FOUNDATIONS REVEALED COMPETITION ENTRY
Mina Harker
(click images to to enlarge)
https://youtu.be/kdff7btZQqw
Other Credits
Model - Francesca Shortman
Outline the story …
The story of Dracula has always appealed to me due to the turn of the century setting, I adore late 19th century fashions, and Dracula really allowed me to explore this silhouette. The costume I created was designed for Mina Harker - the main female protagonist. I wanted an authentic silhouette, so I looked at extant garments from various museums, using these to inspire my own design. I also researched fashion plates from 1897. Mina is youthful therefore it was important for her costume to be "fashionable" of the time, therefore looking at fashion plates was a great way for me to understand the type of ensemble she would have worn. I also thought it was important for the costume to include a hat, this meant I utilised many online teaching resources to help me experiment and create a hat for the first time. Stained glass windows and floral décor where another inspiration behind the embroidery on both the jacket and skirt. I wanted Mina's costume to portray her elegance and sophistication. Her character underwent the biggest transformation - going from a naïve young lady, to a strong wilful hero. I intended my design to clearly identify each aspect of her character. The floral embroidery and tiered skirt exhibits her femininity, while the tailored jacket exhibits her strong sense of self and feminist ideals.
Outline the construction…
I took full advantage of all the online resources made available to me, I used Jean Hunnisett "patterns for performance" to help make draft all my own patterns for each garment. Rather ambitiously, I chose to create the tailored jacket using cotton velvet. This was incredibly challenging as I'd never worked with velvet before, and knew I'd have to take many precautions to ensure I did not risk the pile of the fabric or the fit of the jacket. Although this was the hardest aspect of the process, I'm glad I committed, because it has taught me so much and looks just how I envisioned. To create a historical silhouette I had to make the foundations first, a corset, bustle pad, petticoat and shirtwaist all fitted to my model, assisted to achieve that classic natural form shape The skirt consisted of 3 layers of Duchess Satin in a design inspired by my research, I used Soutache embroidery and handmade silk flowers with pearls to adorn the border This stage of the making process took the longest as each layer of the skirt needed over 12m of hand embroidering. Embroidery on the jacket consisted of machine embroidery, and goldwork. I embroidered dissolvable fabric to create mini petals, to make the flower design more 3 dimensional. The most gratifying part of the making process was using tailoring techniques as I had no experience with tailoring. I watched Youtube videos, practiced my pad stitching and read "1890's tailoring for women" to help.
Wonderful design!
Love the colour of the jacket!
Oh man, the detail work on the skirt is so incredibly beautiful. I also adore the colors you chose, and everything just looks meticulously well done.
This jacket looks lovely! Seems like a complex design and you nailed it♡
The outfit is lovely. I really like the colour of the jacket and the embroidery.
omg those jacket lapels are just *chef’s kiss* 🥰