Working under the completely false pretenses that I will be a future curator for NJAL's The Shop, I've found the second one-off item for my collection (the first being a knit neckpiece from Ditte Lerche). Although I must announce my pick with mixed feelings, as, if it actually were posted in The Shop, I'd most likely miss out on snatching this beauty up for myself. Nonetheless, this is truly one of the most lovely dresses I have ever seen, and so it must be shared.
The dress in question is by the lovely Irish Stacey Grant, a student at Kingston University in London. I remember a week or two ago reading the description for the collection this dress is a part of, Stacey's 'Diminishing spectrum of recollection'. However, the photos were not posted until the other night, and after seeing the dress, I had to know more.
And Stacey's description honestly made me kind of emotional. First off, the fabrics themselves convey an ethereal feel with nude lightweight stretch tulle, nude chiffon, and hand embroidered silk from India. Such elegant draping and combining of these fabrics are enough to bring a tear or at least a gasp from myself. What really got me though was the story behind the custom screenprint on the under layer. Rather than just being a pretty random ink blot, the print is a conceptual idea symbolizing Stacey's father's brain aneurysm. In fact, Stacey says that the entire collection is "is an emotional narrative of the unique relationship that I share with my father, whom is a tailor, charting its changes, following his illness. I examined the relationships development from childhood through to adulthood, from a voyeurist and recollective stand point."
Wow. I can't say I've ever really experienced meaningful fashion quite like this. And I'm not quite sure I could wear such a poetic dress without tearing up every time.
