Dear 365ers (Dress 131)

Dear 365ers everywhere,

You're freaking AMAZING! Some of the things I've seen are bloody intense. Particularly entrancing is the work by Brock Davis: One piece of creative work made every day for 365 consecutive days. Exactly the spirit in which I started my project- to be constantly creative. Brock's work is varied, funny, interesting, and often breathtakingly beautiful.

Particuarly his work for Jan 3rd. This image played on my mind for ages, until I couldn't help but make it today's dress.

I know it's not intensely original, and were I to make this dress it would have to be with his permission; but I just thought it was such a gorgeous image it would make a lovely dress (although, due to penfail not a great drawing on my behalf.)

Done in ribbon on cotton fabric.

All my love,

IP.

P.S. A shout-out to the lovely Lucy, an old friend who I don't see as often as I'd like, who (when I bumped in to her in the city) said she reads this, and totally made my day! Which, considering the day I had was a mean feat! Time spent with Jorge, and the delightful Tess in City Hatters, nomsome soup, heavenly pistachio cupcake, cheap and pretty silver shoes, not having my bike stolen when I locked it to itself but not the pole, an Outsapopable stripy jumper, Heston Blumenthal on Masterchef (don't judge me! He's amazing.) and now, a cup of earl grey while I write the blog are just some of the reasons today was simply brilliant. Knowing that people are out there enjoying it is a wonderful feeling, (GoogleApps tells me there are people reading this in Russia! and France! And one lovely lady in the US!) Thankyou- to Lucy specifically, and to others, those I know, and those i'm yet to hear from. Please, if there is anything you'd like to see, anyone you think I should take a look at for inspiration or anything you're not happy with, let me know. I really appreciate the time you take reading, and voting, and commenting- it helps me keep this going more than you could know!

Dear Phyllis Dietrichson (c/o Barbera Stanwyck) (Dress 130)

Dear Phyllis,

In high school I studied your film Double Indemnity, an intense and visually gorgeous Film Noir, tagline: From the moment they met it was murder!

(image credit)
Nothing sticks from the student of Film Noir like the good ol' Venetian Blinds trick, signifying mixed emotions and internal crisis...

In honor of Phyllis, queen of mixed signals and the tiny touches that make an outfit complete (remember... this is the 1940s, when sexual repression meant an anklet was the height of titilation!)

A dress fit for a murderous widow; hand-painted, each dress is individually 'shadowpainted'. White dresses are made, and then put on plastic-covered dress forms, each dress is taken to a white room where a light is shone through a filter that imitates venetian blinds- the dress is then hand-inked at a particular angle and with a unique light focus (some dresses would be sharp focus, meaning that the light is close to the blinds and very bright, or soft focus is achieved by soft light a distance from the blinds.)

All my love,
IP