My dress for the 2004 "Lord of the Rings Symphony" in London! I wanted something special for this occasion, a crossover between an elf dress and formal evening wear - an elven ball gown, so to say ;-)

When I began to think about the concept for this dress I knew I wanted something with yellow, 'cause there's hardly any yellow in any of Arwen's dresses or the other elves (well, there's the yellow lace gown in Rivendell - which, frankly, I don't like very much, and the newly discovered beaded elf extra gown which is gorgeous, but all in all there's not enough yellow in those movies *g*). I had some black silk velvet left that I had intended for the Midnight Cloak, but I decided to use it for this project instead, so the combination black/yellow was decided.

It also was a test dress for McCall's 4491,to see how it looks *with* the princess seams. I think it turned out quite well, the seams are hardly visible at all. It has a train and a lacing in the back. For the sleeves I found a see-through yellow burn-out viscose with a little leaf/flower pattern. To soften the contrast between the black and the yellow I bag-lined the sleeves with golden dupion silk. This creates a nice yellow-ish cream color.

I beaded the whole neckline with little "cremette" beads, and used a trim that I found on eBay for the sleeve joint. This trim has a yellow base and tiny silver beads, so the yellow is not only in the sleeves but also around the neckline and in the trim, so the contrast is a bit softer. I'm thinking about adding a trim around the hem as well, maybe only a small golden braid or so...I'm not sure yet.

This is the dress still without the trim and the beads....

And finally....me, after the concert, on Sept. 21st in front of Royal Albert Hall. The wind was blowing, so here you can see how full the skirt part actually is. I was mighty proud to actually meet Howard Shore in this dress after the concert, although he didn't comment on it *lol* He only stepped on my foot ;-) Sadly enough, our group was the one of the few in costume, most of the other people went in jeans,which is....not fitting at all for an occasion like this! It was the London Philharmonic Orchestra, you don't go to their concerts in jeans... :rants:

Here's a pic of us girls...

My friend Verena in her Rose Dress and my other friend Mira in an elven-inspired evening dress.

And another one, taken more than two years later when I wore the dress for a medieval restaurant...
I'm wearing a friend's silk velvet 'star cloak' with hood over it (which is actually very pretty and for some fleeting moment,
I thought about keeping it :mypreciousss: *lol*).

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