Apology for the Pigeon French, with gate crashing Bastardized German :o)

Overall I’m quite happy with how it turned out – a couple of Oops notwithstanding (1. miscalculated armhole depth – thanks Burda for the red herring – easily fixed! 2. misaligned underarm seam while fixing oops 1 – not worth fixing – no one’s going to get close enough to see). It’s already gotten some wear just days after. And so has les Frou Frous…

And to recap, this is how it looked in progress…

How it all began…

Originally, I was inspired by these clippings of Vivienne Westwood’s  Autumn/Winter 1988-89 collection:

The first fruit of those seeds was a slip skirt with frills & worn with a vinyl A-line mini-skirt I made, both long gone – the vinyl a victim of careless laundering.

Yes, I’m not very good to my clothing. Even designer ones have had trips to the painting studio. Call me a Romantic with a capital R. Clothing needs to be lived in. And lived in Beauuuuuutifully. No dry-clean only clothing for me. Well, almost none. And certainly no specialist cleaning – goodbye real leather and suede in pristine-only colors. But I digress…

So anyway, no so long ago I came across this Thakoon dress in US Vogue Oct 2007.

I really liked the contrast between the rather monastic dress and the peasant cuffs, but couldn’t commit to such a permanent pairing. I’d rather have a sack dress that  could be worn separately as well, maybe with  a fabric sash for a 60ish look. So I brought the VW idea back from hibernation.

So part 1 of this look is now complete. Some day part 2 Le Sac will be made. Hopefully part 1 won’t have disintegrated by then! The gauze is rather delicate after all even if I’m not being typically careless 🙂

There were smattering of other inspirations as well. Like Vogue Pattern 7581 dress.

I never got the pattern as it seems like such a simple dress that one ought to be able to make something up oneself. But I saved the clipping for inspiration…mainly because of the necklace! I’m crazy about turquoise. And I’m wondering where I can get a tassled shawl like that, and pick up some flamingo moves on the way. ¡Olé!

And let’s not forget the period dramas…

Like the visual feast that is UK Channel 4’s English Civil War drama, The Devil’s Whore…

Finally, not so much an inspiration, but another idea of how to wear La Chemise…Another Vivienne Westwood:

She likes her historical inspirations doesn’t she. Peasant Punk! I think I’ll do without the slashy denim.