I was recently invited to submit a piece for the New Orleans Creative Alliance’s annual Bal Des Artistes. This event is comprised of a runway show of local designers and artists and a masked ball. The theme this year was “1920’s French Quarter Bohemian”. Now, I jumped on this train rather late. Just three weeks before the event and in the middle of the Christmas holidays. So on a budget and a short deadline I had to get creative. I wanted to pay homage to what I think were some of the greatest costumers of the time period: The Russian Ballet. I found that paper lent itself very well to the Deco look I was trying to achieve. The headdress is modeled after the traditional Russian Kokoshnik which was still a popular motif with the ballet in the 1920’s. I am quite pleased with how the whole thing turned out!
Needless to say there was a lot of folding a ironing here. Not to mention paper punching to get the lacy edges. The bodice is wheat pasted to achieve the form of my model. The headdress I made by making a buckram and wire base and wheat pasted the paper fans and doilies to it. The paper doilies on the skirt, bodice, and headdress are from my secret stash (yes I have a doilie stash) and some are from the very secret vintage 1950’s collection. Never mind they put the skirt on sideways. She looked just grand. I know this is a bit of an unusual entry but I just had to share,
