ARWEN'S BRIDGE DRESS

The Bridge Dress is the most romantic dress created for the movie,I think,and also the most "elven" gown.
Arwen wears it in FotR when meeting Aragorn on the bridge in Rivendell, and also some moments before in the library where she walks up to him at the shards of Narsil statue. Here she's wearing a shawl or a cape over it. A headdress on the back of her head goes with it.

Shawl	Dress with train	Headdress

The gown is only seen from far away in the kiss shot, or from close ups when the Evenstar is handed over to Aragorn and when the camera zooms in on Arwen's face. It's also featured in two promotional shots of Arwen in front of a candle lit background. The close ups provide good views on the fabric. It can be determined as crinkle chiffon, most probably silk. There's soft beading on the gown as well, which I will describe later on.

Promotional shot

The dress is soft and flowy, it floats around Arwen as she's walking. Although there's a quote by Liv Tyler (somewhere in the audio commentary of FotR) that the real dress must have been a pain in the *ears*, because it was rustling so much and the fabric was being loud as it was dragged along the floor. This is certainly from the beading.

I've always liked this gown, but somehow it never was on my top-list. Now I've fallen in love with it, don't ask me why in particular; I just want to make it :-)

I figured the dress consists of three or maybe four layers, depending on the silk type (as with all silks, there's thicker silk chiffon and thinner qualities):

*A lining of china silk
*A second layer of silk chiffon, unbeaded
*The top layer of beaded, crinkled silk chiffon

There might be a fourth layer underneath the china silk, a lined lining, so to say, but I will do only three layers. I'm planning on using a slightly colored silk, maybe ecru, wool white or vanilla as I think the dress has a very slight yellow shimmer. I also don't want people to mistake it for a bridal dress again, like my Éowyn White Wool. I think the colored silk will provide exactly the shimmer that I want without making the dress look *too* yellow-ish.

Finding the chiffon fabric was difficult. It had to be silk, it had to be crinkled, it had to be beaded and it had to be white. All fabrics that I could find would fulfill only 1 or 2 of these points. Either it was crinkled, then it wasn't silk. If it was silk, it wasn't white...and so on. Finally I found a retailer for white crinkled silk chiffon, and I decided I will do the beading myself. All in all, 10 metres of silk chiffon will go into this gown.



Detailed description

	The designsketch shows a patterned (embroidered?) fabric with vine-like motifs. It is hard to tell, but I don't think these are on the final version of the dress, as isn't the drop waist. Maybe this was a fabric originally intended for the Bridge Gown, thus it appears in the drawing, but in the end another fabric was used. The patterned one from the sketch looks *a lot* like the Dream Gown fabric to me. This dress has vine-like motifs on the *inside*, i.e. the fabric was used wrong side out. Maybe the Dream Gown fabric was intended to be used in the Bridge Gown first and vice versa, and then was decided against. But this is just another one of my conspiracy theories! :-) The dress that was made doesn't have a drop waist like in the sketch. There are no pictures below waist-level, but I'm almost sure the drop-waist isn't there. If we look at the pics of the statue below, the dress looks quite tight in the waist / belly area. The statue shows a tie in the back of this dress that basically does all the shaping in this area. Probably this tie is made of silk chiffon, too. The sleeves are panels of silk chiffon that reach down below knee-length. They leave the shoulders bare and hang down straight when Arwen bends her arm, so they are most likely left open on the inner seam, or stitched only a few inches. The dress has a cowl / waterfall neck. Probably the waterfall is only attached to two stripes of fabric underneath, more like a trim. I'm sure it doesn't hold all the weight of this dress, it wouldn't drape so nicely if it did. So...the weight is held by two strips that are concealed by the cowl.
	A bigger version is available of this. It shows the fabric of the cowl neck and also bits of the emboidery nicely. Note how the dress glimmers when light falls onto it (also in the candlelight shot above). Zillions of beads are at work here! Unfortunately I have to say that I disagree with the new description of this dress over at Alleycatscratch. I dont see any gold embroidery or golden sequins on this dress. Of course you can't really tell with that few pictures, but I rely on what I see with my own eyes. So...maybe it's different...we'll never know until this dress appears in an exhibition (I hope it does). The 12'' ToyBiz Arwen doll (Two Towers Edition) is also dressed in this gown,and there's a pretty good pic of the real gown on the box. Again only the cowl and sleeves, but you can see a bit of the beading. This pic supports my theory about the clear and white beads.
	Fabric close-up. It's definitely crinkled silk chiffon,and it's definitely white. The beading consists of sequins and rocailles. There's always one sequin with a rocaille on top. Sequins are iridescent milky white, not metallic and not transparent. Rocailles also have a slight milky shimmer to them. Again, nothing metallic. But remember they have to glimmer in the light, so make sure they have a certain natural shimmer to them. The beads are also *white*, not cream or off-white. When looking for beads and sequins...look for something with a porcellain finish to it, that will make the right look. My rocailles for instance look like this:
There's a BIG version available of this on purpose, so you can see them from very close up. It took me ages to find the right beads, but I think these are perfect. They're Gütermann 1016, if you wanna look for them :-)
	A test...my sequins and rocailles against my fabric like I think they are arranged in the original. If you compare with the original fabric above, it's quite close I think. There's probably more beads along the neckline just underneath the cowl and on the sleeves...where they drop down from the shoulders, as the glimmer is extra intense there. I also *think* I can see something like a "trim" made from the beads in the fabric close-up pictures -- right underneath the cowl. I'm not sure though, but it looks like clusters of beads...
	The dress has a rather long train. From about hip level, the fabric pulls back away from her body. That's probably also the place where the tie sits. Here you can see the cream / yellow shimmer that *may* come from the light filter or from the beads reflecting the light; however, I think it's more beautiful with that yellow / vanilla shimmer than totally in white. I *love* how her hair falls in these shots, btw :-)
	Finally, the dress scanned from the doll box. Arwen's face is not very clear, but on the lower part of the neckline you can clearly see some of the sequins and beads, esp. on the left side. Here's also a big version of this This is the only pic apart from the screenshot where we can see the beading.

