Award Dresses- and inspiration for gowns

Most of us can't afford a truly custom designed gown, but we can take inspiration from the designer gowns worn during awards season.

This year we have seen lots of interesting necklines on dresses and I think this trend is definitely transitioning into bridal.

So fashion forward brides, look at one shoulder, one shoulder on, off the shoulder, and other more unusual necklines. Necklines that are asymmetrical are surprisingly flattering on most people with the exception of women with very large chests which lead to them spilling out the sides.

Check out Anne Hathaway's gown in Bride Wars for an awesome neckline,
also note Christina Applegate's SAG Gown, Evan Rachel Wood's SAG Gown

See link for photo slide show.

http://www.accesshollywood.com/2009-sag-awards-red-carpet_gallery_1731

Target Alert- Visual Design Elements

Target has their Design Studio items currently heading out the door in the seasonal section of your local Target.
In the design section they have some great items for event decor.
Check them out!

A great idea is that they have large wall murals and wall paper that are very chic, graphic, and modern. Placing these large murals at your event on walls, or use them as screens to create more intimate spaces.

You can use the wallpaper as table runners, place mats, or as screens hanging from the ceiling, draped, or on basic frames that you can make out of 1x2 inch molding and assemble on site with relative ease. The wall paper is running around 20 dollars a roll which is a screaming deal. Check out your local store though, they have much more than is available online.

http://www.target.com/Wallpaper-Floral-Trail-Chocolate/dp/B001D4OROC/sr=1-14/qid=1232929916/ref=sr_1_14/181-0438450-0640533?ie=UTF8&index=target&rh=k%3Awallpaper%20chocolate&page=1

Letterpress invitations make a statement

Letterpress for those of you who don't know is actually one of the oldest types of printmaking. Back in the day people would hand scrape lettering on metal or wood blocks, ink the blocks, and press them into paper under pressure in a "press" hence- letterpress. The image yields a highly textured bold print technique that has been seeing a resurgence in popularity for the past 10 years or so. Letterpress is for the most part still a cottage craft run by smaller local print shops. The process has changed so that now high grade plastic press sheets are often molded by machine instead of the hand scraping, and it makes the process significantly more time efficient, and over the years it has come down in price some. Letterpress however remains the most expensive in general of the paper invitation types.
In addition to the labor intensive and highly custom nature of making the plates, the paper remains hand pressed, each by hand (generally) and in addition, letterpress is produced on a higher grade thicker paper stock which is also more costly.
The results however are spectacular. While I often comment that the additional cost will not yield the wow result for everyone, if you are picky about paper invitations, letterpress should definitely fit into your consideration.
Note however that the nature of letterpress is such that highly detailed multi-tonal prints are not available, feasible, or appropriate for the letterpress process, much like screen printing, minimal color changes make the pressing process much more economical. In fact most invitations are a single or two tone process, as each color requires the creation of a separate plate.

I want to draw your attention to a few local (SF Bay Area) presses that are producing excellent commercial and custom products at reasonable prices:

1. Hello Lucky! www.hellolucky.com

2. Milkfed Press www.milkfedpress.com

3. Sky of Blue Design www.skyofbluedesign.com

Good luck!

Modern Trends in Floral- Clumps

The newest trend in floral is a modern take on zen and Asian inspired floral themes.

The floral material is arranged by type, arranged into groups and then placed into a mixed container which displays impactful texture, color, and style.

This isn't for everyone, but if you like fashion forward, modern, and bold floral statements consider this look.

Check out.

http://www.floral-sense.com/portfolio.html

http://www.birchsf.com/flowers.html

http://huntlittlefield.com/home.html

Dress Fit and Finish- very important

Dresses should be tailored properly to your body. A well tailored dress either for the bride, the mother of the bride, celebrant or attendee, a good fit makes everyone look thinner, more shapely, and much better in pictures. Here are a few tips to tell if your dress fits you right.

1. Strapless height-
Everyone has a different breast shape, size, placement, and height. Strapless dresses still constitute a statistical majority of all bridal gown sales. Just because the seamstress says the dress should fit a certain way does not mean that it should fit YOU that way. Here are some tips.
a. comfort- if you aren't comfortable with the height, hit, and cut of the strapless line, ask that it be altered, you should adjust, shift or ask that extra material such as a detail strap be placed in the area of concern.
b. shapeliness- many peoples breasts topple under or over strapless dresses. If the dress is too large in the top it should not be adjusted just at the sides (which is the easiest and hence most common approach). The dress should be taken in at the front seams as well to accommodate a smaller bust. Similarly large busted girls should order a dress a size larger than you normally would. Then take the center over the bust seams and contour them appropriately over your bust taking it in at the top of the bust so that the dress cups the breast rather than causes it to spill and prop over the gown.
This may alter how the dress sits on your waist, but again a good seamstress should be able to make these modifications.
Please note that I highly recommend that if you have a disproportionately large bust that you try and find a gown that makes dresses in cup sizes, see Augusta Jones, for a moderately priced range of exceptionally crafted gowns ($2000-$4000)

2. Waist- The waist of your gown should be fitted so that you are snug when standing and even snugger sitting, but never too loose. Loose waists begin to stretch and pooch after some wearing, creating an appearance of waist fat on even the thinnest woman.

3. Hem- a properly hemmed dress should be adjusted to your shoe height and your interest in showing your feet. Regardless, a dress should never puddle on the ground nor sweep the ground in the front to avoid stepping on the gown.

Those are my best tips for dress fit.... Make sure you find a good alterations specialist, and make sure that you have good communication with them, many alterations can be made to a gown and they will turn an average dress into extraordinary.