Sneak Peek

I just realized that this is my 100th post here on the ol’ blog.  Last week I got the “congratulations on your 1 year anniversary”, too.  Which took my entirely by surprise.  Granted, there were MONTHS (and months) of inactivity….but it feels like just a little while ago that I started this up.

I had intended a blog post reflecting on the year, blather blather blather, blah blah remembering, blah.  But then, THEN–my friend Britt of Underexposed Photography (https://www.facebook.com/brittsmithphoto) just released the first sneak peek from last week’s Dieselpunk/Steampunk shoot–and I’m pretty much in love with it.   My brain can’t really compute anything more than “PREEETTTTTYYYYYY!!” after seeing it, so big long rambling post about the past year has been sidetracked (you can send your thanks to Britt).

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Clothing by Trapped In Time Designs (http://www.etsy.com/shop/TrappedInTimeDesigns)

Photography:  Underexposed Photography  (https://www.facebook.com/brittsmithphoto)

Hair & Makeup:  Amanda Bravender  (www.ahbweddingandevents.com)

Hip belt, weapon & location:  Airship Isabella Productions  (http://airshipisabella.com/)

Models:  Nola Chick (https://www.facebook.com/nolachick?fref=ts)

Amber Carollo  (https://www.facebook.com/modelamberleighhh)

2014 Winter Knits

As I mentioned yesterday–the images from the knits shoot are in!  And I couldn’t be happier.

Modeled by the gorgeous Mary Andrus (https://www.facebook.com/ModelMaryAndrus)

Hair & Make Up by Amanda Bravender  (For inquiries : http://www.ahbweddingandevents.co)

Photography by Underexposed Photography  (https://www.facebook.com/#!/brittsmithphoto)

Now we get image-heavy (and I’m not even sharing HALF the images–even though I want to share them ALL):

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Behind the Scenes

The shoot went SO WELL!  As usual, I can’t wait for the final images.  I managed (with a LOT of reminding from helpful folks) to snap a few behind-the-scenes images throughout the day.

In make-up:

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And on-site at the Airship Isabella studio–amazing space, and amazing group!  I look forward to future collaborations with them.  (you can check them out here:  http://airshipisabella.com/)

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The knits shoot final images came in yesterday, too–I’ll share those tomorrow.

Now, I’m thinking about a nap. Five hours of sleep didn’t do the trick…

Finale

The final look for my mini RAWards collection was actually the second look I dreamed up, hot on the tail of the first look.  I knew I wanted Mary Andrus to model it from the get-go, too.

Initially, I envisioned a brocade bust with an extremely full chiffon skirt.  I even toyed with pockets.

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Paired with the tattered lace collar and the (not-gonna-happen) spats, it looked really cute.

I think I design things that I would wear if I were tall and thin.  Because I would so totally wear any of the things in my collection if I were.  Sadly, being of the oompa loompa persuasion, I must live vicariously through my beautiful models.

I decided to make the closure for this dress lace-up to accommodate a closer fit that wouldn’t have to be hiked up every few minutes.  I switched the chiffon idea over to a beautiful black lace with an attached black mini skirt lining.  The back is bustled and the overskirt is longer than the lining.

First fitting:

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Mary looked beautiful, OF COURSE.  The top did need to be taken in quite a bit, so there was some deconstruction and re-construction in the dresses immediate future.

Walking the runway:

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From the pre-show photo shoot:

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Clothing by me:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/TrappedInTimeDesigns

Hair & Make Up by:  Amanda Bravender  For inquiries : http://www.ahbweddingandevents.com

Model:  Mary Andruss  https://www.facebook.com/ModelMaryAndrus

Photography by:  Underexposed Photography https://www.facebook.com/brittsmithphoto

Five

My post titles are really gripping lately, aren’t they?  I just can’t come up with witty headers for the RAWards looks.  Ah, well.  You’ll have to settle for little wit, but a whole lotta pretty.

The fifth look is another that underwent a rather extensive transformation from sketch to final product.  That had to do with a few things:

1) my falling out of love with the idea of using that grey pinstripe suiting

2) my realization that the original idea for this look was DULL DULL DULL

3) my recent love affair with bustles

So, the (dull) original (dull) sketch was this (SUPREMELY DULL):

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The original idea was a brocade bustier, grey suiting mini skirt, ruffle capri leggings, tattered collar & spats.

I realized one day that it was just boring.  It just felt thrown together, no real inspiration.

As I mentioned, my love affair had begun with the bustle, and I knew that I wanted to do a bustle in that gorgeous brocade.  This time, I decided to do an attached underskirt, rather than just the bustle (as shown in the first look).  The brocade made the most gorgeous bustle.

Fitting:

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I ended up going with the bustle and a repurposed mens-wear bustier featuring belt loops at the waist, to accommodate a belt if desired.  This fit beautifully from the get-go.  No alterations needed at all.

The final design walking the runway:

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And from the pre-show shoot:

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I couldn’t be happier with the look–Marielle really brought it to life, and looked gorgeous.

