page, and lieutenant helmets happen to be decorated with
plumes as a symbol of royalty, so it was meant to be."
The silhouette of the dress was decided —a soft trumpet
with a sweetheart neckline —and Suzanne sketched out
her vision of how she would embellish the dress with
plume-shaped beaded appliqués and airy ostrich feathers.
The idea of an ombré hem came to Suzanne as a way to tie
Kelly's dress to the rose gold accents in the organization's
existing mantle. Kelly's measurements were taken and
Suzanne began to construct the design from the inside out.
She's known for her boned foundations and meticulous
fit, something Kelly could sense when we went to her first
fitting. Long before the first cut of the gown's actual fabric
is ever made, a muslin prototype is created for the first
fitting in order to work out precise details. Questions like
"Can this be a little higher?" to "What happens if you raise
your arm?" are all asked and answered. Kelly was beaming
in the muslin gown, and I knew from my experience of
working in a couture studio that if she felt this good now,
just wait until the frock was in its real fabric and fully
bedazzled!
At this meeting, Suzanne also carefully placed paper
feathers created from custom artwork in various positions
on the dress, so that refinements could be made to the
pattern. When she showed us the array of beads that would
be used for each appliqué, we all swooned. The finished
appliqués were three-dimensional and breathtaking —a
nod to Suzanne's design expertise. Kelly's finished garment
(which you will see later in this issue) stood for everything
I remembered: luscious fabrics, a beehive of activity in the
sewing rooms, and palpable excitement over that very first
snip of the actual fabric. Snip, snip, hooray.
kel ly's uncl e, bryan batt, at her fitting
20 ADORE • MARCH 2020