I am excited to share the news that my design won Best in Category at the 7th Annual Costume Drama fashion show. Not only do I love fashion and putting together looks for my customers at Enchanted Forrest, sometimes I try my hand at creating designs for local fashion shows. This was my second time being part of Costume Drama.

This fashion show was to benefit Asheville Community Theater (ACT) and it is such a well put together event. A set number of local designers were selected to be in the show and were assigned a themed category to design for. This year the four categories were paper, hardware, historical impressionism, and light. My category was paper.

Each night after work, I would pick up where I left off on the design. For two months, my house was a wreck with everything used to make the dress. I started off by twisting together napkins and wire then shaping them into a design for the top. The bottom of the dress was made from tissue paper, crepe paper, doilies, and some leftover napkins from the top. 

I used various pieces to make the crown. The flower bouquet was made out of coffee filters. To get the colors right, I tried a couple of techniques. First, I tried soaking them in food coloring and drying them out in the oven. I then realized that using regular clothing dye was better. While making the whole dress, I kept the person modeling the look in mind. Just like putting an outfit together for a customer, I think of the model when designing. Clothes and accessories can very specific to certain people.

The show was very exciting. Tia Renay Hixon of Brush fire Artistry was the makeup artist. Naomi Shelby Lynn was the hair stylist. Hannah Elizabeth was our model. On the day of the show, I worked on the dress up until the last minute. Overall, everything went smoothly. The hardest thing was to find a vehicle big enough to get it to ACT. Thankfully, Asheville Cleaners volunteered to transport it in one of their vans.

There is always stiff competition at these events. Just being in the show felt like an achievement. Once the show started, it was all in Hannah’s hands and she was amazing. So graceful, she really had a way of making the dress come to life. The hair and makeup added that much needed final touch to tie it all together. You don't need me to tell you that hair and makeup can make or break a look!

For each category, a panel of judges selected a winner. Out of the four category winners, one was selected for the top position Best in Show. At the end of the event, I was so happy to find out that we won for our category. Yay! The other category winners were Charlotte Cat Murphy (historical impressionism), Joan and Keith Berner (hardware), and Rosanne Capone (light). Out of the four of us, Charlotte went on to win Best in Show.

It thrills me to no end that I was able to share the same stage with a lot of very creative people. Placing in my category really made my year. Wew! That was a lot of work. I definitely think that I’ll wait a bit before doing another one. If you are interested in attending a local fashion show, Costume Drama is such a great event. It always sells out and it is such a well put together event. If you would like to see the winning designs up close, they will be on display in Bellagio's front window in downtown Asheville for a couple of weeks. Cheers! Danielle