I could not be more thrilled.
Reuniting With Old Friends: A Night to Remember with the Poynton Male Voice Choir
I’m whirling around with GLEE! Pop over and read about Charlotte’s night with the “Poynton Male Voice Choir”
Tag: Sequins
Charlotte Models Midnight Nightingale: Part II
Soprano Charlotte Hoather models “Midnight Nightingale” & Interviews Me: Part II
Still thrilled with how terrific “Midnight Nightingale” fits Charlotte, I’m now on Venus with how beautiful she looks in it.
Click on the reblog box or the photo of Charlotte to visit the post, read the interview and enjoy the shots.
Charlotte Models Midnight Nightingale
Soprano Charlotte Hoather models “Midnight Nightingale”, and interviews me.
I’m thrilled with how terrific “Midnight Nightingale” fits Charlotte, and I’m over the moon with how beautiful she looks in it.
Click on the reblog box or the photo of Charlotte to visit the post, read the interview and enjoy the shots.
BONUS
Charlotte made a wee video with a few pics and her splendid voice!
The gorgeous shots of Charlotte in the gown were taken by her brother Matt.
Midnight Nightingale
One enchanted evening I was inspired to make a performance Art Gown for the spellbinding Soprano, Charlotte Hoather.
She embraces the concept that Art Gowns are hand sewn from off cuts, repurposed clothes, curtains, table cloths, etc. and NOS (new old stock).
Charlotte lives in the U.K., and I wouldn’t be able to fit her. So, she sent me professionally taken measurements from an opera wardrobe department. I used those to make small adjustments to Judy.
Although I’ve made many gowns, and have history designing in film and television; presenting for stage is different.
Day shots were in natural light. Night shots were lit. I can’t compete with stage lighting, especially overhead lighting. That would bring out the dazzle on the skirt’s circular tail, as it sits on the floor.
Midnight Nightingale is presented in a way I hope you can imagine what stage lighting could make happen.
I sent Charlotte a photo of an off cut of sequin fabric someone had gifted me. It was thrown on Judy with a stretch velvet piece, to show the germ of an idea. Called “Dragon Skin”, the sequins are variegated green/blue. Also, one can rub the sequins backwards and they flip to black. Funny, but once I got going, that novelty wore off.
A bustier shape was draped on Judy, then transferred to a paper pattern. That was used to cut the Dragon Skin. A decent yardage of 25 year old NOS plum acetate satin was pulled from the stash, and a 3 panel a-line(ish) skirt was cut. A full circle of $2.00/yd., 120″ wide liquidated black curtain sheer was draped on top.
The stretch velvet was used for the back & straps of the bustier. The thought was that it would be easier for fit and altering. A separating zip was inserted in the centre back. The gown’s finishes were designed to accommodate alterations.
Circles were cut out of the remaining Dragon Skin, and sewn onto the circular tail of the skirt.
A small bustle with a long thin nightingale tail, on its own waistband, is added separately to the top and skirt.
The gown can be worn with or without the bustle/nightingale tail. Teeny rhinestones (a gift from a friend) dot it and fill in between the sequin circles on the skirt’s tail.
Midnight Nightingale’s circular skirt tail can be hitched up, with or without the bustle/nightingale tail, for various effects.
Last I knew, Charlotte was practicing to be a Coloratura Soprano. She may be there already. Below is a fantastic performance.
I’m totally in love when Charlotte sings and George plays piano.
Charlotte, her star rising, is in rehearsals for a new Opera, “Brontë“.
In three pieces, Midnight Nightingale is glamorous and versatile. Above, the top is shown with a vintage navy panné velvet skirt.
Art Gowns & Photography © Resa McConaghy
Since – November 2012
Some Great News To Share
My favourite Soprano in the whole world is not merely a fabulous singer, but a wonderful person. In the past, she has brought Opera to children who are deaf &/or hard of hearing.
Charlotte – “For several years now, I have had a deep desire to create an Opera Production which can be enjoyed across the full hearing spectrum. The idea for the Opera is developed from my album “Down The Rabbit Hole”.”
She has worked diligently for several years, and has now received a grant.
Charlotte – “Two weeks ago, I got the news that they were willing to provide key funding for my project if I could raise the rest. So before I could share the news with you, I had to hit the phones, write emails and send off applications to try and raise the shortfall.”
Charlotte has raised the shortfall. She will do a small tour of primary schools next Spring, which will include both D/Deaf specialist schools and primary schools from socially deprived areas.
Charlotte – “If I can raise an extra £600.00 it will give me enough money to print a learning aid booklet for each of the 800 children we perform for. If I can raise an additional £3000.00 it will allow me to add the two schools that I have as reserves so that none of the children miss out.”
If you live in the U.K., there is a way to help Charlotte raise the money by simply shopping.
