Wedding Gown for Sharon

In May 2012, my dear friends Sharon and Graeme were married at House for an Art Lover in Bellahouston Park, Glasgow.

This house was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh for a competition in 1901, and built in 1990. This house is breathtakingly beautiful, and my goal with Sharon’s dress was to create something that was elegant and special.

When weddings take place in historic locations, the setting often takes the focus away from the bride. I wanted to make Sharon a dress that she would be happy with and show her at her best, reflect the design elements of the house and keep the focus very much on the bride.

Frieze on back of House

Top view of frame for upright piano

View of registry room

Bride entering the hall

last second adjustments to the train

front view

Previous three photos of the bride by Michael Macari of Polarberry

back view

Wave Gothic Treffen dress for Ana Axernia

A fun dress for my friend and her trip to Leipzig, May 2012.

Tribal Belly dance costuming

Red & black pantaloons for Jesse from Moirai Tribal in London.

London College of Fashion, Tuxedo

I was very lucky to be involved in London College of Fashion's Tuxedo exhibition in August of 2011.

Curated by Ben Whyman and installed in London at Quintessentially and Burlington Arcade, celebrating 150 years of the tuxedo in fashion.

I was hired as exhibition assistant on the project for both installations. I completed display banners and helped with preparing, dressing and installing the mannequins.

Tuxedo banner

London College of Fashion, MA Show 2011

On February 1, 2011, I officially completed my MA in Fashion Curation. In our MA show, each student was given a space to highlight their work.

My MA thesis was titled Mourning, Memory, Memento: Victorian Mourning Dress and the widow's peak cap.

Our thesis was made up of two parts, thesis and exhibition design. 

The first goal of the paper is to survey the subject of Victorian mourning in Britain and the significance it had in the lives of Victorian women, through the lens of previous work done by early dress historians.

In the section section ideas from the study of dress history, curation, exhibitions and colour symbolism related to Victorian mourning are explored through academic writing, material culture case studies and past exhibitions. 

Museological questions surrounding the creation and use of replicas in museum collections and exhibitions became central during the research process. These questions are explored by contrasting two previous exhibitions at Brighton Museum and Museum of London. My work on the Regency garments for Brighton Museum became very important to my understanding of the issues surrounding replicas and replica making. I am not trained as a milliner, but I did my best to create a replica cap for the installation. Much more difficult than it looks!

Information panel

Front view of installation

 Close up of the installation

Installation and creator

The exhibition design for Mourning, Memory, Memento was highlighted on the London College of Fashion SHOWTIME website.

http://showtime.arts.ac.uk/JenniferRothrock

A very brief and kind review of the LCF MA Show 2011 and my installation can be found here at Wild Lace's blog:

http://wildlace.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/jennifer-rothrock-ma-fashion-curation.html

I was interviewed by fellow MA Fashion Curation graduate Jenna Rossi-Camus in her review of the show for Worn Through:

http://www.wornthrough.com/2011/02/24/student-showcase-london-college-of-fashion-ma-show-2011/

Photo of finished belt for Brighton Museum

Since my last post in Feb 2011, the belt was completed and a custom display stand was made by the exhibition team at Brighton Hove Museum. The belt is currently on display at the Royal Pavilion, Brighton as part of the Dress for Excess exhibition. 
I am so proud and honoured to have been a part of this project. A sincere thanks to the curator, Martin Pel for the opportunity to share in the project.