Concept
For the renaissance festival this summer, I made myself a red, faux velvet cloak that was one of the best things I ever made. I think I’m just a sucker for cloaks in general, and I would wear them in every day life if I wasn’t so scared to do so.
Pretty cool, right? I made it using a simple tutorial from The Spruce Crafts and two yards of a red fake velvet that was on sale at JOANN. I also ended up turning two costume earrings as buttons to hold it together at the neck.
Recently I looked back on this project and noticed that the silhouette of this type of hooded cloak is actually really cool. If the hood is really spacious, it falls in such a way that it billows around the curves of the head in a really interesting way. And sometimes the hood comes to a point at the crown of the head, which is also super cool looking. Sketching this silhouette out, I’m reminded a lot of Little Red Riding Hood.
Design
I thought the silhouette might make an interesting dress, so I began to design with that in mind. At the moment I don’t have the budget to actually *make* anything (kill me), but it’s still an interesting concept I think and it might make a future project.
Thinking of the wolf, I had the idea that this dress could be accompanied by a stole and fur hat (fake fur, duh) in a kind of wolfy gray-brown. This, I think, makes this design an interesting study of texture with the velvet and fur offering different feels.
So I sketched out an idea of what this dress could look like.
Right off the bat, I realized that, with the addition of the hat and stole, the top of the design was very wide and busy. To balance this out, I decided that the skirt would need to be slimmer and therefore less heavy looking. This also would give the design a more modern look. I ended up adding a mermaid skirt back into the design to make it appear more formal, but still balanced. (Also, I got rid of the bow that was supposed to mimic the string ties on a cape. This, combined with the more modern skirt, make this dress read less like a little girl’s Easter Sunday dress.)
Then I made the mistake of coloring in the sketch that I made. Not only does it not convey the colors that I wanted, it also looks a little muddled. Oh well.
As another side note, when I was designing this dress (and especially when I added the flowers), I was reminded a little bit of the color palette and overall design of the coronation dresses in Frozen. So there’s that.
Materials
Since this has ended up as more of a texture-based design than I anticipated, let’s talk fabric. I think this is especially important here because my sketch doesn’t fully show the colors and textures that I want to convey. I’ll leave you with a collage of fabric and with the hopes that I could one day do this project.
Cheers,
Evelyn
Hazel Eyes Fashion 