As the name suggests, this dress is actually made from an old saree that I bought secondhand. It has now been given a second life as a Victorian ballgown. The fabric is very thin and made of silk, which makes it not entirely easy to work with. Unfortunately, sewing everything completely by hand didn’t help either. However, I didn’t have a sewing machine at my disposal anyway, as I was on my year abroad in Sweden at the time.
In addition to the actual saree, I also bought some solid green silk chiffon to sew the ball bodice, as well as simple green cotton as a base for the thin, slippery outer fabric. The project was inspired by a dress from the Kyoto Costume Institute, which originally came from France, however. For the underpinnings, I fell back on the hand-sewn pieces that I made for my peasant dress. I designed the hairpiece specifically for this project and crafted it out of crepe paper. Flowers were very fashionable, so a particularly large specimen can be found at the center front of the ball bodice.
Photographing the dress turned out to be a real challenge, because the summer in Sweden, with all its greenery, provides a poor background for the equally green color of the dress. Therefore, I absolutely want to do a second photoshoot in a classic German autumn forest.
