Another city, another chaotic fashion week! There were lots of clothes--some clownish others ho-hum...very little capturing the fancy of my girls. We nearly skipped over this fashion capital, but then you know what happened.... A few looks caught their discerning little eyes. So here is what they found!
Ruffled!At the end of the day, most of my dolls have girly-girl tastes. This group has as many (or as few) ruffles as any girl could want. I'm not sure I would wear any of this, but if you are a doll--preferably a playline or fashionista Barbie, a Monster High or a My Scene..these dresses are perfectly suited for you. What's particularly new and fresh here are the dresses bursting with ruffled prints and patterns!
Katoucha shows what happens when you transform an animal print into perky little dress. This is essentially a strapess tube dress topped off with rows of striped and spotted ruffles.
Short StopIn London, there are two dominant lengths for summer--super short, very long. For this group we see tailored jackets belted over short-shorts, kicky little body-skimming dresses with ruffled trimmed sleeves and a modern day version of a Paco Rabanne shift dress--covered from edge to edge cellophane paillettes.
For China's dress, I couldn't find the oval shaped paillets used in the original dress, but I did have these square translucent blue paillets on hand. I made a foundation using four layers of soft blue tulle then, one by one, stitched on rows of blue transparent paillets using "invisible" thread. I used clear vinyl for the straps. The clear vinyl boots seemed to be the perfect accessory for this "space age" fashion.
The SlinkThe ease and fluidity of 1930's fashion is incorporated into these comfortable, breezy dresses. We love how the silhouettes literally slinks over the body. For day this ankle length cotton dress serves as a canvas for an interesting abstract print. While for evening, we like how silhouettes literally pour over the body in a sparkly fabric falling into asymmetrical hemlines.
Jacob's LadderFlat, geometric shapes joined together with tiny straps.....what could be more modern! I treated this like a puzzle by starting out with a basic shape, slashing it, then pulling it all together with a web of straps. The ease or difficulty of realizing any of these looks is largely dictated by the fabric you choose, so I discovered.
I used a rayon jersey fabric for Zoe's dress. It is a simple column dress with a deep V cut out in the front. There aren't many straps within the V-neck, however, the doll's body doesn't react the same as humans, and adjusting the straps was quite tricky. I used 1/8" (3mm) ribbon for the lattice work. At first I decided it was too wide, so I removed them and used embroidery yarn. The yarn pulled the V out of shape, so I replaced them with the ribbon!
On the other hand, I had a lot more success with Sybille's dress. It started out as a basic strapless sheath cut from a more structured stretch crepe. The dress is actually in one piece! I did this for control! I cut out a V shape over the doll's belly and I simply made a slash over the thighs. Here, I used full strands of embroidery yarn (instead of ribbon) which is threaded into a needle and sewn in place. We were both much more happy with the result!
Stay tuned...I'm told things are going much better in Milan, our next stop on the fashion month train!
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