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Description
A birthday gift for a friend. Happy birthday, Red! Ur a bitch. With affection. Alright well that's about all there is to that XD So let's just jump right into design notes.

Like me, Red has a healthy taste for the refined and the rococo, so I knew that's where I had to start. Turning a rococo gown into something more modern proved to be much more difficult than I anticipated, though. Anyone who knows me would probably think that should be my specialty, but in a way that sort of backfired on me. I can disassemble and reconfigure a historical gown like a soldier can navigate her rifle, but with that comes the instinct to go full period-style and explode everything in a bundle of frills and poof. I had to figure out how to tone it back for something that could plausibly be seen on the street. Oftentimes I'll skim Google to see if anyone's attempted a combination before and how they tackled it, but doing so with “modern rococo” just lands you up with a lot of absolutely tacky runway outfits that only exist to have an enormous price tag. I don't understand how the fashion industry can be so counterproductive. I don't set out to make art pieces, I try to craft an outfit that's both comfortable and a genuine expression of the individual wearer. I realize I'm just paraphrasing Miraculous Ladybug at this point, but Marinette's got a one-up on Gabriel there.

However, I did eventually stumble on one runway model sporting something that I thought worked perfect as an inspirational bridge. Apparently it's a 2007 gown by Valentino whatever that means, but it was basically a blazer near the bust and this long frilly tail draping behind. That idea served as my baseline, and while it may still be a little much, I could plausibly see someone walking casually down the street in that sort of garment. Honestly, the real problem in my mind is the skirt. I'm really not sure where I was going with that. I think I was trying to emulate something of an Edwardian dress, and maybe that works in theory but idk it came out looking really loud. Then there's the saree which I just kinda threw on because Red is Indian and I like to include little cultural details into my character designs. Honestly, this whole piece feels like there's actually three distinct chunks of composition competing for space: the dress, the skirt, and the saree, all of which work really well on their own but they don't quite like being in the same room together. I wouldn't quite say they clash per se. The circles of this venn diagram are touching one another, they just aren't quite overlapping. This is one of those situations where it needs to be fixed, I can see something needs to be fixed, I'm just not quite sure what loose thread needs to be pulled yet. Ah well, it's something I'll revisit next year… or whenever Red decides to bully me <.<

Description
A birthday gift for a friend. Happy birthday, Red! Ur a bitch. With affection. Alright well that's about all there is to that XD So let's just jump right into design notes.

Like me, Red has a healthy taste for the refined and the rococo, so I knew that's where I had to start. Turning a rococo gown into something more modern proved to be much more difficult than I anticipated, though. Anyone who knows me would probably think that should be my specialty, but in a way that sort of backfired on me. I can disassemble and reconfigure a historical gown like a soldier can navigate her rifle, but with that comes the instinct to go full period-style and explode everything in a bundle of frills and poof. I had to figure out how to tone it back for something that could plausibly be seen on the street. Oftentimes I'll skim Google to see if anyone's attempted a combination before and how they tackled it, but doing so with “modern rococo” just lands you up with a lot of absolutely tacky runway outfits that only exist to have an enormous price tag. I don't understand how the fashion industry can be so counterproductive. I don't set out to make art pieces, I try to craft an outfit that's both comfortable and a genuine expression of the individual wearer. I realize I'm just paraphrasing Miraculous Ladybug at this point, but Marinette's got a one-up on Gabriel there.

However, I did eventually stumble on one runway model sporting something that I thought worked perfect as an inspirational bridge. Apparently it's a 2007 gown by Valentino whatever that means, but it was basically a blazer near the bust and this long frilly tail draping behind. That idea served as my baseline, and while it may still be a little much, I could plausibly see someone walking casually down the street in that sort of garment. Honestly, the real problem in my mind is the skirt. I'm really not sure where I was going with that. I think I was trying to emulate something of an Edwardian dress, and maybe that works in theory but idk it came out looking really loud. Then there's the saree which I just kinda threw on because Red is Indian and I like to include little cultural details into my character designs. Honestly, this whole piece feels like there's actually three distinct chunks of composition competing for space: the dress, the skirt, and the saree, all of which work really well on their own but they don't quite like being in the same room together. I wouldn't quite say they clash per se. The circles of this venn diagram are touching one another, they just aren't quite overlapping. This is one of those situations where it needs to be fixed, I can see something needs to be fixed, I'm just not quite sure what loose thread needs to be pulled yet. Ah well, it's something I'll revisit next year… or whenever Red decides to bully me <.<