Claire Kennedy Design

My "girls"

It may be fashion-forward to think that social events are passe, but here in the South, it is still a big deal and a lot of fun for the kids who are a part of it.  Fortunately our town has more than one of these social events so that most of the girls who want to can participate.

Our schedule is that the girls find out in the spring and I get to design and do the dresses in the summer.  Then I get to hope and pray that they don't loose a lot of weight or gain a lot of weight.  By this time (they are sophomores at college), they have their weight management a little more in hand, so it's not usually that tough.  They disappear back to school in the fall then return Thanksgiving weekend to a whirlwind schedule topped off by the ball Saturday night. 

It has always been my policy not to put anything about the dresses up till the ball on Saturday night, so I finally get to show them off.  But here are some pictures of the rehearsal - more formal pictures are forthcoming.  I had two Titian-colored beauties this year.

Kylie is a precious girl who had a very good idea about what she wanted. Once we nailed down the design, it was easy to complete this gown for her.  She has great shoulders and a nice trim shape so this showed off the gown beautifully.

We worked the shirring to match the line of the neckline bodice in back and front.  This is the big trick on this gown that makes it work.  The object of this style is to make it look like the waist is wrapped and that the lines continue the "x-line".  The basque waistline , which is one of the most flattering waistlines on gowns, also helps in keeping this X-line which makes the waist look even smaller.

This gown also had a balloon hem.  I'm not one for tricky features on ball gowns.  Debutante and wedding gowns are not a place to experiment, however this happen to work beautifully with this gown.  We put a very gentle balloon hem on this gown, and it had a great "sashay factor". 

Alice has a fabulous figure, and she brought her older sister's dress to my studio and we played with several ideas.  The dress fit so beautifully that I was reluctant to do very much too the gown, however when younger sister wears a hand-me-down, there are a lot of things that we can do to make the dress just a little different.  There are so many things I can do with a dress to make it the younger sisters dress, that it's not really a hand-me-down any more.

This had very classic lines and beautiful shape.

Both girls were like most of my clients.  I  must be blessed as I have always had beautiful and lovely clients on the inside and outside.  I believe it is that by the time a client comes to my door, she is very sure about what she wants and is not looking for an all-in-one gown...something that has everything and can not possibly accomplish the task of satisfying every need of the wearer. 

Stay tuned - I've one more to go - she hasn't been "outed" yet, so will have to wait a little longer.

Seeing my debs off

August is the time of year when my deb girls take off for college and I finish them up, or get ready for a few fall fittings.  Mostly finishing them up.  Then the dresses go into storage.....

They're at home here for a couple of months and each day I have to say I marvel at their beauty and then I start thinking about how this little thing could be better or that little thing would be better here or there. 

There's a rehearsal the day before - this is my neice when she was a deb, with my brother-in-law to her right at the rehearsal.

Some helpful onlookers - My sister in the middle, my nephew to her left and my BIL's brother on her right.  Of course only the best support for my neice!

Then it's time for the ball.  I always have the girls over right before the ball so that they (and I) know that they fit well, and when they have the dress on, nothing more is needed - they look so beautiful on, I even marvel at myself!

It's the night of the ball and they are all dressed beautifully.  This is a past year, as I'm unyielding that no one sees the dresses but the girls till that night. 

The dads and girls gather to line up and have fun right before they are to be presented!

In line right before they go out....the ball committee puts an engraved charm on each nosegay which they are looking at.

Whew!!!  Finally presented - aren't they beautiful?!!!  Of course I'm partial to the one center front - my niece who is the most beautiful!

After the night, I go home early, and put my feet up and rest on my laurels for the evening!

A lot of people go into making the evening special - the least of which is the committee - having served on the committee for almost 30 years, it was a lot of fun, mostly because we worked our buns off to make sure that the kids all had a great time.  It's become a great secret in town that the ball is a great party for the kids as well as the adults.  Every one in my family had a great time that night!

Finished....albeit a little different

The creative mind has a path of it's own.  While digging through some of my older designs for the top and skirt, here it is....an old Geoffrey Beene design.  So this begs a word or two about the master designer. 

Once while in NYC I treated myself to a visit to the Geoffrey Beene salon in the lobby of the Ritz Hotel.  It was unbelievable.  I had admired from afar for a long time, but to try the clothes on and see how they fit was even a bigger surprise. 
                                        
All those inserts and seemingly design details were not just inserts, they had fitting darts in there....that sly little devil, Beene, had so subtly put in darts to shape that dress while passing off as what seems to be mild-mannered "contrasting" pieces.
                  
All of a sudden Beene's clothes became even more intoxicating and fabulous.  Even though Beene's designs at his boutique were mostly sized for the Pat Buckleys and Nan Kempners of this world, these designs would look equally as fabulous on a more "normal" shaped woman.  These designs are totally timeless, innovative, attractive and flattering on most women.  The Black above has that particularly attractive belt.

                                          

This isn't my first foray into the world of Beene.  This is my family tartan done in one of Beene's more simpler designs.  Basically the fit all comes through that waistband.  It works really well, but I did put in a side dart to add extra definition under the arms - to prevent  the dolman sleeves from overtaking the bodice.  Since this is wool (and it's lined as wool isn't a favorite next to my skin), I wear this with a black cotton turtleneck to help my spiny neck from being so bare - especially for winter-time.  This is one of my favorites for Thanksgiving.

