Tinkerbell

Move over, ladies. The beyatch is in the house! Tinkerbell, the Queen Bee of the Fairy universe. During the first sketches of this collection, I knew exactly how I wanted to portray her; a total Diva! 

Tink’s not your typical sweet little fairy. She’s snappy, spoilt, even malicious at times, and always determined to be the centre of attention, not to mention the only woman in Peter Pan’s life. I’ve always felt Disney made her kinda riskae-I mean, how short is that minidress? She’s like an animated mini Marilyn Monroe! 

The basis of my Tinkerbell look will be drawing elements from the traditional fairy costumes-layers of fabric cut into petal shapes, leaf like curves and cuts that shape the bodice. Think Tinkerbell as Prom Queen with the extended skirt. I did a full character sketch, like I did for my Twisted Fairy Tales series-putting the whole look in a full water colour painting helps give me more sense of the three-dimensional design itself, as oppose to a basic garment outline as seen below:

And what is Tink’s primary function? Spreading pixie dust! That shower of glitter she spreads reminded me of the outrageous sparkle-cluttered costumes worn on stage by ladies from Beyonce to Britney, exuding glamour and power. She’s all about the presentation, this fairy. So I’ll be showering rhinestones all over this dress. 

Finally, true divas always wear a stole or some kind of jacket, broadening their shoulders and giving their more swagger in their stance. This would make the whole look more modern, though I’m not sure how to achieve that volume it needs to give the shoulders (somehow I don’t see Tink being a fur-fan). Also I’m still struck on the wings, since all I can think of is traditional butterfly wings. Check out my moodboard. Practice pieces soon to come!

Fairy Godmother Complete

Finally, after weeks of trying to create the perfect bustle pattern, making practice pieces over and over, changing and re-sketching the design, the Fairy Godmother look is done. 

As predicted, when hand stitching the bustles to the skirt, I did experience that ‘crap, this looks like a bumblebee ball gown’ moment. Adding the gold ribbons not only added volume and but depth so the bustles didn’t seem like an after thought on the black dress. Also adding those short puffed sleeves blended the bodice to the skirt more fluidly. 

Adding the wings on, I realized that the hair for this look needs to be styled up. I’m contemplating doing a sort of Grecian goddess hairdo, with gold and black ribbon wound around the hair, but am a little scared this will relate too literally to the Disney Cinderella look (I’ve always hated that headband thing.) I’ll experiment a bit first before the actual shoot.

I guess when you spend so much time on a project, trying to make it perfect that you loose that drive you originally had when first starting off. Now that it’s done, it’s refreshing to step back and let the gown have a life of its own. I’m totally ready to move on to the next fairy...see next post for more details!

Fairies Collection: The Fairy Godmother

Next project: the Fairy Godmother! Yes, the most matronly of the Fairy crowd, and usually represented as this dumpy old lady. She’s a mentor, giving Cinderella that little push out the door with a few bare essentials (coach, dress etc. ) to get her dreams going. But what kinda bugs me about the Fairy Godmother character is why, for the first time in her so called godchild’s life, she decides to show up then and there? What’s up with that? Sure, Cinderella’s parents have died, leaving her to a ruthless step mother and step siblings who make her life a living hell, but god forbid she misses out on a party?! 

Bad timing aside, my inspiration on creating a new Fairy Godmother from how I’ve always pictured her as this seamstress. I think of her as the fashion designer of the Fairytale universe, and plan to make her the epitome of couture. Her gown will be an explosion of materials and a celebration of sewing techniques. Here is my mood board.

Considering color palette, my first choice of color was naturally the staple of any fashion house; black. Then, for that ethereal glamour I’ve chosen gold. But until it all comes together, I have this nagging feeling that she’s going to look a giant bumble bee...

The bodice was a real test. Staying true to the concept of couture, I wanted a basic corset shape, but to experiment with draping. I chose a rusty gold jersey base, with layers of black chiffon rippling in pleats on top. This was tricky, and I had to pay more attention to the edges, as well as sew the pleats onto the jersey base first THEN sew each panel together. Also, in case the bodice was too constricted or small, I left the back open, and will closed it with ribbon lacing to be sure the doll could get into the bodice. I’m disappointed that the black chiffon folds block the gold underneath, but for a first shot at this technique, it’s really got a real 50’s glamor to it.

Here's my final sketch. To be true to the history of ball gown making, I’ll be covering the wide skirt in gold gathered bustles. I’ve been experimented with different patterns lately (one reason why this post was so delayed), but think I’ve finally nailed a good pattern to attach over the skirt. I’ve got two practice pieces (one smaller bustle to attach to the  beginning of the skirt, the second larger for more volume more at the hem). I can’t do more until I’m sure the patterns work.

It’s dawned on me that this collection is missing one key element of my design aesthetic; a cohesive detail. Take my Twisted Tales collection, the skull beads somehow featuring in each look to connect it to the rest of the collection. So, inspired by the wings on the Victoria’s Secret runway, I’ve thought of ways to make wings for each individual fairy! 

For example, the dress worn by Lily Collins in the film Mirror Mirror with the massive looped yellow ribbons in the back I thought sort of looked like wings. Using some wired gold ribbon looped to resemble the shape of wings while staying true to the ‘seamstress’ concept my Fairy Godmother.