Sewing that's Retro, Geek, and Chic
My coworker sent me a mesmerizing video about the making of a Dior dress for a couture fashion show. I can’t stop watching it! I’ve shared it on Twitter a couple times already but everyone should see it, so I’m also posting it here on my blog.
If you’ve ever wondered why fashion is expensive, just try to count the number of different people who have a hand in making this gorgeous dress!
And even if you don’t particularly like the style, you can’t help but be amazed by the amount of work and engineering that goes into such a build! Those pleats! (And those heels! Want!)
Enjoy!
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Fantastic!
That is really amazing. That dress must weigh a ton.
It’s definitely heavier than it looks! Now you see some of the ways I do things at work. =)
Absolutely fabulous a work of art in progress.
Fabulous!
I no longer feel bad about the number of pins I use…
You should never feel bad about pins! Very few to no pins = factory mass produced sewing. Pin and pins and MORE pins = couture sewing. I’m definitely closer to the gazillion pins of couture when I sew. =)
Amazing, I would love to watch them create in person. Jkg
I’d love to work with them on a project! I do a lot of similar things at work but we use the machine more often and take some shortcuts due to time.
OMG that was mesmerizing and inspiring!
Isn’t it?? I can’t stop watching it even though it’s similar to what I do at work! Beautifully filmed and edited, plus an amazing dress!
Wow, now that is inspiring
Fabulous! I saw this dress on display at the museum in Toronto. They had the video running on a loop next to the mannequin. I couldn’t tear myself away. It was amazing to watch a bit of the construction and then go look at the dress itself.
Oh, wow! I bet it was even more fantastic in person!
Lizzie at The Vintage Traveler had a link on her blog to this video last Sunday, I believe. I could watch it over and over. It’s actually kind of gratifying to see how much care, precision and time is put into a fashion like this. It reinforces my belief that haute couture is art in one of its purest forms!
I must have missed that link! It truly is art!
OMG – this was amazing – the beauty and artistry of the design and the care in their work literally brought tears to my eyes. What a stunning dress! I love how the people are wearing lab coats. Maybe I should make a jacket with plenty of pockets to wear just when I’m sewing. 😉
I found the lab coats amusing too. I don’t think I could stand to wear one unless it was really cold in the shop though – sewing makes me burn up (especially the ironing part)!
Thank you for sharing the video! It was breathtaking.
Oh, this is fantastic, thanks for sharing Brooke! I love the attention to detail, I am still a newb, but find I like to sew this way. (Obviously, not the technique and talent part (YET!) but the thinking and re-thinking part and attention to detail. I would love to be a fly on the wall in their studio to see a whole garment get made from conception to design to fitting to sewing to completion.
You are well on your way to with the technique and talent in your sewing! =) I would love to work in a shop like the video for a day or two just to see what new things I could pick up.
ooohhhhh..I got goose bumps…wow..how long would that have taken to make and how many kilos would it have weighed..phew…
What an amazing video. Thank you for posting it for us. Several things struck me: 1) lab coats, 2) diverse professionals dressed in modest, not glamorous styles, 3) tailors open top thimble for hand sewing (at least I think I saw an open top), 4) cooperative teamwork with clear but approachable experts in positions of authority. The pattern paper they use looks wonderful! How cool that they are able to take part of their artistic creation to a different Paris arrondissement that has a pleating specialist! Have you seen the luscious video featuring Francesco Smalto Haute Couture on YouTube? That one is also mesmerizing.
You probably did see an open top thimble. I find the open top kind easier to use but I rarely use one – I like feeling what I’m doing and when I put a thimble on, I just use a different finger (I’ve got good callouses).
The video reminded me very much of most costume shops I’ve worked in – minus the lab coats. The teamwork is my favorite part of my career. =) We actually sent some fabric to the local pleater for the project I am currently working on, and when it came back, I got to put it on the dress. I felt like I was in the above video, hehe.
I had not seen the Francesco Smalto Haute Couture video for the suit making! Thanks for letting me know to look it up! I have helped build some period menswear but I feel like that is something I know the least about on my own. Custom tailoring is a completely different world.
This had me with my jaw dropped for the entire length of the video… Amazing! And the ombre effect they create with the layers of tulle is GENIUS, must remember that…
Have you ever watched Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris with Angela Lansbury? It also has Diana Rigg as the head of Dior. V V fabulous all around!
I love Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris! I have it on VHS – I really need to get it on on DVD!
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