School daze homage

Happy black history month y'all. I hate that this month is over. I had intended to do so much more, but life is life-ing real hard these days. I got sick and my apartment flooded. This year has been pretty weird so far.

I'm thinking about posting the other things in coming weeks anyway but for now let's skip to the grande finale. I really love the movie school daze...it still holds up. The perfect mix of musical and political commentary. And the cast....so many black icons and staples. Also the costumes: 80s magic encapsulated. Designed by Ruth Carter ( who also did black panther), so of course it was pitch perfect.

I decided to make the performance dresses: The silver bodycon mermaid gown that they wear at the talent show. Before you say it 1. I'm aware that they are kind of the "villains" and 2. I'm aware that Tisha Cambells dress is the main and this one is the for the backup dancers, but I'm more partial to this one.

I chose this silver Lycra. I was looking for something a little darker but everything else had a print on it. I do like the way it looks, very spaceagey. For the mermaid skirt I chose a simple black satin. It was a bit of a challenge marrying these two fabrics together because of the stretch of the Lycra but I made it work.

For the pattern I drew up a franken-pattern using McCalls 7032 and a vintage butterick pattern with a circle skirt. I cut out the back panel of the upper bodice and since this pattern is meant for non woven stretch fabric I used the smallest size to account for stretch.

It is supposed to have a bow accent that I obviously had trouble tying. It would have put that 80's stamp on it but I still love the way it came out.