Wedding Dresses-An Unconventional Gateway into Leather

Wedding dresses – why am I writing a post about wedding dresses when I do leather?

Well, I have quite a bit of history with weddings, gowns, suits and otherwise!  In fact making wedding dresses and gowns is almost how I started my business. 

Sadly, I don’t have any photos of some of my favorites – A fantastical gown based on “Empress Josephine as Titania’ and another one (that almost rivaled Princess Diana’s for scale – not my style, but a wild project, none the less) which was based on ‘The Dark Crystal’ – This last was the one that really set me off into leather as my sole medium as it had to live in it’s own huge closet for the duration of its creation to stay clean. 

By then, I been making leather pieces on the side and trying  to keep the black leather fuzz off the white duchess satin,  pouf-ball extravaganza was a nightmare!  Literally, every surface of my apartment had to be wiped down before I could pull the dress-in-progress out of its home.  After that I stopped making anything white – it was far too dangerous!

(Obviously, most people don’t think of leather when it comes to their custom wedding dresses (or other evening gowns or suits for that matter!)  Nor should they.  This is simply a celebration of the wedding and related projects I have had the honor to make over the years.  In no particular order…)

Here’s a whole wedding party I created for a New Wave black and white themed wedding- circa 1986!

This pre-dates my work with leather and the Groom’s jacket and vest were among the very first men’s pieces I ever made and yes, the Jacket is leather – it’s suede with leather accents and perhaps the least dated (‘cept for the hair!) piece out of the whole party.  His vest was made from silk that the Bride, a textile artist, hand-painted.

The Bride’s gown was modular, because the venue had no place to change – and dancing was planned  to be the highlight of the evening.  Her wedding gown consisted of a hand-painted and lace appliquéd wrap jacket with a train that could be looped up out of the way.  This was worn over a silvery, raw silk halter style mini dress with matching lace appliqué.  Under that she wore a full wrap skirt- of a different hand-painted silk that could be removed quickly.  And under that she had on leggings trimmed in the same black lace as the back of the jacket. 

The fascinator, which I also made – had  a removable long veil of black point d’esprit.  Since dancing comfortably was the major end goal, making this wedding ensemble modular was really the way to go.  It covered all the bases, the feeling of a ‘traditional’ wedding  gown with options for cocktails, dinner and full on party.   Oh, and I also designed and created the dresses for the bridesmaids and 2 miscellaneous guests!

More alternative wedding projects…

This sleek taupe gown of cabretta leather with spiral seaming, meant to be worn beyond the wedding day.  Like the full skirted pearlized lambskin dress we did a little while back!

And a pair of leather jeans for a dancing groom.

A gothic leather corset and lamb suede skirt. Perfect for a Cartoonist’s wedding to an editor of Fangoria.

And a pearl leather coin-mail wedding gown I call “Theda”. 

Inspired by the silent film star, this gown was created for a Moroccan themed wedding in the hills above San Francisco.

Lastly,  for my own wedding, I created this corseted, Elizabethan “ballet’ inspired gown. 

It’s made from an antique, hand-embroidered, cut-work, Irish linen…tablecloth!  (Channeling Scarlett O’ here!)

The tablecloth belonged to my husband’s Mother.  I wanted to honor a very inspiring woman I was never able to meet.  She is the inspiration behind my “Adventurine” Collection –  she was the first female explorer to go into the Amazon.  This was in the late 1940’s,  traveling only with her husband and a single guide. 

That guide left them stranded in the Mato-Grosso, when they entered the territory of a tribe with a cannibalistic bent.  Still, they continued on their own.  It was unheard of to travel and live in the Amazon without either a guide or an entourage at that point.  Still they stayed for a year and then came back and did it again!

When I told my husband what I was going to do with the tablecloth, he blanched – but was very happily surprised in the end!

While our specialty is leather we will from time to time accommodate our clients requests for very special couture projects in other materials.

Because our focus is on our leather work, this service is reserved for clientele who have already completed several leather projects with us.