Dance, Magic Dance...

We may have lost the irreplaceable David Bowie, but it's a small consolation that thousands can gather annually at the Biltmore Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles and dance to songs he wrote for The Labyrinth movie.

I love the Labyrinth of Jareth Masquerade Ball and went on Saturday night in a massive sparkly red ballgown. The shows were spectacular and the incredible finale with the smoke-breathing dragon looming over the main ballroom whilst fairies and Voldermort danced in sequence to 'Jump in the Line' reminded me why I live in LA.

Read previous posts about this event I attended before here, and here.

Scroll past these few photos of the magical costumed characters there, and see how I 'made' my dress!

And don't worry - will have more 'work' related posts soon! Hang tight and don't forget to find me on Facebook here - Tall Tales Productions Facebook Page.

And a little clip of part of the event!

My sketch of how I wanted the dress to look...

And a little more info...

How you turn my World

Just recently I attended the Labyrinth of Jareth Masquerade Ball in Los Angeles, for the fifth time.

This year it was held at the stunning Biltmore Hotel - a place I've stayed at and love. It's in Downtown LA and was built in 1922 and even if you haven't been there, you'll likely recognise it from the number of films which have scenes shot there (list here).

But the ball itself... it was out-of-this-world as always, with everyone in attendance dressed in incredible outfits, attending as fairy kings, sprites, goblins and Georgian fops in powdered wigs. I have too much work on right now to have made a costume so I wore my old graduation ballgown from RHUL (last worn when I was 21) and was possibly the most simply dressed in attendance. It didn't matter once I added a mask and shawl.

The most exciting part of the event this year was the entertainment. Always incredible, this year it couldn't have appealed more to me. On stage, the dancers (dressed as all manner of magical characters) danced to Michael Jackson's Thriller perfectly, as a gigantic puppeteered dragon made its way centre stage and joined the dance. It was wild!

Previous post about this wonderful ball here.

In other news, I have mentioned in previous posts here and here that I am working on an Alice in Wonderland project. It will be finished this Friday, right before I flit off for a weekend in Vegas. I'll write a proper blog post sharing the making of it soon, and of course I'll show you the final result. This piece will also be published and exhibited at the CTN eXpo, Center Stage Gallery, Burbank, California. Find out more about upcoming events and exhibitions at my website homepage here.

Who Needs a Fairy Godmother Anyway?

The annual Labyrinth of Jareth Masquerade Ball was looming and I didn't have a dress. Sitting by the fireplace and sighing loudly didn't attract any kind of Fairy Godmother  -well sitting by the air-con and sighing loudly to be exact-  so I was forced to sort something out for myself.

The day before the ball I tore myself away from a miniature set build and got myself organised. A run to a local thrift store turned up one marvellous used costume ballgown made from some sort of tenting material with stains and dodgy seams. Plus it was 8 dress sizes too large. Still... it was 20 bucks so I bought it and hurried home.

Here it is through its stages of meagre transformation. Bear in mind that I only had one day to fix it and it took 2 hours just making it fit my size 0 frame. I made it off-the-shoulder and backless, adding yellow-gold lace around this new back seam. The 'roses' on the bodice were made by cutting circles out of polyester blend off-cuts, snipping petal shapes into them, burning / melting the edges over a candle so that they curled up like flower petals, layering them and finally sewing a diamante bead into the center. I then super-glued my fingers together in a futile attempt to attach them to the dress before deciding to stitch them on. Genius.

Below is my quick sketch of how I wanted the final dress to look, alongside me in the dress shortly before heading off in my pumpkin carriage / convertible... Scroll past these images to read more about the ball itself.

For those of you unaware... this ball is for fans of the 1986 film 'The Labyrinth' or fantasy in general. It's attended by fairies, goblins and oddballs from all over the world and takes place in different venues here in LA. I've attended three times since 2009.

Here are some of my photos of the event from 2009, 2010 and this month.