Red Brocade Gown

This is one of my all time favorite outfits. I made this from 5 yards of red brocade that my mom had given to me for my 19th birthday in 1997. Very little about this dress is period... I simply wanted to make something from my head and this is what happened. It is comprised of three seperate pieces: Bodice, Skirt and Overgown. The sleeves are vaguely Italian while the overgown has absolutely no basis in period attire for this time period. It is basically a princess seamed half-gown with a slight train.

The bodice is heavily boned, a relic from my early costuming days. Many of my older costumes have self-supporting bodices because I used to feel that this was more comfortable than wearing a corset. It took me a while to learn that the corsets I was making were designed wrong... Of course they were uncomfortable! A good corset, if it is designed propperly, is hardly uncomfortable.

This is a 3/4 view of the gown. It is being worn with a white linen collared shirt. The front of the bodice dips down quite low, which is a characteristic of very late Elizabethan, early Jacobian costume and not at all appropriate for the time period of my persona (1570's). Still, I love this dress. Sometimes it's just more fun to ignore the rules and do what you want. ;)