The ballet my piece is based on is La Sylphide.
La Sylphide is a romantic ballet, it is one of the oldest surviving ballets and the existing choreography is from the early 1830s.
The tutu's in romantic ballets are the long flowing tulle kind, rather than the impressive plate-like "pancake" tutus many think of. This is part of what drew me to La Sylphide as I really like the romantic style tutus.
Images from Wikimedia Commons:
The costumes in romantic ballet are generally white - I didn't want to make something white, but I wanted to work with paler shades than I have done previously. Romantic ballet precedes "ballet blanc" so whilst it would be unusual for a costume to be another shade, it is not totally mind blowing or against all rules of the genre.
I had a lot of ivory and pale golden silk chiffon and silk tulle in England, which I had purchased in case I changed my mind about having such a short wedding dress, so I already had most of the materials at hand.
My piece is inspired by the character of La Sylphide - originally I went with a very pale pink Edwardian corset with gentle splashes of lace and roses. I showed this in my previous post, so I won't go into too much detail.
I was going to make a Romantic style tutu to go with this, and embellish it with matching splashes of lace and bigger roses.
I found out I wouldn't be able to go to England and finish this piece on December 16th, giving me less than 2 months to complete an entry I would now have to make from scratch with comparatively limited resources at hand.
I had two suitable silks here -one white silk, and one pale gold.
I also had a small amount of the pale pink spot broche my original entry was in. I also had plenty of sheer mesh.
I crossed off the sheer mesh, because I use this a lot and making something from this would not have challenged me. This meant I had to cross off the pink broche as I only had enough to use as channels/binding.
I liked the idea of the white silk, which fit a little more neatly with the theme I was running with, but it was a silk dupion, which again I find easy to work with.
This left me with the pale gold.
I didn't really have a clear idea of what I wanted to make from it, I just wanted to do something I would find challenging, and then manipulate it to fit the theme if possible.
This will probably lose me points in terms of this being a competition - I know that some people have spent months perfecting a pattern for their entry. However, as I sat down and thought of what I could do to push myself, I realized that my work with cupped corsets would potentially reach its zenith if I was able to make something I was happy with in satin.
This competition is not about winning, for me. I was put off entering by the "I'll never win" aspect, but I realized that isn't what I should focus on.
It isn't about making something to win, it's about making something you are happy with and using the process as a learning curve.
So I chose to make a cupped corset from satin, because it would challenge me. I chose to make it because it would be something I would never normally push myself to do. And, I chose to do it a because I thought it would make a beautiful base for a costume inspired by La Sylphide.
I'm still gutted that I don't have the chance to make a tutu to match - I may still do so when I get the chance - but I wasn't willing or able to have the materials I needed shipped over in time, and I really didn't want to have to buy things new here, as it's difficult and expensive to find good quality materials especially when I am pampered by my trade accounts with high end fabric suppliers in the UK.
My competition entry has changed completely from what it otherwise would have been. It's a shame, because I almost feel like the original piece is probably a lot more appropriate for the theme, but I also know that it didn't really push me. I dyed the lace by hand, and I was working in paler colours, but the corset itself was not challenging to make or draft.
So I drew on one piece for my inspiration, and created two very different things. I had to push through set backs - both minor and major - and I feel like I am happier with the final piece because of those set backs. I made something that actually challenged me, and shows off my skill set. At the end of the day, that is what this is all about :)
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