"Have Courage and be Kind, for where there is kindness there is goodness and where there is goodness there is magic"
It all started with a Walt Disney fairytale of a young girl who by her kindness found love.
Then in 2015....
250 meters of fabric
10,000 swarovski crystals
540 meters frills
4.83 kilometres hems
20 tailors
500 hours
$18,500 AU dollars
644 meters thread
....plus a handsome price,
and a missing shoe later....
The most beautiful blue swirly 'princessy' dress was created; the epitome of poofiness and a dream for any girl to wear, Lily James got the opportunity to wear the ultimate ball gown (and loose her parents and fall in love and get rich and wear awfully comfortable (?!) glass shoes....but that's beside the point) in Cinderella, the 2015 Live Action version of the well known story. When I first heard about the movie I just thought 'oh another fairy tale re-do' (dont get me wrong, Cinderella has always been my favourite story =) )But then I saw the movie poster:
Ohhhh that dress!! Apart from the fact that i just love the colour, its sparkly and ruffly, and big (~2m diameter!!) and flowy and despite its elephantarian (is that even a word?! Because it should be) size, its looks weightless. Anyway...I watched the movie and i hope you have too because its amazing, way better than the cartoon (of course though, its live action right? ). And the fabulous costume designer Sandy Powell did such a fascinating job, that she makes me wish I was going into film costume designing rather than uni.
Well, above is an impressive, unbelievable, invincible list, basically outlining the dress making....mine is very humble... wimpy even (maybe 25m fabric....). But from what I had, it worked so much better than I ever could've hoped! Before I ramble a lame story about every stitch I did... I'm going to link two ladies who did a fabulous job of the same costume (plus they explain exactly how they did it-mines not too different, i just chose a lace up back instead)- they're most likely never going to read this....but my greatest thanks are sent out to your two blogs!!
http://tracyscostumingworld.weebly.com/cinderella-live-action.html
http://happilygrim.blogspot.com.au/2015/04/cinderella-2015-ballgown-tutorial.html
I have 9 pages of sketches and measurements and fabric swatches plus a folder on my phone/computer full of photos which helped me, so it wasn't all out of my head =) Heres a couple of the process.... (and can we mention for a moment how tedious it is to do four massive hems in a row?! I do not envy the costume makers!!)
^^^ The making of the movie dress ^^^
.....Lets just say I forgot to take photos most of the time, we'll blame it on the fun I was having =P Basically there are four layers in the skirt- royal blue and turquoise, iridescent (like solid mermaid magic), lavender, and then sky blue. The layers of colours gives it this amazing colour-changing magical look which the movie dress has. Then some iron-on diamonds were glued onto the skirt and butterflies onto the shoulder-thingy. I had a super poofy tulle underskirt (yep, pink, i know...) and a hoops skirt so that made it nice a big- and then we tried fitting her in the car....trust me that's a story for another day...
And the funnest part of all- finishing it! It was a tonnes of fun to make but even more fun to wear. But since I obviously couldn't take photos AND wear it, I called my sister in and we zoomed down the road. I have an amazing bunch of videos of her spinning but they wouldn't upload so these will have to suffice =)
And one last photo for good measure, to show that all good things eventually come to an end... (jokes, it is still good, just a little damaged...but the fun that came with it is still there =) Cinderella believed in happy endings and I couldnt agree more =) ) In short, just be warned, bush bashing in a long organza dress with tiny hems may result in the occasional pine cone and twig hanging off your hems.
