An original house design
The Sketch.
Before there is cloth, there is a drawing. This one was made by Donna — a cropped pom-pom appliqué bodice with full puff sleeves, worn over a seamed pencil skirt — and it is being made into a real garment, by hand, one cluster at a time.
DK Angelette Design — signed original
Read closely
What the drawing says.
01
The bodice
A cropped, sheer-panelled bodice worked over entirely in hand-laid pom-pom appliqué — each cluster stitched down one at a time so the surface moves with the body rather than sitting flat.
02
The sleeve
A full, rounded puff cut to the elbow, gathered high on the shoulder and held with an inner support so it keeps its volume through an entire evening.
03
The skirt
A seamed pencil skirt to the knee, drafted with a curved front panel and a soft back vent — the quiet half of the look, deliberately.
04
The styling
Drawn with drop earrings, beaded cuffs at both wrists and a laced heel. The drawing is styled, not just designed — that is how Donna works.
From paper to cloth
This one is being made.
The bodice will be built on a sheer ground so the appliqué reads as texture rather than weight, with an inner corselet carrying the sleeve. The skirt is drafted separately and lined, so the two can be worn apart as easily as together.
One piece — not produced in a run
The making
Paper, cloth, hand.
This page is kept up as the piece is built. Photographs are added at each stage.
Complete
The drawing
Signed and dated by Donna, in ink and wash.
In progress
Cloth and toile
Sourcing the sheer ground and testing the appliqué density on a first toile.
To come
The appliqué
Every cluster laid and stitched by hand — the longest part of the making.
To come
First fitting
The bodice and skirt fitted on the body before the sleeve is set.
To come
Finished
Pressed, photographed and shown here.
Be told when it is finished
Ask to see it first.
Leave your name and the house will write to you when the piece comes off the table — or ask for something of your own, drawn the same way.
