FOUNDATIONS REVEALED COMPETITION ENTRY
Satan’s favourite
(click images to to enlarge)
Other Credits
Photographer: Dennis Riemann
Outline the story …
The character I chose for my entry is a figure in an old German legend surrounding the alchemist and magician Johann Faust. The most famous adaptation of this story is Goethe’s “Faust”, in which the devil Mephistopheles bets with God that he is able to lead Faust away from the rightful trail and makes a pact with him.
I read the novel “Fausts Leben, Taten und Höllenfahrt” by F.M. Klinger, to get a new view on my character. Faust summons the devil Leviathan, who makes himself Faust’s servant until he can prove to him the evil nature of humanity.
In both books, the devil isn’t the villain, he enables the people to follow their own evil or sinful wishes. He is the most interesting and iconic character in the story, which is why I chose him. Leviathan is described as wearing a red cape when meeting Faust and disguises himself as a nobleman, so I included the colour red in my design. The gown I made for a female version of the devil includes aspects from different decades of the late 15th to the late 16th century. I made this decision to emphasise that the devil is of otherworldly nature and does not bow to human concepts as time or fashion. I chose to include the construction into the design by highlighting the boning channels on the bodice. The idea behind the gown was to make it wearable in 1500 but to make the look extravagant, noble and scandalous.
Outline the construction…
I made this gown using only natural fibres. I used linen for the red underdress, that was constructed in the style of a medieval kirtle, as well as for all the linings and the binding of the gown. The black skirt is made of a fine wool and the bodice is made of black silk taffeta.
I drafted all patterns myself, which I had never done before, so it was quite challenging. Especially as the bodice was something completely new for me. I designed it in the style of a 16th century pair of bodies and was inspired by both the effigy bodies and the Pfalzgrafin Dorothea bodies. I combined aspects from both garments into my final design. To learn how to construct the pattern, the Foundations Revealed article “Recreating Elizabethan bodies” written by Alison Kannon helped me a lot. I used synthetic boning for the bodice. I decided to make the construction a part of my design and made the boning channels visible, sewn in red silk thread on the black silk taffeta.
All visible seams and stitches are sewn by hand using silk thread, which is a completely new skill for me. I also learned how to sew eyelets and buttonholes by hand and how to make the buttons I used on my sleeves. To emphasise the red colour of the underdress, I made slit sleeves out of the silk taffeta that I tied to the bodice, using the same cotton cord I used for the spiral lacing.
I really like the Look of this dress. For me it is the winner ♡
Super! Favourite!
Wow!
Perfekt
Lovely!!!!
so evocative… really really beautiful
so elegant! that contrasting stitching on the bodice! i adore the color choices. i love this whole thing. i would like one of my own. beautiful.
good luck, from icarus!
I think you very smartly integrated different historical aspects and mixed a modernish aspect I love.
Amazing!! I love your inspiration that you worked from, and all of the work you put into the tiny details. It really does feel like a creation with a narrative attached to it.
This is really awesome! I love your title for the subject and how you interpreted it. The details are amazing.
Wow! What a bold choice to have all the stitch lines out there on display! Especially hand sewn! It adds an amazing amount of texture. The fit is exquisite and the red detail of the smock poking through was a great choice to evoke the devil. Great execution well done!
Beautiful. I love how you merged different decades into one single gardent, and thé fit of the dress os juste Amazing.
And for having gone the same route of handsewing, self made buttons and embroidered buttonholes and eyelets on my foundation cotehardie, I bow down to you for the amount of work, I know thé hours that went into this…
This is a lovely Satan!
I love how you used red as an accent colour with the top stitching and buttonholes of the bodice, and the red sleeves of course! They are so striking against the black! Very devilish! Well done for all the hard work that went into making this, I’m impressed!
This is so cool🤩😈