The Closet Historian: Lesage of the Rockies

March 30, 2017

Lesage of the Rockies

There comes a time, every so often, when you just have to make something a bit impractical and over the top like a black wool pencil skirt...oh wait, no, I mean an embellished jacquard bolero!

The skirt is indeed a recent project as well, and I had been wanting a winter appropriate black pencil skirt for ages, but lets face it, it's not exactly the star of this outfit is it? I had some of this sapphire blue jacquard left over from when I made a wiggle dress out of it earlier this year, and I had a sudden surge of inspiration one afternoon to attack it with black lace and sequins! There are some gorgeous embellished jackets from the 1930s and 40s by Schiaparelli and Balenciaga and I thought perhaps with those fabulous boleros as my example for the style I could get away with something like this bolero in my retro wardrobe. I'll be wearing it with the matching dress soon to an event I have coming up, but I think it works with more sober black as well.

I wish there were such a place as a Lesage here along the Rocky Mountains, but alas my sewing room will have to suffice. I'm no couture embroider, but I'd love to take lessons at the storied school one day! For those who don't know what I'm on about, Lesage is a couture embroidery specialist atelier in Paris France who have worked with the major French couture houses for nearly a century, and now work with Chanel (and are indeed now owned by Chanel). Masion Lesage create the most spectacular embellishments and embroidery for haute couture collections and I highly recommend watching some videos of the artisan embroiderers at work for mega inspiration. I used all kinds of sequins for this bolero, but most were from Cartwrights including the matte black slightly cupped sequins that make up the larger flower shapes and the teeny tiny 2mm sequins that create the sparkle effect over much of the lace. The black lace itself is arranged motifs cut out from a length of faux alencon lace I bought years ago at Colorado Fabrics (back when it was called Denver Fabrics) fit around the neckline and fronts of the bolero. The kimono sleeved all in one style of bolero isn't really the best suited for this heavy sequining, as it creates folds around the armhole by the nature of the style, but I only had so much extra jacquard to work with!

Even though this little jacket was a ton of work, I had a lot of fun doing it and it feels so good to see it finished knowing I sewed on every single bead and sequin by hand. I'm a nutter for sure! Now I've moved onto the tulle galaxy circle skirt, which has a lot more space (ha! pun) to cover but the embroidery will be a lot less dense so it shouldn't be so bad. I'll get back to it then, I hope you have all had a lovely week!