Movie Monday

We had a mega film packed weekend with some real gems in the line up.

First up was Back to the Future. They were showing it in all it's remastered glory at cineworld on Friday night so we popped along for a late night viewing of the classic. None of us are old enough to have seen it on the big screen before and it was just like watching it for the very first time. There were so many things I hadn't noticed before especially how young and beautifully skinned Mr J Fox was! Gorgeous dresses due to the fifties 'back in time' and petticoats a plenty. 

 

Whilst we were at the cinema we also bumped into the Bristol Harbour Harlots Roller Derby Team, all awesomely styled as you would expect from roller girls and it was lovely to (if very briefly) meet them, slightly awkwardly as I didn't introduce myself! Show some love and support HERE

The next in line for Saturday was Misery, the Stephen King classic. I hadn't watched this before so Wing ordered a copy and we shared an evening of Misery with two friends :) No flamboyant dresses to talk of but it does have the legendary Lauren Bacall looking glam as ever in her 90's literary agent get up. Nail bitingly fabulous, I want to see lots more with Kathy Bates. 

After I picked up my new steam generating iron (mine broke and un-steamed dresses look rubbish!) we started our Sunday with Pedro Almodovar's Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. A brilliantly airbrushed colour feast and quirkily hilarious (on the same lines as Woody Allen) with the striking Carmen Maura. The visuals are glorious in a late 50's/ 80's pop video way in keeping with the 50's advertising style titles. I must see Broken Embraces next. 

Finally we watched the Godfather part II and again Connie has the most beautiful dresses, this time dark silhouettes with full skirts. I can't find a good picture but they were gorgeous. I'm not sure which I prefer part I or part II? We have part III next week! 

Also a very late night treat on Saturday was Mermaids on telly, I love Cher as an actress and her pink dotty dress. With Winona Rider and Christina Ricci being suitably cute and angsty what more good one want in a chic flick.

Blue 40's Dress

Here is one of my latest finds, a blush blue organza 1940's party dress complete with little handmade shoulder pads and an incredible sun ray pleated neckline.  Printed with dandelion heads, reminding me of Summer which feels long gone in today's rain. 

This is my first time in front of the camera, it feels a bit weird but I'll try to get used to it so I can show some dresses on a human instead of my dummies who look a little uninterested!

Patent leather shoes by Topshop and dress available in the shop here

Skirts and Culottes

 I have been meaning to share these for a while, I made a skirt and a pair of culottes for my Mum's birthday and have stolen them back to show off. 

The skirt is made in the gorgeously heavy cotton with pockets (Mum loves pockets!) and a wide fitted waistband. I added a little piping and finished with a metal zipper at the back for a more vintage touch. 

The culottes are made from this amazing wool fabric that has the finest hand embroidery along the edges ever seen. It's teeny tiny stitches and so beautiful. These again were full (Mum is very petite and looks wonderful in full skirts) with a fitted waist and silk lined pockets . 

I do love culottes so here are some more ...........    Chanel SS10 Culottes, McCall's Sewing Pattern and Gjon Mili Stroboscopic culotte wearing lady on a bicycle.

Movie Monday

We watched two amazing epics this Sunday and the costumes in both films were amazing.

Starting with Visconti's The Leopard, a sweeping Sicilian tale of aristocrats with a wonderfully dubbed Burt Lancaster and the most incredible crinolines on celluloid, designed by Piero Tosi.

Full of dramatic lip biting and sweating men's brows in a gorgeously set Sicily with beautiful palaces that take your breath away on the big screen.

I don't think any film has captured the vast amount of guests invited to a Royal ball in this way, the extras can hardly pass each other with the ginormous skirts, and the dancing is so squeezed together like flowers all squished into a gilded box. I fell in love with the dresses and the tiny pointed waists, I'm just trying to work out how to apply this shape to a dress without all the corsets needed underneath.

