Omg I cannot let 2019 end without showing y’all my process for this!! This design for the Her Universe Fashion Show had to be kept secret but I’m here to SPILL that tea lmfao. This is “A Diamond by Any Other Name” 🌸🙊 inspired by #StevenUniverse and im the designer/maker/model✌️
Her Universe is an apparel company specializing in super fashion forward geeky clothing, and once a year at sdcc they have a fashion show for OOAK geek couture. I’ve wanted to submit for years and 2019 was the year that I made space in my schedule to submit and show my work!
I submitted 3 concepts, and the one they selected (24 finalists are chosen from hundreds of submissions) was actually the idea I’d had the earliest, YEARS ago! Here is the rendering as I first sent it to them. This was my FIRST time doing digital art!! 😱 
Because I am a fucking intractable overexplainer, here is the CAPTION for this design lmfaooo. Not all of this came to fruition in the time I had from acceptance email to runway, but the core of the journey is there!
Worth pointing out that THIS was the iconic fashion outfit I was wearing the day I got the acceptance email 😂 I pretty immediately buckled down to start working on the garment for a July 18 deadline! I felt READY but TERRIFIED!!!
As a new yorker, sourcing is always my fave part of a build and I will be forever obsessed with the S U I T E of fabric I got to work with for these looks. Pink Diamond ended up bwing p simple to source, Rose Quartz was harder (more on that later)
Initial construction phase codename: mockup hell. The ouroboros nature of this design made the order of operations for this basically impossible?? I started with a 10-piece soft cup corselette support layer and a 12 gore skirt, all custom drafted
The choice to make a FULL under-support layer certainly was.......... a choice 😳 I found a cotton silk blend in baby pink that I absolutely adored for this! The strapless corselette provided support and structure for the garment, it was just time consuming as heck!
If I have a sewing weakness, it is undoubtedly getting caught up with clean internal finishing that no one will see haha. I frequently work with spiral steel boning but this was my first time installing an underwire!!
With a little over a month to the show left 🤯, my structure layer was COMPLETE. We love to see the contrasting boning channels made w twill tape!!
And here it is on me!! I’m always a proponent of boned structure layers BUT OH MAN Y’ALL I WAS FEELING THE TIME CRUNCH AT THIS POINT FRIENDS!!
And then we scooted back to mockups!! I drafted 4 different size petals in sloping tiers, with ribbon placeholding the bodice line, and pinned them on as proof of concept! V little measuring, so much eyeballing the right ~feel~
A guiding principle for this project: usually w cosplay, I’m building for the frame of a photo online OR in person at con. for this my frame was a live, moving runway. I personally think the skirt looks a little weak when still, but it looked DIVINE in movement 😍
Because I built that whooooole underlayer, patterning the Rose Quartz bodice was easy. I straight up just draped and marked various pieces. I had to do almost NO adjustments from this first pass.
And this was the test fit! Less than a month to the runway!! It became very clear very early on that time would be my PRIMARY foe lmfao. But man, patterning and draping is my absolute jam!
ONE OF MY FAVE DETAILS. I was tired of mockups so i let myself make these irregularly pleated panels to keep my HYPE up. Silk dupioni hand gathered and carefully heat set over a cotton base, which would then be seamed together. All four panels took a single weeknight.
A note on fabric for Rose Quartz! I struggled with this and am forever grateful for @leetal_weapon ‘s feedback. The depth of this dress comes from EXTENSIVE fabric layering of organza, charmeuse, mesh, and tulle in SEVERAL different gradients.
Specifically the bodice was a layer of cotton-silk lining, stabilizing layer of silk organza, layer of white-pink silk charmeuse, layer of rose gold mesh, layer of tulle. This was chosen to visually meld seamlessly with the colors of the top tier of petals!
TRU STORY: I’m a die hard @carlyraejepsen fan, and her NYC shows were the same day as the fashion show. So I did the logical thing and uH FLEW TO CALIFORNIA TO SEE HER THERE W MY GF?? @Little_Mantis was my wig department, here she is dying wiggos. But I DID bring handsewing—
Which was the gem star detail at the center of the gown! Base fabric was layered like the bodice, and design was freehanded sequins and beads. I love doing ‘organic’ work like this where it’s not supposed to be totally precise??
