Spring 23, "Blood, Sweat, and Tears"

The "Blood, Sweat, and Tears" fashion show was all about dark, gothic art and emotions. I decided to draw inspiration from the feeling of being enwrapped by stress. I wanted to show this by making a form fitting dress that was wrapped by wire and ribbon, "constraining" the wearer. 

I began the process by drafting a custom bodice to make the one-shoulder neckline, connecting to a neckpiece. Then I added a pencil skirt to add to the fitted look of the dress, which would eventually flair out into an expansion of the dress as a mermaid fit. After a fitting, I began to make the final garment out of a matte black fabric, with a light pink lining to represent the human being underneath the stress. 

The next step was to add the "stress" to the dress. To do this, I threaded red, crystal-like beads on a wire that I could shape around the dress into a swirling pattern.  I also added the red satin ribbon to represent other life stressors and tied that to the beaded wire. As a final touch, I remade the neckpiece to be a separate necklace to allow for a better fit of the dress, and with that, the dress was complete.