All posts filed under: 20th Century

White Zombie and the 3 hour jacket

Originally I was only contracted to make Elizabeth/Madge’s shroud dress for the PorcelainToy White Zombie music video, but a few days before shooting began it became clear that the jacket they had found for Emile to wear as Neil just wasn’t cutting it, so I said I would whip up something. And whip up something was right: I was still making last minute adjustments to the dress and embroidering pearls on it at every opportunity, so I didn’t have a lot of spare time. The jacket was going to have to be fast and easy, and adjustable: I had no time for a fitting! So I had a mad rummage through my fabric stash, came up with some calico/muslin* that was the right colour and handle, and then found a jacket pattern I have used for Mr Dreamy. Luckily Emile of PorcelainToy is almost exactly the same size, so I could be a little less concerned about fit. Even with a good pattern I didn’t have enough time to make a jacket by myself, so …

Rate the dress: from zombies to jesters in 1932

Published by The Dreamstress

Last week you found the yellow and pink 1780s ensemble just a bit…uninteresting. It rated a lackluster 6.6 out of 10. This week is my 100th Rate the Dress, and I definitely want to give you something that isn’t boring and uninteresting. Because I’ve been working on the PorcelainToy White Zombie 1932 inspired frock and music video I thought it would be nice to do a 1932 rate the dress. And then I went looking for 1932 dresses to show you, and you know what? Most of them are pretty, but really boring. But I finally found one that I think is really interesting. I hope you will think so too! Is this harlequin inspired frock from the Met interesting? What about pretty? Does it rock your world as as example of art deco fashion design, or leave you unamused? Rate the Dress on a Scale of 1 to 10

White Zombie dress construction

Published by The Dreamstress

This is how I made a 1920s-does-medieval shift for the White Zombie inspired PorcelainToy music video. First, I watched White Zombie literally two dozen times, analyzing how Madge’s dress was constructed. This is what I noted: The dress is made of chiffon, almost certainly silk. It is worn over a satin shift/underdress cut straight across the chest, with thin straps over the shoulders. In some scenes Madge appears to be wearing a different underdress, one with a v-neckline. This one one of dozens of continuity problems with the outfit. The dress has wide rectangular sleeve panels attached at a drop shoulder. The sleeves are bound with wide satin edging (note arrow). The front of the dress is quite slim, but the back of the dress is extremely full, and must have gores set into it. The wide rectangular sleeves have little cut in points indicated in red above. This means the panels are long rectangles with a ) scoop cut out of the middle, and the middle of the scoop sits on the shoulders. This …