Doll's Eye View: Golden Globes 2023

 Well....... It's been awhile! But as promised, I've been making an effort to get my blogging shoes back on! My journey back to the blog began last month with my annual Dolly Advent Calendar, familiar to those of you who follow us on FaceBook and Instagram. That got me back in the habit of photographing and Photoshopping dolly fashions. And so here I am, back with another favorite...a Doll's Eye View Red Carpet Event. I have gone back and responded to the lovely comments you left on our holiday posts. And I promise to go back and catch up on the dolly websites of my friends here.In the meantime, let's get this party started!

Though  CoVid is still with us, at least life has gone somewhat back to as normal. Everybody is finding renewed energy. Everybody wants to get dressed and hit the streets. And so it appears that Red Carpet Events are back in force beginning with the Golden Globes, sponsored by the Foreign Press Association. Many Hollywood celebrities were in attendance and, I must say, they looked great in their glamorous frocks. At first glance, it was a welcomed sight, however, upon closer inspection, me and the girls were really not all that impressed with the gowns. (At this point, the girls' wardrobes are so much more interesting!!!)  That said....the girls have been complaining about the lack of new clothes over the past couple of years. So there was no way I was going to miss this opportunity to let them shine. So....as usual, I took needle and thread in hand and began to "tweak" a few of the most promising looks of that evening.

What a spectacular gown! The full scale version is from Atelier Versace worn by Lily James. While I loved the volumes and the 1950's old fashion glamour vibe, upon close inspection, this dress had everything and the kitchen sink incorporated into one silhouette. Personally I don't like so much volume over the stomach area. The sarong skirt beneath is lost under all the the convoluted drapery going on above and to the sides. I thought about suspending the skirt from the bare midriff top as in the original, but after much contemplation, I felt it was better to simplify the bodice so that we could appreciate all the movement of the skirt. I do wish I had access to a crisp taffeta which would have given this dress a sharper edge, but Dorian, our model here, pleaded with me to make it for her. So I used a simple Habitai silk I had on hand.

We read the controversy over Selena Gomez in this Valentino gown, which we then took into consideration when constructing our 1/6 scale version for my girl Veronica. Some say the sleeves were way too big. But my girls have a couple of dresses with those exact same sleeves and we think they are quite elegant. Perhaps on a young lady with a few extra curves, the scale of the original dress might be a tad bit off. So we scaled down the poufs, draping them over fitted sleeves and let them stream down to the ground like trains. Also, the notch in the front of the original dress is unflattering to Ms. Gomez' full breasts. And though I was tempted to put the little notch in Veronica's dress (because her breasts are a lot smaller), I changed my mind because her dress is made from stretch velvet. I was afraid the notch would affect the fit at the top.  

This is Brit Lower wearing a Bach Mai gown. This dress is really very pretty and with her short haircut, it evokes memories of Audrey Hepburn. But here again, this dress is cut from taffeta and I had none in hand. Still, at the request of Belle, our model, I wanted to make some version of this gown. In actuality, even if I had the right fabric, I'm not sure I would have been able to reproduce the exact same dress due to the volume of the skirt suspended from such a form fitted bodice. So, I took the skirt part of a dress my girls never wear (it's from IT's Bijou Elyse Jolie) and added a little more pouf at the bottom. Then I tacked it on a body hugging tube top made of stretch velvet. I know it's not the same dress, but it has the same spirit. And, in some ways we like it more because it resembles an giant flower.

Rihanna arrived late to the award ceremony but made quite a splash in a rouched silk gown worn under a sumptuous velvet stole. She looked amazing. Ok, so personally, I don't care for dresses with shirring up the front (they remind me of funeral shrouds), but my girl Tamron wanted to make an equally grand entrance. So we compromised. I kept the top simple--strapless top made of stretch velvet--and teamed it with a rouched skirt made from a simple tube of stretch rayon jersey shirred up the center front and center back. Her stole is another unpressed tube, this time of panne velvet velvet (I opted for panne velvet because it photographs better). It is simply tucked and tacked in place around the shoulders and left to cascade down to the ground.

Monica Barbaro floated in onto the red carpet in a Giorgio Armani classic strapless chiffon gown. For us, this is always a "forever stylish" look my girls love, particularly around the holidays. Marpessa was thrilled to show off his 1/6 version. Her dress is comprised of a red lace top over a full tulle skirt.

We all enjoyed the humour of comedian Jennifer Coolidge who showed off her zofty curves in this black sequinned, off-the-shoulder Dolce Gabbana gown. Upon close inspection we noticed her dress has shirring to one side. To my eye, this type of construction gets lost under all of the sequins. On the other hand, I do like a lot of tone-on-tone topical details. So, for Morgan's dress, I added a few extra details (double straps falling down from the shoulders and something resembling a sequined belt over the tummy) using a different scale of sequin. 

Frankly, I'd rather see these celebrities keep things simple and chic rather than something that overwhelms their bodies. Angella Bassett's dress is a good example. We love the cut of this slinky silver sequinned gown around the shoulders. The scale of the sequins is small enough to be replicated by silver lurex fabric in our 1/6 version. For Helen, we added a thigh high slit up the side of the dress, accessorized with matching thigh high boots and a sparkly silver stole made from "eyelash" fabric.

I'm always interested to see unusual or unlikely fabrics used for eveningwear, provided that the end result is still glamorous. Dolly de Leon's leather dress by Alessandra Camilla caught the eye of me and my girl, Samantha. Though I like this somewhat punk approach to high fashion, at the end of the day, I wanted the look to still be feminine and glamorous. I did like the idea of combining leather with tulle. But instead of the tulle used for halter top worn under the dress, we felt it was better served as stole...a long big cloud of tulle floating over a 2-piece dress. The top is a hip length strapless corset worn over a sarong skirt showing a flash of leg adorned in thigh high stiletto boots. 

How could we end this report without at least featuring one male fashion! There were lots of great looks that night. Unfortunately we couldn't make more than one outfit because we didn't want to delay getting this blog post out. So we had a vote and this was the look that stood out from the rest. Actor, Jeremy Pope's black leather, head to toe suit from top to toe, accessorized with a little bit of bling. Pure class act. Not having enough thin skins on hand, I made this out of faux stretch leather. It's easy to sew but VERY difficult to finish. I'll admit that I didn't keep this photo front and center as I laid out the pattern which resulted in my cutting the jacket a tad too short. You can't get the seams to lie flat which is a problem especially with the collar! Last year in my men's classic garment tutorials, I promised to go back and update the construction of the man's jacket. This year I will follow up on that. But in the meantime, Jean-Marc is rocking his 1/6 version. 

Coming up next... our Blogaversary! What a difference a decade makes!!!!!

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Happy New Year 2023

 

Wishing all of our friends a wonderful, whimsical, healthy and dolly good year ahead.

April and the gang.