Sometimes my interests in costume, fashion and furniture collide. This dress was made for a wearable arts show in Gloucester, Massachusetts by Rick Crangle.
"The concept arose as a full floor length dress, as elegant and simple as I could make out of wood. I used the raven’s feather motif create a varied texture hidden in the black detail skirt. For the bodice I wanted it to be sculptural, like a necklace, and red to contrast with the black. The bloodwood mimics the throat of the raven in a mixture of short curled and long slender feathers integrated together.The skirt is made of cherry wood up-cycled from a stairway in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Each element was cut to a 1/16th of an inch, then recut to shape and finally sanded to mimic a feather. They were then treated with a black aniline dye and oiled. Each of the five hundred feathers was hand sewn to a lining, and moves independently from the lining, to give the appearance of fluidity. The dress bodice is carved and shaped from Bloodwood. It is all links together as a necklace. The bloodwood’s natural color was important offering contrast to the black skirt. The design was intended to be simple and highlight the model’s beauty in an understated way." Rick Crangle
