The Flair Awards and The Prom Dress

The Flair Awards are run annually where I live, and are a fairly prestigious event for the area. Most of the entries are from students studying fashion design in Sydney, along with a few well known designers who live around here, but a bunch of unknown people are often accepted.

Image source: 6photography.com.au

    

 Two years ago I came second in a local fashion show for recycled plastic dresses, and through this I was offered to be sponsored to sew a real dress for that year's Flair Awards.

My plastic corset dress = P

Unfortunately, the dress I entered was a bit of a monstrosity, and thus it did not make it onto the runway (and conveniently I never took any photos of it either).
So I gave up for another year, finished school, became a lot better at sewing, and decided to make my own dress for the formal/prom. As soon as I saw this amazing dress that I really really love by Terani, I had my inspiration.

You may or may not have seen my formal dress already on BurdaStyle, but I thought it should really be on my blog by now, and this is the perfect chance to share it.

Read more to see my dress!

Materials:
The circle skirt is made from pale lavender chiffon. I tried so hard to find silk chiffon in a nice purple but in the end I had to make do with polyester. The crepe backed satin on the bodice was a convenient remnant from my stash. It was perfect for the job since it is so nice and sturdy.

Things I loved:
The lace flutter sleeves were a joy to make. Even the hand-picked invisible zipper in the back worked out in the end. And, all materials included, this dress cost less than $50!

Things I'd change:
If I made this dress again, I'd take a bit of the width out of the circle skirt, so that it hangs closer to the body.

As you can see I had a pretty cute date, with a matching lavender tie and all.

At the last minute I also made a little bag to go with it, out of remnants of satin and lace with chiffon for lining.