Midnight Gold Remembrance Dress

Threads Garment Challenge 2024

Best Overall Winner

The challenge was called “Top to Bottom”.  The conditions were to create a one piece outfit with an innovative collar and a coordinating hem. 

The first thing I did was draw some quick sketches of different ways to make an asymmetrical collar.  Next was to figure a way to make it transcend someway to the hem.  With those two steps combined with my default inspiration of the 50’s silhouette, I ended up with a full skirted, fitted bodice dress.  It is cinched at the waist and had ¾” length sleeves.  On the front right bodice was a faux jacket overlap that had a circular skirt overlay attached at the waist but then blends into the side seam of the dress. The asymmetrical collar is designed in such a way as to begin from nothing on the left side neckline, and continue to ‘grow’ around the neck towards the center front and continue at the hem of the circular overlay.  The sleeves have cuffs inspired by the collar.

As it was all coming together, I was getting the ideas of antique gold embellishments to hand sew a top this midnight navy taffeta beauty.  I ended up creating embellishments by hand using metallic gold tulle, sequins, ostrich feather tufts, and machine embroidered feathers of gold metallic thread.  I hand stitched the embellishments to start at the beginning of the collar minus the feathers.  As the collar got bigger, the embellishments grew.  About a third of the way across the skirt overlay, I began to slowly incorporate the embroidered feathers.  The closer towards the side seam where the overlay irejoins the dress, the embellishments I started with begin to thin out as the embroidered feathers populate.  Going over the side seam, everything thins out and breaks a part as if the feathers are taking flight.  

The symbolic idea here is a child is born-start of the collar.  He grows and learns and lives life as children do.  As one gazes across the skirt and observes “life”, something different seems to be taking place.  Something subtle, but noticeable.  Something quite unexpected, yet unexplainable, as the feathers enter the scene.  They populate.  At the turn of the side seam is a turn of the story.  Of life.  The living seems to get less.  Dissolves.  The feathers, well, they in fact do take flight, back to the angel wing from which they came, which  I now see was almost 15 years ago for me.  

The colors are originally inspired by Alex’s Lemonade Stand.  I darkened the blue to midnight navy and made the yellow a Childhood Cancer gold.  My son, Reese, is the inspiration behind this award winning dress.  

The final chapter for this dress is that it will be worn to the Lemon Ball hosted by Alex’s Lemonade Stand in 2026 to honor all the children still in the fight and in memory of the ones who have since earned their wings.