Perhaps it’s the impending holidays, but I’ve been studying a lot of fancy details lately, particularly lace and illusion necklines. I thought I’d share some images from someone I consider the queen of the illusion gown, midcentury designer Peggy Hunt.
If some of these look familiar, you may have seen them when I wrote about Ms. Hunt on my personal blog a while back. I can’t get enough.
These images were lovingly collected by Peggy Hunt’s granddaughter, Jacqui. Isn’t that wonderful? You can see her whole collection of images here.
*swoon* I couldn’t get enough of these beauties when you first posted about them, and I still can’t! ;) I just love the delicate nature of the illusion pieces; they’re not garish or in bad taste as some tend to be. Very elegant and wearable. I have lately been mulling over the idea of making a 40s style dress with an illusion neckline, because I adore the look so, and these have really inspired me to get to work on it this winter! Thanks for sharing these (again), Sarai!
♥ Casey | blog
I think it’s because the sheer portions are mostly focused around the shoulders… which emphasizes a sexy (but not sexy sexy) part of the body, and also draws attention toward the face.
Not that I have a problem with sexy sexy either… I love Marilyn’s see-through gown in Some Like It Hot, and that covers barely more than a pair of pasties!
Gorgeous! Love the dress with the bow. Hope this creations inspire you a pattern or two! :)
We’re actually working today on a tutorial for adding some of this sort of detail to an existing pattern!
holy wow these are amazing. i can’t even pick a specific one that i like best because they are all equally stunning. thank you so much for sharing these!
I like the dress with the big bow…this gives me an idea to try out this product (I forget the name) that ‘burns’ out a fabric stencil. I like the idea of bows…so very 1940s.
If you remember the name of the burn-out product, let us know. It sounds intriguing, and I’d love to try it myself!
In love! There is something about the holidays that makes us want to make pretty things with lace. Thanks for sharing!
These are amazing! The bow dress construction boggles my mind!
I know, I would love to see a detail shot of that bow!
Wow, these are gorgeous. There’s this fabulous dress similar to these worn by Rita Hayworth in ‘You Were Never Lovelier’. Cute film, I was drooling over this dress. She’s wearing it on the DVD cover.
Oh yes! I haven’t seen the film, but I’ve seen shots of her in that dress and she looks jaw-dropping. What a presence she had.
It also reminds me of the (hem, slightly sexier) dress Marilyn Monroe wears in ‘Some like it hot’. I always tought the Macaron dress could be adaptated in a Peggy Hunt-like way…
[...] Gertie’s blog and Colette Patterns have mentioned designer Peggy Hunt’s amazing work with illusion necklines. This Flickr photo [...]