Friday, June 19, 2009

Ready-to-Wear Inspiration

So when I was researching images for the Weekend Designer ruffle sleeve blouse to make out of the silk georgette I ordered from FFC, I went to the Bloomingdale's website to grab the Lauren pics. While I was there I decided to browse around.

You all know my love for knit dresses, and on the Bloomingdale's website you can sort the dresses by fabric category, including jersey. Score! I found a lot to inspire me. You can click on any of the photos to see them full size.

Susana Monaco Open Back Dress I like that this is demure and Audrey Hepburn in the front with the exposed back. I'm not necessarily wild about the plain wide straps--I think I'd prefer a U or a V back situation. One of my friends wore a low-back dress to happy hour a while back and it was so sexy. Now that my back is cleared up (cross fingers it stays!) after a round of dermatological antibiotics I am interested in incorporating the open back into a project.

Susana Monaco Gathered Strap Dress





Ditto the open back on this. I love how it looks like a regular sun dress from the front, and then the back is strappy and fun. It might be a tad too young/trashy for me, although the model looks fairly elegant in it, considering. Alas, I am not a model.



Cynthia Steffe Paige Dress Paige Detail

This one is probably my favorite of the bunch, partly because I can't figure it out! Looking at the closeup, you can see that the belt is in two pieces, the end of the front crossover sewn to one end and the belt that crosses the back sewn to the other. Unfortunately, there is no side view of this. I'm wondering if it is just a regular mock wrap, and the belt attached to the side of the bodice that crosses under passes through an opening in the side seam. Or perhaps it's just sewn into the side seam? That doesn't account for the drape on the outer front crossover piece, though, which doesn't appear to have a seam. I just got word from Elizabeth that she found me some avocado silk jersey for a STEAL. I'm thinking I may need to try this dress, using Simplicity 3503 as a starting point.

Ladera Ashley Dress




This Ladera Ashley has a similar sort of drapey cut on sleeve situation going on, but with a much simpler (aka easier) design. I like that the gathering is concentrated at CF and CB, rather than distributed over the hips.





LOVE this Laundry by Shelli Segal dress:

Laundry by Shelli Segal Pleat Dress Laundry Pleat Dress Detail
Martin Grant, Spring 2009I imagine the photo quality isn't good in this post (even Bloomingdale's ain't great at photographing details in navy), but if you click on the detail, you can see there are radiating diagonal pleats. Based on the closeup of the back, where the belt is in a slightly different position, it appears that there is no waist seam, which makes the pleats even more amazing because it means they are in some sort of chevron arrangement. It's got a bit of the flavor of the Martin Grant dress that amazed me so much last season.




DVF Epana Dress As soon as I saw who had designed this one, I understood why I loved it so much. DVF is the queen of taking advantage of the gorgeous drape you get with jersey. Again, the black hides the details but if you look at the front closeup you see how the skirt drape is gathered on the side opposite the one shoulder, then dips down, then there is a smaller gather under the one shoulder. Amazing, but I would need a lot more experience draping to figure this out.







I don't generally go to clothing websites because, well, I make my own. But maybe I'll do it more often for inspiration! You can see all the looks that caught my eye here.

19 comments:

Meg said...

That black Laundry dress would look so fantastic on you! You have to buy it or know it off.

BConky said...

You found some really good ideas on Bloomingdale's website. I really like the black one. I usually hate black but that is so cute.

Meg said...

I meant "knock" it off. Bad at copyediting my own work, ya know.

Judith said...

The June issue of Knipmode has the pattern of Martin Grant dress. It's not a knit dress, though. I really like the purple dress!

Judith
The Netherlands

Sharon said...

Thanks for posting those inspiration pieces! I love knits and my next project is a knit dress. I'm always looking at knits in department stores and websites.

Lakaribane said...

You've just stumbled onto my dirty little secret: I "snoop shop" online all the time! And I put them online in my Picasa album for easy and international access, LOL!

Re: Martin Grant dress, Judith beat me to it. I recognized it right away.

And I love the back of the trashy/young dress. Reminds me that I've always wanted to make this dress from a late 90s Burda.

Kennis said...

I love the Laundry dress too. I wish there's a similar pattern out there. I don't think I love it enough to spend $215 on a jersey dress.

wendy said...

I love that sunburst pattern from the tucks on the black cap sleeve dress. WOW.

Anonymous said...

Hey Trena, I wasn't able to get to the post office today, but hopefully tomorrow. J'adore the black laundry dress. The avocado silk jersey would be fantastic in that. Love the diagonal pleats.

Anonymous said...

Hi - I just saw this the other day; could help with the ruffle sleeve top: Simplicity 2554.

Nancy K said...

I love to trawl the high end online sites, especially Net a Porter for inspiration. You've picked some great dresses, especially the Laundry dress and the DVF are my two favorites.

Jenaveve said...

I love the Laundry dress, and the purple one is gorgeous; the drape is uber-feminine.

There are so many great ideas on fashion websites, like style.com... great places to source inspiration for color, fabric, designs, anything.

Maryissewfast said...

Great dresses...I'm a big fan of the purple one too...can't wait to see your interpretation.

Anonymous said...

I'm like Nancy K: I troll Net a Porter too. Much of what I see is not for me, but I do find a few here and there, and when I find something, I google similar clothing so I have information and notes galore to knock it off myself.

Vintage aprons are my worst. I crawl the web for hours and have an entire notebook full of them with line drawings and notes so when I draft patterns from it, I have more info then I ever wanted to know.

kbenco said...

The first dress reminds me of a knit dress Vogue 2899, Guy Laroche, with the gathered bodice and the open back. I just looked the pattern again and the Guy Laroche dress has almost a halter front, but the back is truly gorgeous.

Hey it's Connie said...

First one or the last one man, whoops I mean ma'am! I love the "business in the front, party in the back" look of the first one. As for the last one, well, check out Drew Barrymore. http://projectrungay.blogspot.com/2009/04/in-or-out-drew-barrymore.html I crave this dress, and have the fabric! The DVF dress has the same sorta lines.

Rachel said...

I am in love with that Laundry Dress. I have to figure out how to make it. It is gorgeous, but not worth $215.

Anonymous said...

Maybe this pattern would be a place to start, in knocking off the Laundry dress: http://www.butterick.com/item/B5277.htm?tab=list/dresses&page=all

-Kathy

teresa said...

I think someone else was inspired by the Laundry dress and just put a pattern up on Burdastyle: http://www.burdastyle.com/creations/show/27051