Parachute Dress

This semester I am in a draping class which has been a very difficult but educational experience. For our midterm, we were given a used military parachute as the material to make an outfit with. Thinking of how flowy the fabric is (a rip-stop nylon) and how much we were given, I chose to do an evening gown. Looking back, it was maybe not one of my best choices since it was alot of work, but I am very happy with the outcome and definitely made something I am very proud of! The parachutes came in 3 color variations. I chose the one with beige, green, orange and white(the other two were dark blue and light blue)because initially I was least inspired by them. I have never been a fan of the color orange, or off combining many colors, so I decided to challenge myself with this project. My design was inspired by a few paintings by Salvador Dali, one of my favorite artists. I really love his choice and combinations of colors as well as his abstract depiction of everyday things. Below is a few pictures of my sample dress and a few pictures of my final dress. Also, yesterday My parachute dress was on the front page of the university's newspaper! The picture and article it went with were promotional material for two upcoming fashion shows in which all of my classes parachute dresses will be shown along with the capstone collections of the students that were seniors this year.