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Catherine Martin & Miuccia Prada Dress Gatsby

June 16, 2013 by Chie 2 Comments

Have you seen the new Great Gatsby movie with Leonard DiCaprio? They just started showing the movie on Friday, 6/14 in Japan and to celebrate the movie premire, Prada Aoyama is running an exhibition of costumes that Miuccia Prada provided for the movie.

I had a chance to stop by last Friday. It was my first time stepping into the Prada store in Aoyama. The store is gorgeous! The entire building from first to eighth floors are full of shoes, bags and clothes. The exhibition is held on seventh and eighth floor. If you like 1920′s fashion, you will enjoy seeing the expanded poster images of flapper dresses. There were also some real clothes displays through out the other floors such as jewel headbands and flapper dress made out of jems.

The exhibition will be held through 6/30/2013 in Prada Aoyama, right off the Omotesando station, A5 exit.

After that my friend and I went to a cafe called “stationary cafe”(文房具カフェ). It’s a cute cafe where you can try different samples of unique stationary!{find me elsewhere: shop, facebook, etsy, twitter, pinterest}

Filed Under: blog, blogs, every day life Tagged With: costume, exhibition, Great Gatsby, Prada, Prada Aoyama, 文房具カフェ

Made:: Green Satin Bridesmaid Dresses for June Bride

June 11, 2013 by Chie 5 Comments

I am turning 30 soon, and I have a lot of people getting married this year. I have been invited to five weddings this year, including my sister’s. This bridesmaid dress was made for my friend, who is having her wedding this month. She will have three bridesmaids, and she and I worked on the design together. She wanted something swingy, so I suggested to go with a half circle skirt. As you can see in the sketch below, I suggested three options of the neckline, and she picked #3.

I added pipings all around the neckline. I love the piping details (as you can tell from this and this). It is a simple technique but adds color and more structure to the dress.

It is pretty rare to have bridesmaids in Japanese weddings – we don’t have the tradition. I remember having three bridemaids in my American wedding (I had both a Japanese and an American one), and sadly their dresses were from forever 21. I wish I sewed back then.

{find me elsewhere: shop, facebook, etsy, twitter, pinterest}

Filed Under: blog, blogs, bridal, creation, dress Tagged With: bridesmaid dress, custom made dress, diy, dress, green, halter dress, lime green, satin bridesmaid dresses, vivatveritas, white sash

Sketch Everyday 3

June 8, 2013 by Chie 2 Comments

I set my year 2013 resolution to be sketching everyday. Although I have not been doodling every single day, I am happy to say that I successfully got in the habit of sketching my design ideas down whenever the mood strikes. At least, I am no longer afraid of sketching. Although I am not Picaso level, I enjoy sketching, which is important I think! Also, I am happy that I can present my design ideas in somehow presentable form to my customers. It helps both my customers and I.

To sketch, I was using regular black pen and colored pencils (borrowed from my daughter!), but recently bought a watercolor set because my biggest fashion illustrator muse, Paperfashion uses watercolor. Her illustration is amazing; something every girl would dream of having it next to her dresser.

Anyway, I thought I’d show you what I’ve been doodling – ideas for bohemian bride, flowy silk dress with floral painting on pure silk, wedding in the woods. Watercolor is fun, especially when Kiko can enjoy it too.

Related posts:
Sketch Everyday
Sketch Everyday 2

{find me elsewhere: shop, facebook, etsy, twitter, pinterest}

Filed Under: blog, blogs, fashion illustration Tagged With: art, doodling, fashion illustration, illustration, Paperfashion, sketch, vivat veritas, watercolor

Shop Update:: More Color Options for Secret Periwinkle Dress

June 4, 2013 by Chie 1 Comment

The Secret Periwinkle Dress has been one of the top sellers in the shop, so I’m excited that now I can offer 40 different color variations! I found a good supplier that has many different color shades for cotton twill.

The dress is made out of medium weight, 100% cotton twill. It is heavier than quilting cotton or cotton seething, and it helps the skirt swing well. You can see what it looks like in dark purple, periwinkle, dark red and light gray.

It can be made with or without the side cutouts. This dress is perfect for bridesmaid dresses as well!

{find me elsewhere: shop, facebook, etsy, twitter, pinterest}

Filed Under: blog, blogs, Etsy, shop update Tagged With: bridesmaid dresses, choose color, choose size, custom order, diy, dress, vivat veritas, wedding

Love Lace

June 2, 2013 by Chie Leave a Comment

What is your favorite fabric/material to work with? Mine is slowly changing; I used to work with a lot of stretch fabrics, then I was into using 100% cotton as there are many fun prints for cotton. Now I am getting into more lace and silk. As I worked on the butterfly back wedding dress, it was a good excuse for me to acquire pretty motif laces for no particular use in mind. I bought a bunch online. They are so pretty.