The second film, keeping with the Sicilian theme had to be The Godfather with costumes by Anna Hill Johnstone. I hadn't watched it around 5 years ago and forgot that even though it's a 'gangsta' favourite it's a very carefully made masterpiece.
The one thing I didn't notice so much the first time were the costumes. It's my most adored era set in the 40's and 50's and the Connie character has some of the best pieces. The lace wedding dress to begin, with it's puff sleeves and heavy satin skirt. My favourite outfit is this beautiful slipper satin, dressing gown with a finely appliqued bodice and a gathered belt which she wears above her bump. I'm so sorry it's a horrendous scene to choose but the gown is just so gorgeous and is everything I love about the 1940's. I must find myself a satin dressing gown to sweep round my studio in!

It's been an exciting September full of great orders, birthdays and a visit to a business adviser that sparked off a whole load of new ideas!

In his pin striped suit, the business adviser clearly told me how it was; to value our work and to really go for everything I dreamed of doing.  I went along having realised a few things that needed to change already but really hadn't expected him to say "why aren't you using your own name"?  Being a 'creative type' as he called us, using my own name seemed a bit egotistic and too much 'all about me'.

As an only child and everything very much 'all about me, me, me' I spent a whole week in meltdown about name changes.  Would it change the whole feel that I loved about Makemeadress?  Would it have to be more serious?  Eventually after sleepless nights and driving everyone around me going up the wall with questions of 'what do yooooooou think?'  I calmed down, (with Anna's help) and realised nothing needs to change in a bad way and certainly doesn't need to take a serious new direction that isn't us.

So, the name has changed to Alexandra King but we're still keeping 'Makemadress' as the slogan to remind me that it's all fun and about gorgeous dresses!

We're making a whole load of great changes so that the dresses are even more top notch.  One of the things that really hit me from the meeting was the realisation that all I want to do, is make the most beautiful dresses.  So that's what I'm going to concentrate on with Anna's help and I'll take more time out to work on new designs.

We're valuing our work far more, going to make you the best dresses in the world and with our new business plan I will hopefully still be designing and making dresses in 60 years time!

Our New Look

We will be making a few subtle changes over the next few months as we move into an exciting new direction. We're still the same just with a different name! ............ more info to come soon.

The Fashion Reading List

                                                                

 Our Top Seven Fashion Books ...............................

                                                            Vintage Hanes Stocking Ad.

This is a small selection of great fashion books which have been a HUGE inspiration. I could go on and on about many books but as of today these are the favourites. Sorry so many are out of print but you can find them second hand.

1. Fashion is Spinach by Elizabeth Hawes

This is an amazing, in detail account of Elizabeth Hawes becoming one of the first couturiers in America and even though the book was written in the 1930's it is still completely relevant today. Even the prices we are paying for dresses today are the same as in the great depression. A big hint on how we need to value our clothes a little more! It's a little hard to find but well worth every penny.

2. From A to Biba by Barbara Hulaniki

This book you can pick up easily and it is a wonderful whirlwind of the fashion, London in the 60's and the world that was Biba. If this doesn't inspire you about fashion or just make you believe that everything is possible then nothing will. It's time to read it again!

3. The Ossie Clarke Diaries by Ossie Clarke

This is good, a must read but in small doses as it can drag you down a little, if (like me) you don't like knowing too much about the grim parts of life. The diary is a fascinating insight into the genius that was Ossie Clarke. 

4. Chanel Solitaire by Claude Baillen

There are so many Chanel biographies kicking around at the moment but this one has to be my favourite as it was written whilst Coco Chanel was alive. The writer spent 10 years getting to know her, right up to the end of her life and it is a really wonderful look into her personality and quirks. She slept with her shears by her bed every night.

5. Fashion 1900 - 1939

This book was my Mums and is now very worn, the pages are falling out, I have cut pieces out of it (god forgive me!) but it was one of the books that first sparked my interest in fashion as a child. It's only a catalogue from a V&A exhibition but I remember staring at this book for years, the front cover is wonderful and pictures inside even more so. Full of wonderful designs and photographs and simply gorgeous.

6. Tim Walker Pictures
7. Lanvin Dean Merceron and Alber Elbaz

And Finally to two big ones, great coffee table books full of mouth watering beauty that are a must have, just to fill your eyes with joy!

All the links go straight to Amazon where you can buy the books second hand.

And a new border dress inspired by wonderful Horrockses dresses with those candied flowers.  Our dress is embroidred in Royal blue and Kelly green,  available here as  Flora Goes Green  in our new shop.