Clothing by me:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/TrappedInTimeDesigns

Hair & Make Up by:  Amanda Bravender  For inquiries : http://www.ahbweddingandevents.com

Model:  Marielle Songy/NolaChick www.nolachick.net

Photographer:  Underexposed Photography https://www.facebook.com/brittsmithphoto

Third Time’s a Charm

The third look in the show is the one that under-went the most transformations.  I started with one look, changed to a second (that I was never 100% happy with for this show) and completely re-did the entire look at the last minute.  Literally.  My last fitting for this look was the morning of the show.  I finished it up in the hotel room that we had for the event.  I’m now a proud member of the small group of women who have brought sewing machines to their hotel room.  Booyah!

My initial idea for this look was playing off of the lace idea.  It was to be a lace tunic dress–the very top would be lined, but the dress and skirt portion would be sheer.  Since I don’t send naked ladies down the runway, I made a khaki bustier to go underneath.  All that would be paired with ruffled full length leggings, the spats (in brocade) and a tattered lace ruff:

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I somehow managed to not take a picture of this look on the dress form.  I think I deleted it accidentally.  Suffice to say, it was pretty much as you see in the sketch (minus the spats).

At the fitting, it…..well……it looked awful.  The top of the tunic was resting inside the top of the bustier, creating what can only be called a shelf above her bust.  It looked so awful that I didn’t even snap a picture of it on the model.  I had had an inkling that this look wasn’t going to work–and maybe I’d just fallen out of love with it by the time I had the fitting.  Maybe I could have made it work, but I was determined that it wasn’t going to.  Either way, I had brought back-up options.  The bustier was great on her, and I brought a pencil skirt (you saw it in my previous RAW show, actually) to pair with it.  The skirt needed many alterations, but was workable.  Everything looked great on her, but it all kind of looked…..the same color.  Her skin, the bustier, the skirt, the shoes….I wasn’t feeling it.

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So, I put this look to the back of the queue and just kept moving forward with the others that I was 100% behind.  I figured something would come to me at some point.  Hopefully.  Or else I was screwed.

So, I completed the other looks, and I stressed and I thought and I changed my mind about a ba-zillion times.  Finally, I decided on doing a dress that was similar to my finale look.  I used a brown suiting with a metallic pinstripe for the top, and a cream lace with the soft moleskin under-lay for the skirt.  The underlay is shorter than the overskirt.  The back is grommeted and laces for a better fit (and a little more “staying up” power than a zipper can offer).  I bustled the back of the skirt a bit, too, for volume.  I couldn’t be happier with the result!

Walking the runway:

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And a shot from the pre-show photo shoot:

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The dress suffered some tearing during the show, so, sadly, it won’t be available for purchase.  However, I can make one to measure and in any color desired.  Contact me for details.

Clothing by me:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/TrappedInTimeDesigns

Hair & Make Up by:  Amanda Bravender
For inquiries : http://www.ahbweddingandevents.com

Model:  Elizabeth Austin  https://www.facebook.com/elizabeth.austin.18

Photography (final image only):  Underexposed Photography  https://www.facebook.com/brittsmithphoto

Second Look

Continuing on with my RAWards New Orleans looks, my second look went through a slight transformation from sketch to final design.  After dreaming up my first look, I decided I wanted to play with military-inspired colors (primarily an army greenish-brown), lace and brocade.  I ended up with 3 green/brown & cream looks and 3 red brocade & black/brown looks.  This second look was designed to go along with the first.

My initial sketch included my signature ruffled capri leggings, a lace tunic, spats, & the tattered lace ruff:Image

I’ve already discussed that the spats were the main element to go, due to my inability to make my brain play nice and create a work-able pattern that I liked.

Onto the first incarnation of the design–again, I don’t work in muslins, so I went right for the fabric:

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I re-purposed some mens dress-slacks (wool) for the very top of the tunic.  There is an under-lining to the tunic, and I used a really lovely cream moleskin–so soft–that kind of gets lost under the beautiful lace.  I cut this so that I could take full advantage of the scalloped edging on the lace.  The tunic has a zip-back for closure.

At the first fitting I realized that the ruffled leggings just didn’t work–I hated them so much with this that I didn’t even nab a picture with them on.  Plus, hello beautiful legs! (I sound like I have a leg-fetish!)Image

You can see one of the (five or so) incarnations of the spats here.  I love the idea, but I’m glad I opted for sanity and gave them the boot.

The fitting went well–just ditched the leggings and put in the zipper.  Done.

Final design walking the runway:

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Above photo by:  http://gustavo.photoshelter.com/

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And, from the pre-show photo shoot:

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The dress will be listed soon in my shop–contact me if you’re interested.

Clothing by me:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/TrappedInTimeDesigns

Hair & Make up by:  Amanda Bravender
For inquiries : http://www.ahbweddingandevents.com

Model:  Jennifer Culicchia  https://www.facebook.com/jenniferculicchia

Final images by:  Underexposed Photography  https://www.facebook.com/brittsmithphoto