OR
Visit Charlotte’s Blog, where there is a button to donate to this project on the side bar. I just donated £ 10.00 with PayPal!
If you have never had the delight of hearing Charlotte sing, click on the image below and visit her YouTube Channel.
I have Charlotte’s permission to reblog. However, as there is no reblog button on her blog, I have made this semi-repost.
To visit the full original post, click on the pic below.
I’ve decided to close comments. Many of you might want to say something to Charlotte, however Akismet won’t allow her to comment on this blog. Crazy! We communicate through comments on her blog. So, go visit!
Announcement: An Art Gown for Charlotte. A few years ago, I was gifted some sequin fabric left over from a TV production. This was the beginning. It will be sent to Charlotte, with help from ❦ Timothy Price ❦
Cleopatra Capriccio
Did you ever want to go back in time?
Well, we can with Art Gowns and imagination. I choose the 1920’s! What a decade of influences to inspire an Art Gown! King Tut’s Tomb was discovered. Art Deco was the movement. Chanel and Vionnet eschewed the corset, flattening the chest and dropping the waistline.
In 1920 women’s right to vote was ratified in the U.S.A. – Cafe Society lead to the Jazz Age, and the Fitzgeralds were all the rage. Flappers were making their mark, and Zelda Fitzgerald was the most famous flapper of them all.
Cleopatra Capriccio is dedicated to Elizabeth Gracen, a 21st century Flapper. Twenty some years ago, she was the star, and I was her designer. We have remained good friends, since.
As a matter of fact, she gave me the Mini-Me I dress up to go with the Art Gowns.
It began with the gift of a sequin fabric, a leftover from a TV series.
I paired the sequin fabric with a table runner I’d hung onto since my teen years, and yardage of: a soft grey, heavy weight, acetate satin curtain lining, purchased at a liquidation sale for $0.75/yd (120 ” wide).
The dark blue Dupioni silk table runner is embroidered with actual silver metal thread. It was already a vintage piece back when I was gifted it. I cut the diamond shapes and zig-zag bordeur out of the runner.
Finally, some dark royal blue silk that had been stored for 25 years in musty storage, also gifted, rounded out the fabrics. I harvested sequins off of the scraps, and sewed them onto the silk.
OUTTAKES
I pinned CleopatraCapriccio up, but she still wasn’t as short as a Flapper dress. Still, the sequins did a fun bit.
Elizabeth Gracen
Elizabeth Gracen arrived in NYC from a small town in Arkansas a year after traveling the world as Miss America 1982. She used her scholarship prize money to study acting at HB Studios and photography at the New School. She later moved to Los Angeles where she has worked as an actress for over twenty years, most notably as ‘Amanda’ on the long-running HIGHLANDER: THE SERIES and HIGHLANDER: THE RAVEN.
In 2012, Elizabeth formed FLAPPER FILMS, a production company devoted to developing inspiring, informational content for multi-generational men and women. Her films have met with great success on the international film festival circuit and on streaming media platforms.
In 2016, Elizabeth formed FLAPPER PRESS and published her first YA novel, Shalilly.
Visit Flapper Press
Cleopatra Capriccio designed by and © Resa McConaghy – 2020
Photos © Resa McConaghy – August, 2020
Jazz Age Cover of VOGUE Magazine – July, 1926
Artist: Benito
THE HOT FLASH – Crimson Fox
Did you ever design a gown for a real life Super-Hero?
It’s nerve wracking, isn’t it?
My 6th “Art Gown” goes out to Wendy Anderson who portrays Nealy Gone, a chronic wallflower, who at 50 years old embraces the heat and changes of menopause to become an ass-kicking Super Hero, The Hot Flash
The gown to be was screaming “I’m hot! I’m red! I’m satin!”
So, I went with it, and draped a classic body shape with a modern bodice on Judy.
I used French darts to shape the bodice.
The back was a lot of sexy fun.
Of course in reality the bodice would be heavily corseted.
Both sides of the center front, the French darts and the back’s 3/4 panels would all have to be boned.
Then I needed some fire. As I’m very partial to tails, I decided a spread tail, like fox’s, no point at the end and in red hot sequin eyelash was the way to go. Once the tail was in, I began talking to the gown, calling her my Crimson Fox.
Then I began thinking about mood swings, and the need for the cooling effect of fans, so I began changing things up a bit.
Crimson Fox and I love, love, love “The Hot Flash” and want it to be a Web Series.
So visit the Web site The Hot Flash
Or follow on Twitter @the_hot_flash
Or on Facebook Facebook
AS “LIKES” DID NOT TRANSFER TO MY NEW BLOG,
I TOOK A PIC OF THEM. ACTIVE “LIKES” ARE ON PERMALINK
Art Gowns 
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