Hollywood Dream- Ginger Rogers Project

This Hollywood Dream evening dress was inspired by old Hollywood romance and crystal chandeliers. Hollywood in the 1930’s was full of glamour, glitz, and beauty, and I wanted to create a gown that Ginger Rogers herself would have wanted to wear. I drew inspiration from her personal style as well as the many elements of design that were prevalent in that period. I wanted to create a garment that was art deco and captured the essence of 1930’s glamour.



I was inspired by the beaded gowns of the 1920’s, especially ones that were hand beaded by Mason Lesage, as well as the satin bias cut gowns that were popular in the 1930’s.

The dress is made from a champagne satin and layered sheer fabric, Czech glass beads, glass rhinestones, glass pearls, rose gold sequins, and ostrich feathers, all carefully selected to reflect the most amount of light possible and to promote luxury and not a costume-like appearance. The embellishments for this gown are all glass and metal except for the sequins, to ensure that the garment is high quality.

The waistline is fitted with an invisible zipper closure for easy wearability, and it is accented with large glass rhinestones at the center, all hand sewn.

Each bead, sequin and rhinestone were sewn and attached by hand, which was my first attempt at beading and tambour embroidery. There are hundreds of beads and sequins on the front of the gown, which took over 25 hours for the beading portion alone. The art deco pattern is my custom design and was inspired by wallpaper. It was designed specifically for this project, which I first mapped out on a poster board with my bodice pattern traced onto it.

The bottom of the gown is finished off with layers of sheer fabric and two rows of layered ostrich feathers for an extra touch of glamour.

This dress was the most difficult but rewarding project I’ve completed so far.