And here's the shot! A few weeks back we mentioned Miss Happ made a kustom dress for American Photographer M A L A K Photography.com, and here is the shot, although no the FINAL shot, it's looking fantastic!
BASED ON THE ORIGINAL FROM THE 40'S:
After lotsa hard work, fittings & stressing all the way here in South Africa we sent the dress off to California for the shoot...and waited! Always the hard part especially as we were so far away.
The entire sewing/manufacture process took us just over a month. The difficult part was that the only reference we had was the pic above which is also a VERY low res, so we virtually could see NO detail as far as neckline/waist goes, so alot of guessing work was done as far as styling went. We had the models measurments and height.
Also, it was the first time in a very long time that I had ever done anything like this - the Grecian style was so super different to anything I do on a day to day basis with Miss Happ. But once again girl power prevailed, and with a few of us putting our heads together we made a great dress! So a big Thank you to my two seamstresses who worked with me on the project!
Initially we did a basic grecian style top where the skirt just fell directly from under the bust, the waist was only elasticated. But after fitting I really wasn't happy. So we then pulled it all apart again, added on a fixed waistband to give it more structure and cut quite a bit off the skirt side seams to narrow it as well as the bodice so there was less fullness over the bust area. We also changed the guaging to be only on the front and back, as opposed to all round, so that the skirt hugged the body more.
FIRST MOCK-UP - THE BODICE IS ONLY PINNED ON THE LEFT, THE RIGHT WAS WITH THE FIRST ELASTICATED WAIST:
THE FINAL REWORKED DRESS WITH THE FIXED WAISTBAND, & REWORKED SKIRT AND BODICE:
While I was working on the dress, Michael was busy making the plinth that the model would be standing on...
Eventually the day came to send off the dress, we packaged it and off it went...and then we waited!
Today we saw the first of the images and we are so excited, as well as relieved! It's always so scary when you aren't there to fit it on the model and make any adjustments, but it looks fantastic. Michael does amazing work and I am so humbled to have been able to work with him on this project.
The photo will be one in a series for the coffee table book that Michael Malak will be printing called Wings of Angels, & this particular shot will hopefully also be sent to Sony/Columbia HQ...
Below is a behind the scene pic from the actual shoot - only the flame and clouds were actually photoshopped in - the rest was just awesome lighting and a great photographer!
The Columbia lady is an icon, and has appeared at the beginning of each movie since Columbia screened it's first movie in 1924.
Till next time!
MH x
