Wedding Dresses

Today I went to the Bath Fashion Museum. As this is the year of the Royal Wedding there is a display celebrating wedding dresses worn by brides for their own special day over the last 200 years. There was a really diverse selection of dresses and each garment was of beautiful character and striking design. Each dress was really special and it was lovely seeing creations that had served an important part on the special occasion of a bride's wedding day.

Dressing The Stars

Today I visited Bath's Assembly Rooms. There was a British Costume Design exhibition and I thought the delicate illustrations by Anthony Powell were beautiful.

Below are some of the costumes created for the movie The Duchess, featuring Keira Knightley. Michael O'Connor was awarded an Academy award for Best Costume Design in 2008. The collection included a wedding dress and a pregnancy dress. The detail was exquisite and made up of ample luxurious textures and intrinsic patterns. 

The costume design for the movie The King's Speech was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Costume Design and a BAFTA Film Award for Best Costume Design in 2010. I was particularly fond of the children's wear by Jenny Beavan. I thought the ruffles on the dresses were adorable.

   
The costumes used for the movie Elizabeth were very extravagant. Decorated with bows, pearls and metal embroidery. Designed by Alexandra Byrne who said "I feel I have to completely understand the period so that I'm in control of the choices of what to use and not to use".

Cheese Couture

Cheese... it's nice with pickle or sprinkled on top of spaghetti bolognese but did you know it's also possible to wear it....

I made a pair of shoes and the final layer was coated in Pilgrims Choice Cheddar Cheese. I documented the process as below and used the company's packaging and other products such as wax to line the soles of the shoes and mold into shapes of flowers and grapes. The shoes were designed to replicate half a round block of cheese.

I grated the cheese and mixed it with glitter to allow the shoe to sparkle and add some glamour to the design.

I also made a dress featuring Pilgrims Choice Cheddar and Red Leicester. This was a part of our professional project at university. We were asked to design some dresses using the company's cheese and packaging resources. Below are some of my designs and samples:

One of my designs was selected to make up. I grated the cheese and placed it on a layer of plastic and mixed it with PVA glue, the glue preserved the cheese and once it had dried, I peeled it away from the plastic and cut the large slabs into strips which were glued onto the body of the dress. 

I molded the wax into roses and glued the cheese into the centre. 

Here is a photograph of the 5 final garments inspired by Pilgrims Choice Cheddar which were displayed at the Royal Bath and West Country Show at the beginning of June.

Here is my cheesy dress - madness!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1392677/Versa-cheese-The-collection-dresses-melted-cheddar.html