FOUNDATIONS REVEALED COMPETITION ENTRY
The Night Circus – Celia Bowen’s Dress
(click images to to enlarge)
Other Credits
Photographer/Videographer: Brian Anderson Model: Christina Anderson
Outline the story …
For this competition we were inspired by The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. We decided to create a performance dress for Celia Bowen, one of the main characters in the novel. As a magician in a magical circus, we felt Celia needed a dramatic yet fun dress in which to perform. The book explains that the circus has a black and white theme and that all of the performers must adhere to this color scheme, so we made black the dominant color in our design. Along with creating a one of kind dress for Celia to perform in, we also wanted to pack our design full of Easter eggs that readers might recognize from reading the novel. With this in mind, we added the black and white stripe to the bodice to match the stripe of the circus tents so that she would fit seamlessly within her setting. We also added red kick pleats, shaped like circus tents, as a nod to the bright red scarves the dedicated followers of the circus would wear to recognize each other. Additionally, the back of the skirt is covered in feathers in reference to the raven that Celia would often use in her act. We had so much fun creating a piece that could be very dramatic and somewhat whimsical without seeming out of place within the novel's setting.
Outline the construction…
We only recently got back into garment sewing, and this is the very first historical garment we have ever attempted, so we utilized many resources in our research that were invaluable. We used the Foundations Revealed archive, books on Charles Worth, and historical patterns like those from Truly Victorian to understand the time period and construction. We then combined all of this knowledge to draft and execute our design to the best of our ability. Some of the most challenging aspects of this were getting the right fit for our model, who has a full bust, and matching stripes on a curved seam on the back of the bodice. Additionally, we chose some temperamental fabrics, like velvet, which gave a great look, but are not the easiest to work with. We also had to remind ourselves to be flexible as we worked through bringing our drawings to life. Sometimes things on paper don't work as well in real life and we redesigned things several times in order to get a look we were happy with in the end.
For this piece, we used silk taffeta for the skirt, chiffon for the overskirt, striped satin polyester, velvet, and chiffon for the bodice. To embellish the dress we used over 500 Swarovski crystals on the train of the skirt and side of the bodice as well as hundreds of feathers to cover the train. We also used black beading along the edge of the overskirt and in the kick pleats.
Love that you’ve not only created a stunning dress but brought the actual circus tent into the design!
Thank you so much!
Such a cool design!
Thank you!
You nailed it! The dress is both beautiful and evocative.
Thank you so much, Rebecca!
I love the feathered trim and all those details on the dress. It looks so cool!
Thank you, Sophia.
Wow, beautiful! It really fits the aesthetic of the book well.
Amanda, thank you so much. That is exactly what we were going for!
Bravo! As performances go, this dress steals the show.
Katie, thank you for the wonderful words. You are very kind.
This dress has instantly recognisable Night Circus vibes! You nailed it! I love the red circus tent pleats at the front and gorgeous feather train at the back, so, so beautifully done! Well done!
oh, thank you Stephanie, for your very kind words.