This piece was suuuuuuper satisfying, and made the cross country flights fly by /dadjoke! Fun fact, the slightly dull looking beads that make a petal-like outline? Are REAL rose quartz!! They were pricey and not as flashy, but I looooved knowing they were there
Back in nyc and on the date of my 28th birthday 🥳 I quick-patterned Pink Diamond’s collar and embellished it with velvet trim in geometric patterns! All the ribbonlines were carefully measured to match at the shoulder seam!
For timeline: we’re around fourth of july and the show’s in abt two weeks 😶 The mockup for Pink Diamond’s top had been done for a while, and was actually the first time I had drafted a fully darted top (i usually pattern w contours!) Took her apart and made a light muslin base!
O i lied– THIS MIGHTVE BEEN MY FAVE DETAIL. I deconstructed a single metallic silk gradient into dozens of fabric strips, and rebuilt a geometric homage to gem facets and the stained glass art that inspires Steven Universe.
To get the ~*feel*~ of the irregular coloring right, I just had to lay them all out en masse on my floor till they looked correct. Seam matching all of this was a dream honestly. I would make a whole garment with this technique if I could.
It’s not very flashy and the finishing feels a lil rushed to my eye, but this load-bearing detail was MEGA important: I built this center diamond specifically with an open lap deep enough to grab. For the transformation, I needed a solid central GRIP to yank it all apart.
Remember that white-pink TO bubblegum ombre charmeuse? That’s what my Rose Quartz base skirt was made out of, with interfacing and an organza lining! Cannot exaggerate what a nightmare it was to cut and keep organized pieces for a 12 gore floor length skirt like this...
And the baby-pink TO eggplant ombre tulle? That became the petals!! I carefully measured their placements for each tier to get the most organic gradient color flow. Each petal was a layer of poly organza, rose gold mesh, and that tulle. U can see my workspace disintegrating 😂
Before and After the petals. I will never not be in awe of the depth of color that can be achieved through fabric layering, especially with ombres 🤩
A number of final details came together last minute!! PD top attached w snap tape on sides and velcro on shoulder. I‘d hoped to make flowers for the RQ bust and bridal mesh, but ran out of time and used fabric flowers from M&S Schmalberg!
Beach City in steven universe is actually based on Ocean City, MD which I grew up going to! 🏖 I had my mom look for earrings I could wear from boardwalk jewelry stores there, and she succeeded!! My roomie @jarvi helped paint these amazon heels w jacquard pigment!
So I’ve kind of neglected to explain the actual transformation 😅 It’s not a secret– I did SO MUCH research, and still ultimately followed along w the first youtube video that comes up on google. This was the LAST part to come together 🤯
At this point in the timeline, I am flying to San Diego and I am NOT DONE WITH MY GARMENT LMFAO. My plans are always just a little 2grand4time, and this was no exception! I had to trust in my *thorough* research that it’d all come together! Now let’s talk about this runway:
@Little_Mantis was my one woman wig department. She ombre dip dyed, thinned and curled the RQ wig, and colored highlights into both wigs!! We used Arda to take advantage of consistent color + caps big enough for a hidden reveal! The second wig is legit just tucked in the first!
My makeup was also done by @Little_Mantis ! Most people had a whole team backstage, I just happened to be the lucky duck woth a cosplay gf who’s a pro makeup artist and wig commissioner, also I love her and virtually couldn’t have done with without her
Because of how close I cut the build, we didn’t rehearse until the day of the show!! @Little_Mantis helped me rig and run the reveal at least 20 times until I felt sure there was no way I could fuck it up lmfao. Here’s a run backstage where you can see the mechanic a lil closer!
Shoulda said this earlier upthread but: the @sasha_velour reference was INTENTIONAL. I had packed petals to rig in the wig but ran out of rehearsal time to do so safely! This concept is explicitly drag-inspired– what better way to celebrate a show as queer as Steven Universe 🥰
As we near the end of this thread, enjoy a selfie for ig vs selfie for frens. I was. SO nervous. Had not slept the night before. I had been working SO hard on this for MONTHS, wanted it for years. And it all came down to a single minute. I had *one* chance to do this right.
The reason why that runway is so, idk, joyful? is because that’s my REAL human response to knowing that I did it. I did this thing that I put my whole soul into and it went perfectly. As soon as I got offstage i screamed I CANT FEEL MY HANDS!! 🤯at @Little_Mantis 📸 @tikimarks
Making this garment and showing it on this stage changed my life. Thank you @tikimarks for the *incredible* photos. Thank you @Little_Mantis for everything. And thank you, thank you to everyone who supported my materials costs on ko-fi or just left a kind word. YELLING FOREVER!!!