Nothing special on the dress, but....awww



























Photos of the Noble Collection© Aragorn & Arwen porcelain statue

Taken from http://antiquedress.blogspot.com/

jacek zając

Photographer: Jacek Zając
Stylist: Tomek Gasienica
MakeUp and Hair: Monika Kolodziej
Model: Magdalena Jankowska
Via: treats!

Similar Calendar Vogue 2011 by Mikael Jansson

1910 Edwardian

1910 Edwardian MARGUERITE Madame Marge' COUTURE EVENING GOWN Metallic Lace

What a gorgeous, remarkably made early Couture designer gown with "corset" style waist by MARGUERITE!

Ms. Madelyn Shaw (the Associate Curator of Costume and Textiles at the Rhode Island School of Design and Art) wrote a research paper on the Tirocchi Sisters, and touched upon this enigmatic designer, MARGUERITE, (with grateful assistance from another unpublished research paper by Filomena D'Elia of Washington, D.C..) I wish to thank and credit both of these ladies for this important information below on Marguerite's little known life plus works, to be able to describe the background of this special designer made this wonderful gown.

Ms. Shaw referred to this early, important, but nowadays not generally well-known but successful designer of the 1910s -1920s- late 1930's, Marguerite, (later on known as Madame Marge'). Marguerite's dressworks are noted in the research to be documented within the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York (in their Special Collections Library) possessing some of her original gown design sketches, trim clippings, and even dated photos of Marge' Models from 1921's, R. Mallinson's Blue Book of Silks. In the 1910s, Madame Marge' (or, Marguerite as we know her from this time period) appeared often in the American Silk Journal, and was featured for her excellent use, execution and styling of American silks.... MARGUERITE even won the Gossard Trophy from the Fashion Art League of America, (a very big deal in those days) for Excellence in Dress Design an amazing THRICE in a row (1915 to 1918)! For apparelling Ms. Marilyn Miller (of the Ziegfield Follies fame), Marguerite (Madame Marge') was awarded the Mallinson Cup for Excellence in Stage Costume Design, standing on her own alongside the works of the famed Erte's fabulous Zeigfeld Follies designs. Ironically, even with Marguerite's tremendous good press over her career, she'd managed to maintain a low profile, and so is believed to have chosen and preferred to make her living designing clothing predominantly for an exclusive, word-of-mouth clientele... (her name is noted to have never appeared in fashion magazines of the era, such as Harper's Bazaar or Vogue.) Interesting fact to mention also that her story had never been published like many of her more famous female contemporaries suchlike, Lady Duff Gordon (Lucile Ltd.). Now that you know a bit about this wonderful designer, Marguerite, I believe you can only appreciate how remarkably elegant and substantial this example of her earliest 1910 dinner gowns from her truly was!