                  

OK - back to the subject - I always bought all the Beene patterns that Vogue issued, and was deeply sad when he died, however I do have a wealth of Beene ideas that I've collected over the years, and they are still not out of style.  So when I ran across this pattern, and realizing the lack of time (one day to make a gorgeous gown for a formal Saturday evening wedding), this was the best.  It calls for two buttons - one at the top and one at the waist, which would be smashing, but the closure here is actually a zipped closing.

                   

Look at what happens with a fold back of the top lapel?....a nice asymmetrical interest.  You can see the beginning of the zipper.  This would probably be best done in a fabulous, light-weight tweed or wool, but I did have a lot of fun making it out of the silk from the upholstery shop.  This turned out to be the best silk of all as it had a little more body than the dressmaking silk I usually deal with.  But the color was the best.

                         

Even though I've worn it, the trim does beautifully with this design, and it's not out of the realm of possibility that I would put this on to make an even stronger evening/cocktail statement.

As it was I have an elegant silk charmeuse scarf with a Chantilly lace trim in ivory that works beautifully with the dress, and protects me from the summertime (and very humid - OK has had record rainfall this spring/summer) air conditioning.

I still have enough fabric to do a wonderful jacket, and of course the gorgeous organza motif to do an elegant jacket. 

But for now I also have a wonderful dress, and even though it's not as versatile as a skirt and top, there is an elegance to a dress that no top or skirt can match!

Uh-oh - another idea!

Been mulling over that Renee Fleming idea and I'm thinking this is going to be my best idea.  I would like to have a fitted bodice, but with a shawl type collar and have parts of the top of the collar beaded.  This solves both my desires of having something formal to wear to the wedding and yet keeping the base of my outfit something I can wear again and again (with a jacket that is more tailored rather than frou-frou) not that I can't wear the top again, but the beading does make it more on the formal side.  So what I think I'm going to do is take a "shoulderless" pattern and attach a shawl for the top- double it over (on the straight of the fabric) so that the lines in the shawl are horizontal-ish rather than vertical-ish.  Then make the fitted part - all unlined to go over a very simple sleeveless bodice and simple skirt - yeah right - famous last words..... s-i-m-p-l-e!  More messes and trouble come from simple.....

(to be continued)

Making up my mind - how to start

I get so many ideas, that's it's really hard to keep track of them, much less to do anything with them like make them up!  So I thought it would be fun to travel along with me while I do a design for myself for this special event the end of the month.  OK, I'm known for not being ahead of time! Nothing like a little added pressure to move the creative process along.

Actually, I've pretty much decided what I'm going to do.  There are a few places that are my favorites to start  firstview.com and neimanmarcus.com are great places to peruse to see if anything strikes me.

A few words about fashion -  it's fleeting at best.  Low rise or hip huggers, boot cut or bell bottoms, what goes around comes around, but there are some styles that are classic, and for me this is where the real art is.  It's easy to be a fad, but to year in and year out, create classic beautiful clothes is the sign of a true artist.  Year after year, Givenchy, Dior, St. Laurent, Lagerfeld, all create beautiful innovative gorgeous clothes that last because they are classic.  So when I'm thinking about creating something for an event, I'm also thinking how I can wear this after the event.  This is the highest part of my art.

Sometimes a design doesn't start with the line or cut, it starts with the fabric.  I was in a local (and very, very fine) upholstery shop in town (they have a plethora of silk), and they had a fabric I literally bonded with.  I had no use for it at the time, or so I thought, but now I have....my friends' daughter's wedding.

So this particular design will start with the fabric.   It has a spectacular geometric design, in black with circular peacock-esque shimmer over a ground of dark green verdigris colored organza that flows like chiffon, but keeps it's shape.  Yeah - me too!  I went nuts.  Naturally the first thing is to put black under in in an Audrey Hepburn sort of look, but not one to do the first thing, I'm leaning toward a muted yellow, or very very light celery green under the dress to allow the black design to show through.

Not so fast....unfortunately simply because there's one design doesn't mean I'm finished....to confuse matters, have sampled a myriad of trims for a client, and just so happens two work really well with the celery silk.  The one on the left even looks gorgeous on this fabulous organza....so back to the drawing board.

These are some preliminary ideas on the organza jacket.  I've done the one on the left and it works, but I'm sorta "been there done that" on that design.  The other two are a little more exciting. The "must haves" for the jacket are that

1. Must flow and have a high "sashay factor"
2. Must come close to the body when I'm standing still (OK, I have this thing about looking more up and down than side to side)
3. Must be original, without orbiting Mars (see the part about classic design above)

This is still sort of fluid, but I'm really leaning toward that middle design...I need a killer closure, but will work on this later.  As so often happens, I usually run into something that works here.  This will probably be the "creative" part of this outfit.

Next is the dress.  I have enough fabric to make a jacket too, which fits into my lifestyle.  I need a dressy suit for weddings and other events in my life, but I do love this beading, so do I have two jackets?.....do I have one, and do the beading on the dress and have two tops.  Am definitely leaning toward the skirt/top route rather than a dress.

When I get confused about a dress design, I always go to Geoffrey Beene.  This guy had a real knack for making something really beautiful out of something so classic.  I went to his boutique at the Ritz in NYC, and tried on the clothes and the amazing thing is that those "inset" seams actually are darts.  The guy was a genius that way.  I love this design.  Maybe this is getting a little too confusing.  I've already drawn up this design in a pattern, it's just making it.  I need to think about the side inserts - OK - forget this....back to the other outfit....or is this the creative process.  I'm getting hit with too much right now.

Maybe I need to rethink the organza top to make it something a la Renee Fleming:

I'm so confused....need to stop and go back to the start!