When I started refashioning 10 years ago, I made a promise to God that I’d always stick to designing modest clothes that are wearable with LDS garments. It’s much harder to refashion since it cuts down on sooooo many design options and it requires more fabric when every inch of fabric is precious in refashioning, thus requiring more creativity & innovation. And when I see stunning dresses like this, I realize an exact dress like this with sleeves wouldn’t achieve the same design of delicacy or femininity hence it wouldn’t be as beautiful. But it’s a promise I made to God and myself and I’m sticking to it. Even if I ever became a famous fashion designer and A-list celebrities beg me to design something contrary to my promise. Because I really played this scenario in my head of them asking, pleading but I calmly turn them down and make them something modest instead and they end up loving it and rocking it on the red carpet. Because a girl can dream, right?
Ok, so here I have to channel my past life teaching design: what is the thing that makes this design “beautiful”? The pleating, right? And secondarily the beading being revealed by the ‘blooming’ of the pleating. why are the shoulders and arms bare? Can you achieve the same visual reason (that the shoulders and arms are bare) in some other way? challenge yourself to figure it out.
(Psst, here’s the way forward that I would use – look at actual flowers. I bet all those stems aren’t smooth and shiny.)
And I’m going to continue, and say that I think the trend of the last couple of decades in bridal(and formal) for all those strapless gowns is a lot of designer laziness. People get married in the winter! Or don’t want to show their chicken wings when they dance the chicken dance polka! Or have modesty requirements, like you’ve said.
I am not good at sewing but admired a dress you made (breakfast at Tiffany’s!), so I wandered through your blog—and this is such a beautiful promise! And a beautiful dream! I have dialogues in my head like that too, not going to lie, only not about fashion because I’m hopeless there