Red Dress

This little Red dress is off to New Orleans for a winter wedding. This warming red has come at the right time, just as the mornings have turned cold and crisp.

Vintage Dresses Coming Soon

We are busily working away on our new website, soon be launched in the next few days ..... here's a sneak peek at our vintage selection ......

Lady Sings The Blues

This was another fantastic commission which has just been completed.
The brief: A 50's inspired, Etta James, blues wiggle dress in a striking blue, designed to make a lady's curves pop!
 This dress has to be one of my favourites, when I packed it away in it's tissue paper those pleats felt as though it had been made 60 years ago and I really hope it makes it's lovely owner feel wonderful. I think you call it a labour of love when your fingertips have so many holes in,  Anyone who knows of a thimble that works please let me know.

Studded Heart

It's our friends birthday today and whilst I could get her a bunch of gorgeous flowers, the rain is falling heavily outside and thought I could use my skills to make her something to enjoy for longer.

This is the first time I have used these frames but it all went swimmingly and the final bag is looking quite pleasing! It feels great in your hand with the super soft nappa leather and gold metal studs. Lined in my favourite emerald green silk.

The Illusionist and the Blue Dress

We took a trip to the watershed last night to watch the Illusionist by Sylvain Chomet. I give it complete 10 out of 10, it really was as near to perfect as you would want a film to be and was spine tingling charming the whole way through.

There is a gorgeous scene in the film where the girl stops to admire a dress in the window display at Jenner's department store. The dress is blue and it sparked up memories of the classic Disney films featuring the female characters in blue dresses, maybe this is a nod to the old masters of hand drawn animation?

I can't remember the last time I stopped in front of a shop window and really longed for a dress (unless it was  vintage or I was in New York in the perfect setting outside Bergdorf Goodman's). Some dresses seem to be able to hold that aspirational feature, a shape, style and presence that you don't usually get with many dresses today. Certainly not on the high street.
We are now such heavy consumers that if we like a dress, we buy it, it gets bundled into the carrier bag and off we go without too much care. The dress will then be worn, spilled on, end up on the bedroom floor, in the washing machine, hang around and then off to the rag man or land fill.

I want to make the dress in the shop window, the one you stop and long for, the one that makes you feel wonderful, that's beautiful to touch, the one that will still be with you in twenty years time, that a girl finds in your wardrobe and then makes her feel special. It may be asking for a lot but I can at least try!

I love the way that the Illusionist perfectly demonstrates how old fashioned skills should be treasured. The film is about the end of an era, the way the magician no longer amazes his audience over modern amusements is heartbreaking. In ending with 'Magicians don't exist' sent me into a blubbering mess.

The one noticable part of cgi whirling round Edinburgh for two seconds, looked cheap and I hope this was there to make a point. It hit home in a big way and knocked most cgi animations to the ugly pavement next to Tesco's.  

Old skills rule! xxx

Gorgeous Grey Roses

A quick post to show you this darling of a dress.

The fabric is an original 1950's crisp cotton purchased from atomickatz (an excellent etsy shop packed with gorgeous vintage finds) and we teamed it with a crepe bodice and added our all important bow!

Black Lace Dress

This was a fantastic custom order, the kind I could do all day long! A lovely creative customer wanting something gorgeously vintage and in keeping with our style.

The dress was made in a soft black lace (nothing scratchy for the skin) and is designed with black silk slip underneath complete with boning and a fitted waist.

 The dress just screams demure 1940's glamour and I am very pleased with this one.  (if you haven't already guessed!)

And the inside just for good measure. As this was unlined lace it was important to keep the inside light and tidy so we bound the main waist seams and french seamed the rest.

New Tidy Studio

Over the past few months my studio has become more and more out of control with bit's paper being hoarded in one corner, fabrics scraps in another and stuff everywhere.
Wing quite wonderfully gave up his day to tidy my studio for me whilst I worked on a dress. He is one incredible man!
So the studio went from this

To this.....

All my lovely old furniture at one end to take photos and read and relax and the work end at the other. My desk looks so wonderful without the technology around it!