Sunday, June 10, 2012

Bustles and Impressionists at the Kimbell

I love the DFW Costumer's Guild. It's full of amazingly talented people that are really fun to be around. This weekend, we all got together to take in the Age of Impressionism exhibit at the Kimbell Art Museum. I had worried that the museum might not be happy to see us, but we received a really warm reception from the museum staff, and we had a lot of questions from the patrons about who we were and what we were about. It was great to introduce so many new people to the idea of the Guild. I definitely hope we'll be having some future events at the Kimbell, it was really an awesome experience. We had several people saying that our presence "added to the experience", and that we looked like we had "walked out of the paintings". Are those amazing compliments, or what?!


It goes without saying that everyone looked completely amazing. We even had some new members join us, coming down all the way from Oklahoma City just to attend our event! We were almost all in bustle gowns, with a couple in Natural Form dresses. I don't recall seeing anyone in our group do Natural Form before, so that was something special!

After the exhibit, we went over to the nearby La Madeleine for tea and cake. We laughed and chatted for a good while, before migrating outside for some pics.


I had originally planned on that teal and black striped bustle gown, but one thing led to another, and I just ran out of time before the event. (Told you something would happen!) So, instead I dug out an unfinished underskirt and built a new gown around that. Time and money were against me, so I dug around in my Stash and found a few yards of black silk velvet, which I used to make the bodice and overskirt. The grey brocade that I used to accent the bodice and sleeves was a gift from my grandmother, so that made this dress a little more special. The only thing I spent money on was the hat, which I had to buy fabric for since I didn't have enough of the velvet left over.
This was my first time doing an asymmetrical overskirt, and I quite like how it turned out. I do miss the fluffy draping in the back, but I really like how this gown turned out, especially since it was thrown together over the course of two days!
I'm also completely in love with my hat. Yay for feathers!



3 comments:

  1. I'm so relieved you were well received as well! I kept wondering if I should mention things a little more (like on Twitter), but was VERY nervous... I thought "well, asking for forgiveness is better than asking for permission" so I kept quiet. I'm happy to know they were not only okay with it, but excited to learn more about the group. Whew! I know not every place will "get it" and take even the most meticulous costumer seriously, but you just have to find out and build up that friendship over time.

    I'm SO glad you all had such a great time. I'm only sorry I wasn't able to join you all!

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    1. That's the way I felt about it, too! I was sort of hoping that if they didn't like us, then at least they wouldn't kick us out. lol But they LOVED us, and even offered to comp our tickets if we have another event there. :D

      We missed you, lady! I was looking forward to seeing you, especially since I missed out on the train ride. :( Will you be at Costumer's Retreat?

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    2. That's so awesome! I hope they let us know enough in advance to plan and help get the word out for any future invites :)

      And yes, we'll be at the Costumer's Retreat. There was a little worry for a while there, even though we have our tickets, etc... but we're back on track. I'm not going all-out with costumes (not even sure Christopher will have one)... my mourning outfit will just be the train bodice with a plain gray skirt, but I needed to watch the budget. Couldn't do what I really wanted! I'm hoping my chemise a la reine will be finished for the brunch though! I'll do more accessories for the calr for the picnic in November.

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