Christian Louboutin / Bergdorf Goodman : The Contest, Part 3...

The night of the event finally arrived! The dress code for the party was red and I ran all over the city the weekend before trying to find the perfect dress... and shoes... and bag. I'm not a very fancy person and realized throughout all of this that I own absolutely zero fancy clothes!

At this point I was exhausted, had been working non-stop on this thing for a month, and just wanted to survive it all. I finally found a cute little shift dress, some sparkly tights, black satin bow pumps, and fun chandelier earrings. I had no idea what to expect... I imagined everyone wearing Louboutins and ball gowns!

As it turned out, not everyone was dressed to the nines and I felt completely comfortable in my little red dress. Before we all went up to the shoe salon, the models wearing all five winning designs posed for a group shot. I jumped in the pic along with another designer, Hyeyoung Kim. 

The highlight of the night was meeting Mr. Louboutin himself and having him sign my dress! He was so sweet and reserved. I also met Linda Fargo, Fashion Director of Bergdorf's. She was fabulously dressed in a sparkly 30's style flapper dress and had tattooed herself all over with sequin hearts and stars. Half way through the night, a Marilyn Monroe impersonator brought out a cake and sang 'Happy Anniversary Mr. Louboutin.' Everyone celebrated with delicious cake pops!

After eating, drinking, and dancing it was time to go home. I finished my fairy tale night with some delicious macarons that my lovely coworkers gifted me...

Well that sure was an adventure! I'm so grateful for the opportunity and am so appreciative of all the support from family and friends. And I have to thank the BF profusely for putting up with my crying/cursing/maniac self the past month. Okay, now that's done... back to reality =)

*Missed Part 1 & 2?

Christian Louboutin / Bergdorf Goodman : The Contest, Part 2...

All the 20th anniversary capsule collection shoes were published in the February issue of InStyle magazine. I ran to the store and flipped through the pages to find them: my shoe was the biggest one on the page! The pressure was on... I had three weekends / 6 full days to make it all happen. And every night after work, I'd come home and sew. Since I didn't have a dress form, I ordered an inexpensive adjustable one online and had it shipped overnight. There was a mix up with FedEx and after a mini melt down (The BF had to calm me down!) we both travelled to the middle of no where in Queens to pick up the dress form at the FedEx depot. Once I had my form, I started draping the bodice in muslin...

Next I transfered the drape to pattern paper, cut out the pieces again in muslin and sewed it up to double check that everything looked right. I had never worked on an adjustable dress form before and the knobs were a little difficult to work with... definitely not made for creating fitted garments. But I did my best and tried to work around them.

The bodice was the hardest part to get right, the lace inset was difficult and I ended up re-doing it twice. Tears... curses... hair pulling out... but finally after a trip to get more fabric, I was in a better place. I bought some fabulous faux fur at Elegant and found the perfect leather for the hot pink snakeskin embossed belt at Leather Impact.

There was a fitting at the Bergdorf PR offices on Friday before the final event. All the designers met their models and we got the chance to try our garments on an actual person. I was worried sick that it wouldn't fit at all... those dress form knobs are in the worst places... but luckily it zipped and I knew I could make it work. I did have to re-make the shorts underneath longer in the torso so they would meet up with the bodice. But my model, Ashley, looked gorgeous!



After the fitting, I finished the hem on the skirt part of the dress, hand tacked the bodice lining in place, and sewed the snaps on the belt. I was so relieved to be finished... but I still had to find something to wear! Stay tuned for party pictures...

*Missed Part 1? Don't miss part 3!