Press night gown for GAF was fitted earlier this week and is an absolutely knockout! The silk is so fluid that the swooping, half circle back-skirt needs only the slightest breeze to flutter like a zillion butterflies following GAF up the red carpet - and boy! does GAF know how to work a skirt, so that'll be gorgeous.

The neckline and centre-back zipper opening are in the process of having cream faile silk facings applied - every piece of the gown is cut on the bias. And it's silk. Which means it wants to stretch and stretch and drop to the floor so it needs some internal restraints to help it hold its shape.
Then all the seams will need hand finishing. I think I've plumped for the option of binding all the seams with chiffon. It's going to take forever, but anything heavier will affect the hang. I may try habotai. We'll see. I'm also going to face the hem with chiffon or Habotai, rather than just turn it up, again to reduce bulk. So that's another 400 hours of work ahead... but that's what makes it couture. Not to mention the hours and hours of thread tracing that was necessary during the makeup phase that have now been unpicked as if they never existed. Eeeep!

Blair

Two weeks since a post! Shame on us. Though in our defense I can reveal that we have been the primary movers and shakers in yet another business. The lovely Hudson & Bridges has called upon our expertise of late to get them off the ground. And we're nearly there. Yaaaay!

However this has been a bit of a distraction from our forthcoming Fashion Gala. Booo! Talking of which we received the plan of the catwalk and dressing rooms today. The walk is one of those 'T' shaped affairs and is 15 metres long. FIFteen metres! By my calculations that makes a travel distance of about 38 metres, including the lead in section. What's that in real money? About 124 feet I reckon (we still work in feet 'n' inches as far as fabric goes - though there are occasions when strange combinations of centimetres and inches seem most appropriate, as in "I need a piece 37 inches by 15cm" - don't ask!). So, starting today it's full steam ahead on preparations for the Gala. Which is less than 4 weeks away. Gulp indeed! Extra fabric has already been ordered from China for our wedding gown... but of course we're doing a wedding gown! It's a Fashion Gala! You really needed to ask? So we'll keep you posted.

Other fun things:
Designs for Mme Super-Glam's lace coat are looking great and will be ready for presentation next weekend.
And Bundy is, as I type, winging her way to Inverness to give her Fake Bush to a gathering of wedding guests. She'll be wearing the Pucci pantsuit that you can see on our website - whoever said that glamour was dead?

Blair

We have been commissioned by a super-glamorous favourite client to create a floor-length evening coat out of a beautiful black 'lace' she has lovingly hoarded in a steamer trunk for years. The fabric is a fine black net lace heavily embroidered with a swirling shell design and is truly stunning.

Mme Super-Glam loves all things Deco so we're looking to the 1930s for our inspiration. There are whispers of a dramatic red silk lining too, so watch this space.

Thought y'all might like to know that GAF's very big musical is doing very very well. They're playing to 1,900 people a performance and most venues are sold right out for the entire tour. She tells me she hasn't been squished by the 3 ton pieces of scenery yet. Looks like this may well go very very big.
I'm off to see it next week, and to take the press night dress for first fitting. We can make lining decisions then.

Blair

We're all a-buzz with excitement here in the Blair and Bundy garret. Yesterday saw the release into the wild of flyers for a faaabulous Grand Fashion Event that we are to be part of.

The Martlets Hospice is a wonderful resource here in Brighton, well Hove actually, for people with cancer and other serious conditions. The Grand Fashion Event, which raises funds for the hospice, has been going for a few years and goes from strength to strength, so we're completely thrilled and flattered to have been asked to be a part.
We have a super show in the planning, featuring this year's new pieces and a few of last year's favourites - those looped mufflers will run and run - and just six weeks to get it all together. Six weeks? Pah! 'Twill be a fashion extravaganza to rival Galliano's Summer Dior collection!
The gala is on Wednesday September 5th and tickets are £45 or £65 for VIP front row/VIP lounge specials. Let us know if you'd like to join us and we'll get your tickets reserved.
Right! Off to make faux fur snowballs.

The fitting of the toile was a huge success. The gown for GAF's press night will look stunning!
Just a couple of tiny tweaks to the pattern and it will be ready for cutting. Now I have to think lining - the skirt has a graduated hem, from knee length at the front to mid calf at the back, and so the reverse will be seen and there are several seams. I'm thinking habotai silk, which is wonderfully fine and won't affect the hang of the silk, but haven't yet decided whether to match to the sage or ivory or go for an exciting contrast. Maybe a dusky pink? Hmmmm. I'll see what GAF thinks when it's made up.

Fancy a sneak preview? Oh, go on then:
That's all you're getting!
Blair

The shower is nearly finished. Only nearly? Yes, but very nearly. Just a little more tiling and then a good grout and it'll be done. Pics to come once it's finished.

But today we've been back in the land of fashion. Huzzah!
Blair has designed, and is making, a couture gown for a Glamorous Actress Friend who is in final rehearsals for a very big - possibly very, very big - musical. There's an initial tour taking in Cardiff, Manchester and Edinburgh, among other places, and then (and this is the 'possibly very very big' part) it may transfer to the West End. Can't say very much more right now other than "what role the frock"?
Well.
Glamorous Actress Friend has several glamorous press evenings to attend and, of course, she needs a glamorous gown. Cue Blair! The brief is understated glamour. A kind of a "this old thing?" frock that just happens to look stunning without a great deal of effort. You know the kind of thing.

A couple of weeks ago Blair and GAF had enormous fun pawing over the best glamorous fabrics that LndnTown has to offer. Several hours and a couple of well-used bus passes later we settled on a beautiful pure silk in a soft sage green scattered with zillions of little ivory stars:

Isn't it pretty? And the gown? Well, you'll just have to wait and see. Suffice it to say it should quietly steal any limelight that's going. The toile has been cut today ready for a first fitting tomorrow evening, so I'd better sign off and hunt my thimble.... Blair