Contemporary Hand Painted silk bias gown

Style

Every year the Frick Collection in NYC hosts a gala featuring an artist and one of my dearest friends was so kind as to invite me to be her guest .  In 2017 the artist featured was JMW Turner.  I have been enamored of his work and started thinking how I could challenge myself to create a homage to his painting in dress form.  This began my week long challenge directly on the heels of returning to Venice.  I wanted to emulate the highs and lows of color seen in his work as well as the distinct and powerful brush strokes.  

Construction

The pattern of this gown is my own and one I had draped a few years prior.   The dress is made is a silk crepe de chine and lined in the same.  The neckline is made in a tulle net.  The challenge for me here was to learn how to "paint" silk with dye.  To do so i built a giant frame (6' x 3' or so) and stretched the pre-marked fabric in the frame.  The fabric was coated with a resist and dye-na-flo dyes were applied with hazardous intention.   There is a slight gradient of color from the neckline to the hem- Similar to the gradient of color one sees in many of Turners works.    Constructing the gown was straight forward; the cowl is weighted for drape

Accessories

Not Applicable

Photos by Philip Van Nostrand (www.PhilipVN.com)  April 2017