When Montana reached out about making a custom wedding look, she sent me a sketch of her vision (last slide). As soon as I saw it, I knew I couldn’t have found a better first client to launch FUTUREWIFE custom-wear: a vision that incorporated playfulness, non-traditional colors, and a mix of femme/masc energies.
In a short four months, we had collaborative design meetings, fabric shopping excursions, and many fittings to ensure all 3 garments and 2 accessories were perfectly engineered, comfortable, and considered, in her words “transitioning from Fairy to Power Lesbian” as the night went on.
With help from her stylist @sophiestraussstyling we cultivated a self-expression that blurred gender stereotypes, and from day 1 she trusted me to deliver on a promise that most fashion brands refuse to care about — all body sizes deserve to look and feel this beautiful on their wedding day.
It was a lot of hard work, a lot of long nights, but 1000% worth it. I mean — look at her!!
Such an honor and privilege to dress you @montanamegan 💚💚💚
Finally sharing photos from Julia’s intimate and ephemeral ceremony at the Ithaca farmer’s market last year.
Julia came to me at such a perfect time, when I was deciding what the purpose of the FUTUREWIFE project was going to be.
We had many zoom talks about how to square feminism with the institution of marriage and how truly weird and wild it is to find a person with whom navigating it all seems necessary, even vital. Love makes no sense.
Beyond the existential concerns, we also spent a lot of time figuring out how to respect and represent the cultural context of their marriage, as her husband was born in Korea.
We referenced vintage jeogori for her jacket design, and layered a crisp and slubby sheer cotton-silk over a cotton-linen with French seams to reference bojagi.
Even over a decade long partnership, Julia and Steve’s endearing obsession with each other was something I felt truly lucky to witness.
Thank you @uliakw for trusting me with your heart and letting me create a visual representation of what I saw there. 🤍
Newlywed @92807 ’s custom FUTUREWIFE set ❗️
Process and wedding pics to come, but I had perfect lighting in my studio the other day and had to document this one-of-a-kind silk taffeta sculpture that was such a dream to design & create for Elaine ♥️
I’ve been hibernating but I’m still here ❄️
This year I realized that working in isolation kills my creativity, I would love to have a partner or collaborator, and miss being on a team.
I still know the FUTUREWIFE collection will come to exist in time, it just wasn’t in the cards for this year (my Fool year 🃏 in tarot) - I tried!
I continue to love working with custom bridal clients: having a muse, a purpose, and a hard deadline. It is pure, transformative magic that I get to watch happen in front of my mirror.
I’m looking forward to next year (my Magician year🪄), and finding out what I was laying this foundation for ♥️
Past 2 weeks developing a dress for my collection — WIP // not done yet ❗️
I tried on this vintage Geoffrey Beene dress (slide 3) and fell in love with the neckline and sleeve so jumped off from there.
The tan chiffon was V1 and it needed more simplicity in the details and emphasis on silhouette so I took out as many seams as possible and drafted a full square as the skirt just to see.
The champagne and black was the V2 and wasn’t supposed to be 2 colors but I ran out of fabric mid-cut.
It’s karma and I’m calling it the redemption dress because I made my own prom dress out of panels of champagne and black chiffon with 3D flowers and feel so cringe thinking back on it — turns out I have to heal that shadow self in order to finish this dress.
🌕🌗🌑 This week I’m making chiffon flowers.
starting to develop some of the collection patterns — wanted to share some pics so I’m not working in complete isolation with my own thoughts
💭🙃 send love 💌🌀
Some pics before I shipped @uliakw custom FUTUREWIFE dress and Hanbok-inspired shell.
🪞🪢🌀
Made from the most beautiful cotton-silk organdy I’ve had on my bucket list for years, and a slubbed cotton-linen plain weave for an immensely talented weaver! Constructed with French-seams referencing Korean jogakbo technique.