The use and execution of the silks employed in this truly classic, Edwardian dinner gown are exceedingly in the Paris style fashion, with uncommon and beautiful styling... yet, very true to what is usually considered a much plainer period in American fashion. The magnificent Edwardian bodice has a pointedly dropped "V" (Gasp...to the waist!) with loosely pleated, Bretell oversleeves (loosely overblown panel sleeves, as I have seen similarly styled in a "May Manton" fashion pattern) trimmed in yards of hand-made, one-of-a-kind self-fabric, tubular, "Rolleaux" style leaf motif patterns, even with dangling epaulet balls on shoulders, and large Rolleaux patterns directly on the breasts! (Oh my!) Back is decorated much like the front, and closes with hook and eyes.

The net under bodice appears to be made primarily of deep ecru Reticella/ Cluny needlework over net in combination, mixed with insertions of ground net/ with satin-stitched, hand-embroidered flowers, Irish crochet medallions, and woven, hand-knotted shadow lace made in the Valenciennes lace style- in an ode to Fall season wearing- a flowers-to-seeds motif. Very ornate and striking. There's metallic ribbons outlining the throat area, and elbows, ending in fancy, lacy "flowered" Chevrons at elbows and wrists.

The ebony-black, soft, silk gossamer sheer overlay of this resplendent Edwardian gown is trimmed profusely in a keyhole pattern of shiny and smooth, Glace' silk taffeta with many, large, padded needlework crochet balls, and large, leaf patterns of yards of Rolleaux hand-knotted trimming, and 1910's styled era tucked hem pleats! Notice the intricate pleated pintucking around the waist to form a very structured, but faux corset, perfectly?! Wow- is all I can say... Marguerite was a REALLY talented designer- the folds all lay perfectly, molding smoothly into the softly flowing skirt to train! There is no underlining to the skirt (never was) so a dark petticoat was worn with this dress.

The inner bodice is made of net, with flexible, cream, twilled silk taffeta liner. You can see Marguerite's tenacious hand stitches inside in black- (this whole gown is a virtual testament to the old school of hand styling...) she made silk taffeta pleats inside at underarms to fill out and acetuate the sides of the bust, and between the breasts to add to the feminine ideal of the "monobust" phenomenon that had been all the rage. All her inner seams are curvy and hand-finished, and has featherboned stays lined in silk twill. There's a lace "Modesty Panel that could (or not be) used by tightening down, and it's edged in original, sturdy, high quality pink, silk satin ribbon. The cream, woven grograin silk satin Petersham at the waist says, "Marguerite, 49 West 39th St., New York" and attached with shiny silk thread in an "X" pattern. Has a quality overall weight and touch to the hand. A decent size 4-5, tall! This is a "WOW WOW" antique Couture gown!

Condition:

This superb dinner gown is overall in very good condition, with only minor concerns to be mentioned. With this being an early designer of importance to the evolution of ladies fashion, and little data known of her to this date as of yet, I really do not recommend wearing this gown... however lovely and mostly stable the overall condition is... someday someone will likely do a biography of her, find out some obscure but important facts about her, and she becomes a household name like Jeanne Lanvin, or Coco Chanel! This beautiful Edwardian gown would do very well in a clothing museum or important collection of old vintage designers. That said, the condition is stable enough it could as it could easily be on a display, or almost be worn (if a few minor things were done first to shore up a few minor things.)

First, there is a very sheer, ultra fine, silk gossamer gauze inside of the sleeves/ outer underarms that have some small tears/ wearing. This liner should just be removed (or, relined with china silk or cotton net if desired). Personally, removing the sheer should just be enough. The inside of the bodice netting had been well replaced some time ago (long before me) and this stabilized the inside well enough that it could actually be worn. (I wouldn't remove this net although it is not original to the gown... In this case, if you did not know it was not original, you might not even realize it, so this fact makes it really not worth removing...) All the ecru needle lace is slightly dingy and has a few, tea-colored, tiny spots. Metallic pieces are darkened with age- related tarnish. Ideally, if a talented needle woman removed these lacy pieces and carefully hand cleaned them (removing the sheer sleeve lining at the same time) then replaced these sections- this gown would have almost a new appearance otherwise- the other silks used still glisten with lustrous good health. (No dryness or dry rot.)

The black sheer silk has a few pinholes (as to be expected), and a few vintage, woven mends on skirt. On bodice and skirt there's 2-4 of the black crocheted balls missing- they are almost impossible to make out as missing as the designs are so intricate. One might be able to replace these or make some, or move a few of the others if desired...again, I consider this to be minor. Silk Petersham, and all steel hardware strong, good working order, no obvious looseness, rust or tarnish. A real prize! One of the prettiest 1910 gowns you are ever likely to see, ever.

Price is: $1825

For ordering, go to "Order this item" toward bottom of page.

Taken from http://antiquedress.blogspot.com/