The Ball (part quatre)

The pictures from the professional photographer at the ball came back today.

I wish I could make these two pictures bigger, without them being so blurry, but I can't, but this should give you an idea of how large my year is.

 

Flo x

The Ball (part trois)

(Is this getting old yet?)

I took a disposable camera to the ball, as well as my usual camera to the ball. Usually these cameras come out quite well, but not this one. Out of 28 exposures, only these five came out. 

I said that the house looks like one in Atonement.

"Hey this hedge looks like the maze in Harry Potter!"

Flo x

The Ball (part deux)

For my school ball, I didn't want my dress to be the same as anyone else's, meaning that I couldn't go to high street or get something from the internet, and nothing vintage or from boutiques ever fits me properly, which left me with one option: employ my mother's degree in Fashion Design and get her to make me one. 

We bought a Butterick dress pattern and then took several trips to Broadwick Silks to get the perfect material. After deciding on pink silk with plain black net, my loving parent spent several days putting it all together. We then took a trip to the Swarovski Crystallized shop and bought some pale pink crystals to put on.
To get the shape of the skirt, we bought some net from a little fabric shop in Whitstable, and created a petticoat to go underneath.

 I love this dress - it came out so perfect - and it was exactly what I wanted. I would happily wander around in it all the time, if only I wasn't so worried about getting something on it and staining it (I nearly cried when I thought someone had got red wine on it).
Worn with my vintage bag and heels from Office (in the sale!)
Flo x

The Ball (part une)

My school leaver's ball was held last night, at a rather nice country club, that really resembled the house in Atonement - we half expected Keira Knightley and James McAvoy to turn up.

I'll do a more in depth post when I feel like I'm not about to fall asleep any second, but here are the highlights:

We took this on a self timer. I don't think we've ever been so proud of ourselves.

Summer has officially begun.

Flo x

7 days to go

My school leaver's ball is a week today. To say that I'm excited would be an understatement.
This is the only big, dress-up event I will ever attend in relation to my school, and as a result, I started thinking about my dress early. Some people are saying that they aren't going to make much of an effort "I'll just get a dress from town that I can wear again because it's just a school thing/I don't want to spend too much money/I don't really care", and that's their choice, there's nothing wrong with that - I just think that this ball is about celebrating the end of our (secondary) school careers and the time we have spent together. But then again, I love any excuse to dress up.

I thought I had found the perfect dress in a vintage shop in Covent Garden. It was floor length pink silk covered by a layer of black net, with some minimal bead detailing on the bust, but sadly, it was made in the 1920s, when women were considerably more flat chested than I am, so I was left to look elsewhere. 

I then considered ASOS Black, especially this dress:

However, I really didn't want to be wearing the same dress as anyone else. 

Which means that I, or rather, my mother, would be making the dress. And that's exactly what we did. 

The dress comes from a Vintage Vogue pattern, and is in pink silk and black net, like the dress I tried on. 

I wanted it to be a combination of the dress Grace Kelly wears in Rear Window, the dress Carrie Bradshaw wears in Paris in the last episode of Sex and the City, when she meets Big and a Dior dress I saw in an old issue of Vogue. 

Only six people have seen the dress - I'm really keeping it hidden until the ball itself - I don't understand why people post pictures of themselves in the dress on Facebook - it ruins the wonderful surprise. 

Flo x

All images via: Google images