Carevale 2024 was the year of last-minute costumes for me! I normally hate last-minute sewing and try to plan things out so I’m done well before the event or trip. And I was this year! But I also got new ideas about a month before leaving for Venice so…
One of the events was “A Night in Venice with Veronica Franco and Henry III” — a renaissance 1570s themed ball. Since I had already revamped my black and gold Venetian gown for an event earlier in this year’s Carnevale, it would have made sense to rewear the same gown, maybe with different accessories. That’s what the rest of the Bella Donna gals were doing, and what I’d planned. But when I started down that road, I was dissatisfied.
Somehow I got it into my head that I needed a purple Venetian gown. After all, I have oodles of purple silk. And I had the bodice pattern from the new black and gold gown. So on New Year’s Eve, I decided to do it! I had some of this silver lace for trim but needed more and placed an AliExpress order for that and another trim. I got started on the gown.
I went together pretty easily (I’d just done the same thing a few months before). I made far simpler hanging sleeves for this one and bought a black chemise off Amazon to wear with it, trimming the cuffs in wide lace. There was a hassle with one AliExpress vendor getting the wide silver trim, and I had to order from a different one, but I got it done in time, even adding some of the Truly Hats ouches from my stash at the neckline.
I ran out of time to do anything in particular with the wig or headpiece and decided to just wear a favorite silver and purple tiara. As I was dressing at our palazzo, one of my necklaces broke, scattering pearls and beads all over the bathroom floor, and the girdle I made from more of those ouches didn’t fit correctly. There’s some other irritations I have about this gown, but whatever, it looks good enough, and I had a great time at the ball!
With Barbara & Jessica.
Photo by Laure Jacquemin at La Nuit des Rois with Veronica Franco and Henri III.