Triumph!

I am utterly thrilled to announce that I completed my robe a la francaise and wore it to the palace of Versailles without a single pin. Or, rather, without any pins that shouldn't have been there. Victory!

I made it, hem and all!

The gown and matching petticoat are dusky lavender silk taffeta, and trimmed with self-fabric pleated ruffles.  The stomacher is decorated with four canary-yellow bows descending in size from bust to waist. There are matching bows with four loops instead of two on the sleeves. You can see my inspiration for the arrangement in this post and on my project Pinterest board.

on the palace stair

I did not think I was going to make it--I had resigned myself to pinned-on trim before I got on the plane, but then by some miracle everything was sewn down! I did spend the day of the ball hemming, but even that was done in the nick of time. I'm still not sure how I managed it, but it was immensely satisfying to be dressed.

I accessorized with bling, a fan, and a quick last-minute hair accessory made out of a scrap bow and some borrowed ostrich feathers. My shoes are American Duchess kensingtons, which I painted yellow and stenciled with flowers.

shoes!

shoe shot! all pictured shoes were made/decorated by their wearer

I was unsure how everything would go together, but it really worked in the end. I suppose it would be impossible not to feel elegant at Versailles.

my fan is based on original mask fans like these, and was custom painted by Kate Dengra. She was great, you should check her out!

in the Hall of Mirrors. I swear I powdered my hair, but it's impossible to tell here!

My hair is all mine, pomaded and powdered, and brushed up over a form. After testing my hair, I decided I wanted a smaller, rounder shape...somehow I ended up making my hair bigger. Whoops. In the end I was happy with the shape, though, so it all worked out!

Of course, I ruined my karma by finishing my clothes on time, and it was pouring the day of the ball. We had a ten-minute walk from our lodging to the palace gates. Time for a creative solution! We scampered to the market, bought a roll of large trash bags, and went to work. We might have looked batty, but we were dry! I was quite pleased with my garbage bag calash--although if I look a bit rumpled in the pictures, that's why. (I'm pretty sure my panniers also slid down when I was pulling everything off, making my width a bit lower and rounder than it should have been otherwise.) So a bonus shot of us in our waterproof attire!

many thanks to Peryn for capturing this insanity!