Over the next few weeks I will start to post my new summer dress collection and the adorable hair accessory that comes with it! The first dress I would like to present is my English Tea Rose dress.
The idea behind these dresses is the bodice part is cut from a 1950s Vouge pattern and the skirt is a half circle skirt. Its caught in the balance of the late 1940s. After the second world war material was still rationed and many women were still sewing their own clothes together from whatever material they could get hold of and to “Make do and mend” encouraging women to up-cycle their clothes and create new ones from old curtains or other materials. My designs are obviously not made from old curtains!! The fabric is imported from England to Germany!
In 1947 Christian Dior released his “New Look” collection, these luxurious dresses were made from the finest silks and the skirt was cut from meters and meters of fabric…obviously aimed at the upper classes who could afford such luxuary. But the working class woman could not afford such a dress. I’m inspired by Christian Doir for the beautiful designs of his work for bringing fashion back with a bang at the end of a very terrible war and also he gave a re-birth to the corset! He was inspired by the fashions of the past of the late 19th century. I’m also inspired by Chanel who originally came from a working class background and was one of the main characters changing fashion and a huge contributer to women’s rights in society. Her clothes were more practical and easy to move in then that of the tight corseted dresses of the centuries before. The style of the early 20th century was to be thin, tanned and sport new boyish hair styles. So for Chanel with her practical taste in fashion, when Dior launched the “New Look” she was very displeased with this new fashion as it was encouraging women back into tight laced corsets to achieve the hourglass figure again which in turn after the 2nd world war encouraged women back into the house wife role, when they had just spent 6 years doing the jobs the men left behind to fight in a war. Chanel saw it that women had taken one step forward with equality and then sadly 2 steps back.
My dresses are with a hint of both sides of the class spectrum and just like Chanels “Little black dress” which was a plain black dress that could be worn in the day or evening and could be dressed up or dressed down with accessories for whatever the occasion.
Dior’s skirts were cut on full circle and even more pattern pieces added to the skirt to make it even fuller, with many many petticoats underneath. My dresses are just on a half circle. In world war two the fashion was to cut on the Bias as it saved more fabric but I have not done this in my design. The dress can be accessorised with matching hair bow- perfect for picnics and walks in the countryside, then for
dancing in the evenings a petticoat can be added underneath to give the skirt part of the dress more volume!
I will upload more images from the new collection over the next few weeks of July and all designs are available to buy here on my Dawanda Shop or I can be contacted directly: gem@corsets-in-berlin.com