Ginger Holley: Costume designer and series wardrobe supervisor for the award winning web series Star Trek Continues! Ginger Holley Design
GingerHolley.com
Film work at StarTrekContinues.com
GINGER HOLLEY. MARVEL COMICS INSPIRED BLACK PANTHER CONVERTIBLE PLEATHER DRESS.
Claudia Harris Photography I chose three types of thick stretch pleather; One matte, one dark silver, and one black metallic, for a subtle addition of depth, and one rubberized embossed. I then also chose a novelty black and silver lightweight knit for the skirt section. Before I started on the particulars of the pattern, I drafted a very simple princess seamed body con dress that stopped at the knee using my Fabulous Fit System. Then, once the front, side front, side back, and back of the princess seam dress were on paper, went back to the fit system to mark out something that was reminiscent of the extremely complex design of the Black Panther costume. While the real costume numbers in the hundreds of pieces, I managed to keep my dress down to a mere 50!
Feeling very accomplished with my blocking, I then traced off the shapes I had outlined on my dress form to the previously patterned princess seam dress. Once that was done, I labeled each piece with which section it belonged to and what texture fabric it would be. Then I cut the pieces apart and added seam allowance to all of them. Once everything was cut out, I began to put them together. I used ONLY my Janome Cover Pro cover stitch machine for this entire project, alternating from a single to a double needle stitch: Single to connect the pieces, and double to topstitch down each seam, pinning every seam allowance flat. The most important thing about the construction of this dress is the order in which the pieces must be attached. I was very careful to never attach a piece into another piece before top stitching if there was no way to go back and do it after. This is an intuitive part of the process and just takes visual awareness as you go through the pieces, and is not something I personally find worth planning out ahead of time. To add a third dimension in the stitches, I also placed double rows of top stitching at a half inch away from several seam lines to mimic the addition of yes, even more pieces. Once all of that was done, I turned and stitched the neck and armholes down, added a single piece circle skirt to the bottom of the princess seam dress, and hemmed. I mimicked Black Panther’s necklace with some spike trim, which I attached to the pleather with contact cement for a more secure hold. The reason the final photo looks like 2 dresses is because technically, it is! A little bit of elastic in the circle skirt seam line, and voila - the dramatic mermaid evening gown becomes a cute skater dress with a black waistband! Not only does converting from the skater to the mermaid go great from day to night transitions, but converting from the mermaid to the skater goes from rather hot to much, much cooler in the span of just a few seconds without having to go hide in the bathroom and strip! I am obsessed with the exact precision of the fit of this dress. It makes me feel super sexy and proud of my curves, and I love that I can go from wining and dining straight to fighting with the avengers just by hikin’ up my skirt! :D Ginger...You are amazing. We love your spirit, we love your clothes, and we want more!!! EVERYBODY GO TO: www.gingerholley.com!! You will love Ginger as much as her clothes!
Attention to detail... .Not only does the fabric sway and move over Ginger’s curves, but every shape is followed to the shape her body, The bust
on the bodice of the pleather is shaped and molded by
the gathers at the shoulders, and then spread out over the curves of
the bust line, caught
by the high seam under the bust. When you see the shape on your dress form, the fabric and fantasy will show you where the curves should be for your shape...
Not only has Ginger finished each piece with her signature detail, but the broader scope of her designs have a purpose in curves and proportions. Her clothes are about being powerful. Everything has purpose, a curve, a detail and a flow. Proportion is one of the most important design details of anything you will create. It’s all about the body that you are hanging the clothes on and how you will feel when you wear them. Take the time time to look at your body proportions in the mirror and check for yourself. There are a million numbers that can be added and subtracted for your best proportion...but nothing will give you the feeling in your clothes like seeing your proportion for yourself. SUCCESS IS NOT A MYSTERY
Building the Bodice... As you can see, Ginger is a professional in every sense of design, but her steps and ideas are an inspiration to all. Ginger loves curves and works with them. Her pirincess line dress is a perfect example of breaking the rules when you understand the fabric. A princess seam line, is always said to go over the bust point...unless you play with the fabric and shape it to the front, of the bodice; as you can easily see on the green and print dress. Obviously, this was not her first try creating dresses. The shaping over she shoulders of the purple dress and the flow of the print shows seriously thought. Notice in her planning how she always starts with the bodice, and builds around the curves. LOVE THE LEATHER AND PLEATHER! THANK YOU SO MUCH, Ginger! PLEASE LET US KNOW YOUR QUESTIONS AND CHALLENGES...WE WILL HELP YOU! info@fabulousfit.com