Red Dress

During your junior year as a Fashion Design major at Jefferson University, the design students work with the American Heart Association to bring awareness to women's heart disease by creating a red dresses. The reason I'm writing about this is because I am still so proud of the work I did on this dress. It was my first time ever creating a gown as I'm sure it was for many of my peers. From my concept research, to bringing the dress to life, I love everything about it! And it makes it that much more memorable and meaningful that we had to design a dress for an important cause.

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The summer prior to my junior year, my family and I traveled to Italy. We took a tour of Pompeii while we were there and I was instantly inspired. My concept for my red dress became The Beauty in Broken Things. Pompeii had this tragic disaster occur, you walk around and see the destruction of a whole city. Yet, it has become this breath taking site for people all over the world to explore and admire. Let me show you what I mean.

How the light peaks through the broken buildings, and the statue still stands, looking over Naples. Chills.

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This might be one of my favorite concept boards I've ever done. I did it all by hand, nothing was done on Photoshop. There are multiple elements that are raised and I paid a lot of attention to the details. The image on the bottom right is from a ceiling in Pompeii.

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This concept resonated with me on a personal level, and I think that's when I design the best. I remember having such a hard time picking the dress I wanted to actually create because I was so inspired by my concept I just kept sketching ideas! But I know I picked the right one because I can look back and say that I'm still so happy with it. Here it is!

Okay, how perfect is my sister modeling it though?!

I new that I wanted an asymmetrical silhouette to represent imperfection, lace to represent the beauty that comes from imperfection and boning to represent a strong structure, and the rest just fell into place.

I just like this picture. My sister is so cute.

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I'm also going to add a few professional pictures from the Red Dress Fashion Show, because they're too good not to share!

I look at the last picture and just think about how amazing it was to be surrounded by the talented and inspiring people who created the dresses in this picture. I feel so lucky!!!

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*Side Note*

I wanted to do this post because I am very hard on myself. I love this dress now, but at the time of my crit, I was embarrassed by it. I look back and think, "Was I crazy? I made that!!!". I have to remind myself every day, that everyone has their own style, no two aesthetics are a like. I get down on myself but at the end of the day, I have the ability to create things I see in my head and sketch on paper, and I'm grateful.