The Orange Rogue-- The Dress
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My dress is finished, I have worn it in a few championships, and it is a true work of art, wrought by the patient hands of my mother and covered with artifacts and memories. Below is what I had originally intended, but sometimes ideals become altered. Here are some images of "reality".
We shouldn't fool ourselves. Sure, little girls want to get to championships to be excellent dancers, to please their ever pressuring parents and teachers, and to, well, just be perfect overall, but, most of all, we know what they want...
they wantThe Dress
Every year, they become more flamboyant, more ostentatious, more hideous, as little girls pile on sequins, neon colors, randomly useless fabrics, and everything else, not to mention embroidery. I have seen every color on earth, in combination with any number of any other colors. There are still abstract "celtic" designs, but random liberty and certain teacher persuasion (you know who I mean, and I'm not talking about the queen of hearts here) has even led to the inclusion of cartoons as "traditional" designs. Tiaras are more abundant than ever, along with the wigs of the other essay, and makeup has become almost as trampy as that of beauty paegents. Dresses which, in the 1980s, would have been considered pretty are now hopelessly plain and dated.
I had once wondered if (perhaps) the most positive effect that Riverdance was going to have would be on the dresses. Remember the minimalist elegance of Ms. Butler's lovely dark gown? For a while after, there were even girls competing in worlds with similar dresses, but that phenomenom seems to have trickled away quicker than the "river" which brought it.
It seems as though there is absolutely no outlet for anyone who isn't 13, maximalist, or obsessed with themself enough to call themself a "princess" and wear the robes to prove it.
What there needs to be is an option which allows for appropriate dressiness and even showiness, but with a modern twist. Cannot Irish dancers be refined? Cannot we be stylish? Cannot we have grace after our thighs have started to fill out? I say that such a thing is possible, and I offer my solo dress, which is being designed by me, and will be made by my mother and me in the summer, as an example of what options can be.
There will be several contrary things about my solo dress, that you may or may not like. The point, however, is not the induvidual details, but the overall aesthetic. This is what I am trying to impress into the Irish dance consciousness.
My dress will have traditional designs, wrought in a novel fashion. I have chosen one single mermaid, from the Book of Kells, to reproduce, and I have found celtic seahorses to match. The rest of my dress's design will be made of contorted waves, looping into knotwork designs. My dress will be asymetrical. The mermaid will only be on the right side of my skirt, and waves will spread out from her tail and loop around, rimming the bottom. I will have extremely complex embroidery and beading, with and realistic design will be filtered into the common bands which are so often in use. There will be several expansions of color gradient. The line between the sea and my "whitecaps" will not be obvious, even theough the shape will be quite so. Compared to most dresses, mine will have a marked amount of negative space. This will serve to place emphasis upon what is truely important, and to make the dess far more modern. The background will be black cotton velvet, and the satin lining will be a very deep kind of royal blue, which shimmers and flashes when it darts to the surface (as when I kick and the edges turn). I hope to find a color which is remeniscent of the sea at night.
My skirt will be small and flippy, will have no pleats or dividors, will be somewhat lined and strengthened for body, and so it doesn't collapse, but not stiff. My skirt will most likely be about regulation length (4" from the knee), which will not look anything but normal, as I am 5'8". My shawl will be both velvet and satin, and will have a satin border around the outside (no design or scallops). The waves will moist likely be a triangle, or I will have a design of fish, moving in an arc (I had a brief thought that I might have one large fish,perhaps a salmon, arching his back, on mine, but then I decided that I really didn't want to come to be discussed as "that fish girl"). My brat/shawl will be of the "square" design, not like a sash, an pinned at both shoulders. However, the shawl itself will not be square, but will curve in and out in an hourglass formation, to match my waist. I got this idea from a picture of a girl at the Munster Championships, featured in Martha Robb's 'Irish Dancing Costume'. My bodice will have as close to a bateau (tight boatneck) neckline as possible (within the regulations of Irish dance), and I think I have decided that there will be one layer of blue piping in it. These aspects will hopefully make me look slim and hip.
I will forego the wig when I compete in championships, as i will have subverted the system for long enough and will no longer need to "fit in". I have no idea how i will do my hair, but I know that, curled or uncurled, it will be very smooth. I will have no tiara, no jewels in my hair, not even a fabric crown. What I will have is a pair of lovely handbeaded barettes, made by my mother, who made a similar pair for my sister's prom, and one which she (my mother) uses for Irish dance competition. These will be gorgeous and functional, and I will be able to use them for other, normal, special events (who else can really say that about any part of their Irish dancing costume? I know I certainly can't wear my dress or fabric crown out.....).
For sentimental reasons, I will include a piece of fabric from each of my school dresses. The Celtic Gold peach will be the mermaid's flesh, and I have not yet decided where the sharper Bracken satin will be (probably somewhere within the mermaid's tail).
For those of you that doubt the revolutionary nature of this dress, I will be posting more prose, as well as images, as is appropriate.
For those of you that doubt the quality of a handmade, handembroidered dress, and our ability to make one, I offer the McElligott school dresses as evidence. When Heather formed her school, she asked my mother, who has also designed several adult costumes, to design her class costume. Several of the originals that my mother made are still in circulation, and they have worn far better than my Bracken dress (which was machine embriodered and has already begun to run--the threads catch all the time). Homemade dresses, when competantly done, are far more stable and fit more perfectly than bought ones. This is not to say that mothers should be chained to a sewing machine, forced to make their daughter's elaberate dresses, but that you might get more wear out of a dress you make by yourself, and, if you are skilled, it is an option of some merit, which is not COMPELTELY outdated.
