A very good musician client of mine is having his Fantasy Wedding in Las Vegas next year.
With a very Rock n’ Roll Take on a White Wedding …
and of course they are going to be married by Elvis! Really, Who could resist?
He and his wife have commissioned me to create their outfits – of course inspired by The Gods of Rock!
The Bride will be wearing this fringed and beaded, pure white leather top, in Homage to Jimi Hendrix. As her primary wedding outfit.
And his outfit – which will get underway later this year – will be a hand-painted Homage to Jimmy Page! That suit won’t be in leather and I am working with an amazing textile artist, so I am really excited.
I’ve worked with this client for quite a few years so I have a really good idea of his taste and sensibility – I used to make clothes for one of his bands, the Lizards. You can see some of the pieces I did for his drummer Bobby Rondinelli, here and here. Plus a few other pix on my press page.
He loves to have fun with his clothes and make a statement, whether he’s onstage or not. And he is so looking forward to the crowd that will gather as they promenade down the Strip!
This shirt is obviously inspired by fringed shirt worn by Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock. Interpreted for a curvaceous woman and made up in a super fine, pure white glove leather. It’s cut so that the top is anchored under the bust and at the back – kind of like a 1930’s bra worked – this way the weight is distributed comfortably and the top doesn’t pull backwards.
The fringe is all hand-cut and beaded to recreate Jimi’s top as faithfully as possible given who is wearing it and what it is being worn for. Using a very light weight leather helps keep the weight down, though it still weighs about 5 lbs given the sheer quantity of glass beads involved. I think there are around 1400 beads on this top.
The beading took a while, ( longer than hand cutting the fringe- by a long shot!) I experimented with different spacing, color distribution and density before deciding which combination I liked best and which would be the most wearable. I really did not want to weigh the bride down insanely – after the main priority of looking GORGEOUS – I think you really want to be comfortable on your wedding day.
That, and not have to worry about taking someone out with your beaded fringe while you are dancing!
