Favrielle’s Atelier

Designing this dress was interesting because, like the Troyes le Mont dress, it is an example of Phedre dressing in a way that she normally wouldn’t.  She is going to visit a holy man (akin to a Rabbi) and therefore dresses in what she considers ultra-conservative clothing.  Now, as we discover afterwards, she does go a little overboard.  The dress is described in Kushiel’s Chosen as a modest travelling gown of brown worsted.  She wears a thick woolen shawl, a woolen cap and study boots.  Her hair is braided. So, here is what I came up with.  It doesn’t really fit in with the rest of her wardrobe, but, we all have that shirt that we look at in our closet and think, “why did I buy that?”

This dress is a lot more midievil in design.  I don’t worry about being historically accurate.  Because I just don’t feel like it!

The fabrics for this dress are fine ones (though worsted is supposedly the cheap wool).

This dress is arguably one of the most important things that Phedre wears in any of the Kushiel series.  Before I go into it though, I want to diverge a little and talk about what this dress has to do with the name of my blog.

This dress is the first one designed by Favrielle no Eglantine in Kushiel’s Chosen.  Favrielle is, in my opinion, one of the more interesting characters in the novels.  She’s acerbic and incredibly creative.  Overall, I think she’s great.  From this dress on, she designs most of Phedre’s wardrobe.  I feel like the gowns she designs for Phedre are simple, elegant and bold.  I will do my best to do her justice.

This dress in particular is a dress ordered by and made specifically for Phedre.  It is made for her to wear to the Midwinter Masque, and for her to reveal that she is once again accepting assignations after an absence.  The costume is of Mara, a woman who was supposedly born of Naamah and a convicted murderer as well as being the first anguisette.  It is described in the novel as a crimson gown of silk jersey-cloth that flows like flame.  Her hais is in an elaborate coif of ringlets.  She wears a sheer black veil over eyes secured with black jet hairpins.  Low back.  The dress is close fitting to hips with a high neckline around the throat.  Ribbons are worn around her wrists.  The back is low because, to show one’s marque is to announce that one is accepting offers.  Her it is, both back and front.  Below that are the fabrics and trimmings.

This gown is quite different from anything else that I have designed for Phedre.  I didn’t have a lot to go on and, feeling like I know Phedre, I actually laughed while I was drawing it.  The dress is described in Kushiel’s Dart simply as being borrowed from one of Ysandre’s ladies in waiting.  My thought while drawing this was, “what would Phedre only wear if she had no other option?”.  I also thought of what a ridiculous woman would bring to a warzone to wear.  So, here it is.

So, it’s a triple flounced pink dress with a mesh overlay over the skirt with white flowers on it.  There’s even some white gloves!   Here are the fabrics:

As mentioned in the previous post, this is the second dress that Phedre wears while in the company of the master of the Straights.  It’s described in Kushiel’s Dart as being deep amber with gold brocade on the fitted bodice.  Phedre wears a caul of gold mesh.  I have also added a bracelet that Phedre gets from the Queen of the Dalriada while in Ireland to the outfit.  It’s described as a gold bracelet rich with fine, intricate knotwork.

Here’s the dress:

And here are the fabrics and the bracelet:

The mission that Phedre is sent on involves heading off Alba (what we would consider England) and Eire (Ireland) to try to rustle up some help to defeat the Skaldic hordes.  She has to cross the English channel, where there is a magical being that has been marooned there for ages.  She and her companions stay there for a bit both on the way to Alba, and on the way back.  This dress is what she wears on the first visit, the next post is for the second visit.

The dress is described as being made of bronze satin with a neckline worked a handspan deep with seed pearls.  She wears a hairpin with a spray of pearls.

I had trouble producing bronze with my pencil crayons, and the scanner doesn’t reproduce colour exaclty, so please refer to the fabric swatch below the picture to see what colour I actually think it should be.

I included some accessories that I thought could have been brought up from the ocean deep.

After Phedre is finished dealing with the Duc de Morhban, she sets out on her mission again.  Being very pleased and intrigued with her company, he gives her several things.  He gives her some clothing described simply as fine stuff that is fit for travel.  He giver her a deep brown velvet cloak.  Finally, he gives her a black pearl circle ring. Though I don’t think the book necessarily gives the impression that they are all worn together, I have lumped them together for the purpose of this entry.

I didn’t have a whole lot to go on for this dress.  So it became a case of the fabric inspiring the design.  I found a beautiful fabric (the sleeves) that I wanted to use and this was a great chance.  I found it at the Online Silk Fabric Store.  I will get on posting my favorite fabric store in the links section of the blog. Someday, when I get done designing and start actually making dresses, this is where I will shop. I live in a smallish city with a terrible fabric selection.

