Thrift flip inspired by garments worn throughtout the Italian Renissance in the 1500s.
I met Nia after working with Chris at a collaborative free shoot.
She reached out to me with the invitation to shoot following a renaissance theme.
She picked out the perfect backdrop, a golden brown paisley background that truly captures the elegance of the Italian renissance.
One day I was cleaning out my closet and found this gold and green threaded tank top jammed in between my drawers. A wave of nostalgia overcame me as I remember buying this top from a second-hand store because I admired the intricate design on beautiful shimmery threads of gold and green.
I played around with it and found that it was ideal to wear it in an off-the-shoulder fashion.
To gain some insight into how these gowns were fashioned during this time era I looked at many different dresses and garments from the Italian Renaissance in the 1500s.
The Italian renaissance was a time when the creative mind absolutely flourished. There was a shift from the need to fill daily lives with labor to leisure. People started to express themselves through art and music, which in turn created a prosperous period for all of humanity.
Many dresses made during this time were likely embroidered with gold thread. Metallic threads were a significant symbol of wealth and prosperity, two major themes prevalent in this time period.
Miners would scourer lands for the finest golds and silver metals for goldsmiths to then incorporate into the silk threads found on the embroidery work of lavish and costly garments.
The thrifted tank that made its way back into my life, made it the perfect candidate for this project.
I find that many gowns and dresses from this time period have a square neckline. A square neckline exposes more neck and shoulder.
To imitate this neckline, I played around with the tank top base and found that it was ideal for it to be worn in an off-the-shoulder fashion.
I then cinched the waist in the front and adorned my stitches with an embellished charm I had bought months prior.
Inspired by the bulbous puffs that prominently sit atop of sleeves, I draped three yards of gold shimmery organza fabric along my backside and played around with the fabric to formulate puffs by eye.
I borrowed a high low black tulle skirt from my sister because well it was one of the only acceptable skirts to be styled with this top, but also because tulle’s livelihood makes it an elegant fabric, Even though tulle was not a fabric used during this time period in making garments, I felt that it captures the elegance of the upper class during this time in a more modernized fashion.
The black tulle skirt introduced a darker turn for the assembly of this outfit.
The black tulle gave the overall look a gothic shadow that contrasts with the gold and emerald threads, however, blends with the column of bows sewn onto black tights.
I carried this dark theme into the top by adding flowers into the puff sleeves before I sewed the seam shut. I then took black flowers and hot glued them on top of each other, creating a chain, which I then sewed onto the edge of the gold fabric shawl.
I then adorned the sleeves with black ribbon to tie the darkness altogether.
I thought of what type of modernized details the luxurious wealthy upper-class of this era would appreciate. I associate bows with this feminine glamor energy that I decided would be the perfect detail to incorporate into this look.
I then made bows from a black ribbon. I begun by measuring about a foot and a half for the larger bows and deducted 6 inches for each bow that would be smaller.
I then sewed the bows onto the sheer mesh fabric of black stockings I doubled to make them more opaque.
I had a lot of fun shooting with Nia. She is a very hardworking and effiecnt photogher. Her fun and lively energy is so charming and she is also such a real person. I appreciate the work we did together, more of which you will read about in the coming weeks!
Like the Italian Renaissance, we can all tune into ourselves and be brave enough to share our ideas from a source of light and love.
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