So, I first read about this dress on Marin’s blog, where she often features personal tidbits and unusual items to go along with her running commentary on the state of the knitting union.
Marin is a veritable font of verbiage across a cornucopia of subjects. I believe that’s the polite way of saying that someone suffers from an acute case of ADD, right?
Anyway, the dress is called the Colour-In Dress, and it was designed by independent fashion designer Berber Soepboer and graphic designer Michiel Schuurman as a showpiece for a functional design exhibition called “Repeat Please”.
From Berber Soepboer’s website: “The Colour-In Dress’ is a simple dress with a black and white print, which is especially designed to fill with coloured textile markers. Because the print is so flexible you can make many different designs by colouring it. Everybody can interpret the print the way they like it best.”
Here’s a picture below from the website:
I found the concept so intriguing that I emailed Soepboer back at the beginning of April and asked if the dresses were in production. The first response was: “I’m sorry but untill now it hasn’t been possible for me to start a production. I hope I can realize it in the future.” Three weeks later, I received a decidedly more optimistic email: “After many requests, The ‘Colour-In’ Dress will be available . . . Get a Colour-In Dress and create your own unique design!!!!!!”
I love it when a good idea catches fire.
So yesterday, I received a package in the mail from the Netherlands. It was the dress.
The geometric pattern is even trippier in person than it is in photos, and it absolutely begs for a stalwart, creative soul to take a deep breath and pounce. I hardly know where to begin.
But first, Louise has to try it on. I want to make sure it fits her before I sit down and spend five thousand man hours bleeding, sweating and crying over the thing . . . and I’m only half-joking.
How much color should I use? How little? Which ones?!!
As Marin noted (when I Twittered her excitedly over the arrival of the dress): “That’s very brave of you!” Because, you know, what happens should I screw up and color outside the lines? Wailing and gnashing of teeth, that’s what.
The dress comes with two packs of boldly colored textile markers, which is the fun part.
But the dress itself? The print is amazing, and is worth examining for that alone, yet the construction of the piece, as with any limited run, low-budget work, has its pros and its cons. The material is sturdy and it’s put together nicely, but it could certainly use a lining. Once I finish the piece, I’ll have to have one put in. And while the general stitching throughout the piece is done well enough for confident public wearing, the hem is stitched with a rather minimalist ethos (I think the designer was afraid of a straight hem stitch breaking the lines of the dress and making it more difficult to color the pattern in) — though, again, once the lining is put in, that can be corrected.
I like the snap fastenings up the asymmetric front (they lay very flat and don’t disrupt the design), but I’m thinking that what’s really needed are buttons, or some good hook and eye closures. As it stands, all it would take is one good yank from one of Louise’s young children and she might find herself spilling out into public view.
That simply would not do.
But for a totally DIY project, it’s definitely a winner, not to mention that it will be a serious conversation piece should I ever get it finished and she wears it out to her first party.
I’m shooting for a Christmas completion date, but I haven’t yet decided if that’s Christmas 2009, or Christmas 2010.
You can read more about the designer at the website: Berber Soepboer
UPDATE (08/30/09):
Louise tried on the dress this past week, and the project is now a no-go at this point. Though I was assured by the designer that the size small would easily accommodate a U.S. size 4, the dress actually fits like an extra-small (U.S. size 0 to 2). Louise is pretty much a standard U.S. 4 right down the line — if you grab something off the rack marked 4 (or small), it will fit like it was made for her, but we couldn’t even get the snaps anywhere near to closed on the torso of the color-in dress.
I emailed the designer a few days ago to see if maybe any of her other customers experienced the same problem and whether there might be a larger size for exchange, but I’ve yet to hear anything back.
And just when I was getting myself all psyched-up for the challenge . . .
UPDATE (09/06/09):
I received an email from the Soepboer and Schuurman design team that created the Color-In Dress — they assured me that I would be able to exchange the dress for the next larger size with no problem, and also offered some tips to allay my anxiety on how to best color in the dress. An excerpt from the email addressing the coloring process is posted below:
“Berber and I coloured one of (the) dresses ourselves and did it sloppy on purpose,
and still the dress (came) out fine. The best way is to just start somewhere
and work from that area for about half an hour or so …. then just wear the
dress and colour it a little more a next time. Although it’s fun to come up
with a mathematical pattern to colour the dress, the effect will be better if
combined with random colouring. At one point we didn’t look at the colours
anymore and the dress still came out nice. One little warning though — it took
two persons about 8 (!) hours to colour the dress, so please colour it in steps or
it’ll drive you crazy. As a last tip…. you should make sure you keep a lot of
white details in the dress (as) this will make it sparkle more!”
So, Point #1) I can exchange the dress for a larger size — hooray! Point #2) The design team took it upon themselves to email me personally, address my concerns and make certain that my purchasing experience with them is a positive one. Anyone who orders an item from an independent designer, especially an independent designer from another country, can appreciate how important that second point is in helping the transaction proceed smoothly and beneficially for all parties involved.
I’ll update again when the exchange occurs and the project gets underway.