So, the designs have a few fabrics.  A velvet for the cloak, a wool for the dress.  Silk for the sleeves and some binding ribbon for the sleeves and waistline.  Not to be forgotten is the ring.  I don’t claim to be a jewellery designer, so I found the one in the picture below.

While on their secret mission, Phedre, Jocelin and Hyacinthe pass through the province of Kusheth and are forced to deal with the Duc there.  They need to negotiate safe passage, while still maintaining their secrecy.  Well, Phedre’s talents are perfectly tailored to the Duc so, she makes a trade.  Her ‘company’ for his temporary silence.  So, for the assignation, she wears a dress described in Kushiel’s Dart as a rich scarlet gown with a low back and a gold mesh caul.

The low back of the dress should be addressed.  Courtesans in the series belong to different houses, which value different attributes.  When a courtesan begins in a house, they also begin a tatoo (marque) on their back.  Though their fee belongs to their house, any gifts they receive on top of their fee helps to complete their tatoo.  When they complete their tatoo, they are free.  It is considered to be in very bad taste to wear clothing which bears an incomplete marque.  When they come back from the Skaldi, Phedre is able to complete her marque.  This then, is the first gown that reveals her completed marque.

I realize that the description doesn’t call for the gold, but I took a little liberty there.  She already has an all-red dress.  I’m pretty sure that I ripped the design for this dress at least in part off of an Arwen costume in the Lord of the Rings.  I would post a picture, but I can’t find one anymore.

So, here are the fabrics, which are considerably simpler than those for the Tsingano dress.  They consist of red and gold velvet and gold mesh.  I have also included some simple earrings and shoes for her to wear.

After Phedre and Jocelin return from the Skaldi, they find that they have been branded traitors back in Terre d’Ange.  They prove their innocence to the queen, and are sent on a special mission.  To do the mission, they need to travel unnoticed in order to keep their return secret.  The plan that they come up with, once again with the help of Hyacinthe, is to travel with the gypsy-like Tsingano (of which Hyacinthe is a lost and disgraced prince).   So, they come up with some clothing for Phedre to wear.  She gets a saffron cloak lined with maroon, and a fine but used blue velvet gown with triple flounced skirt and maroon underlining.  She wears a necklace of gold coins (the land’s gold coins bear a likeness of the queen later, but probably still the old king at this point) and a scarf on her head.  And finally, as proof of the fact that she is on a Queen’s errand, she has Ysandre’s heavy gold ring (bearing the swan crest) on a long chain.

I must note, I was in Ukrainian dancing for upwards of 13 years.  I took a bit of inspiration from my costumes (especially in the embroidery).  So, here’s the dress.

The fabrics on this one are quite intricate.  They include blue velvet, saffron wool, maroon silk, gold coins, blue cording, embroidery pattern, cream linen, buttons, a gold chain and a swan crested ring.  Amazingly, I found the perfect stuff for it all. Down to the buttons which have horses – the Tsingano are enthusiastic horse traders.

Phedre and Jocelin go to see Thelesis de Mornay after they escape from the Skaldi with the help of Phedre’s friend Hyacinthe.  He finds her a dark blue velvet dress.  It has to be suitable for a visit to court, but also something that a small-time carriage-renter might be able to easily get his hands on.  So, this is what I came up with.

I really like the fabrics for this one.  This was the second dress that I found fabrics for.  The first was for the apricot silk dress that I will get to eventually but, that’s getting a litte ahead of myself.  I love the blue velvet!  It’s cut velvet and it’s all swirly.

So, I logged onto the blog today to check the traffic, expecting it to be along the line of 3 visitors today.  To my surprise, I’ve had 55!  It seems that the wonderful Jacqueline Carey herself has linked to my blog!  How very exciting!  I must admit that I did a bit of a happy dance.  So I figured I might as well strike while the iron is hot and try to got a few more costumes up.

So here, is what I figure Phedre is wearing when presented to Waldemar Selig in Kushiel’s Dart.  It’s described in the book as a gown of combed white wool with hair down.  I have also taken liberties with combining the dress with the cloak that Phedre and Jocelin steal before escaping.  So, here is the dress and cloak.

The cloak is made from wolf fur.  I am a bit unsure of something and if anyone out there can clear it up, I can make any necessary corrections.  I think that the cloak was stolen from one of the white brethren, which would mean that the wolf fur would be white.  I am not sure and had chosen fabrics that was normal coloured wolf fur. When colouring however, I left it white, just in case.  So let me know what you think.