The black is satin and the gold and silver is leather. They are not saved. I wear them. When they wear out, they'll just wear out. The joy that they give me when I wear them is worth so much more to me than any joy I would get from just looking at them on the shelf.

I've decided to make a fur collar like the one I donated to the raffle for the show. I think a black faux fur collar would look wonderful with this dress and I know to what event I will wear the outfit. I can't wait. Sweet anticipation.