Kate Scorey

Orchids for Olympia

This final major project involved me establishing where my skills and interests sit in a contemporary market. I greatly enjoy designing for a purpose and for a subject. The use of hand embroidery in the bridal market whilst is common isn’t frequently offered in a bespoke way. Creating a sacred object, such as wedding attire, by hand adds luxury to facilitate the movement into the next stage of life. The garments allows each client to show of the individuality of the couple and the deeper emotional connection to each other. Researching the client allowed me to find personal details to embroider into this special garment to create  something that resonates their personality and journey.

My work highlights important elements of the wearers story and in this particular project – Orchid’s for Olympia – the wedding garment had a multifaceted purpose. The Princess Olympia of Denmark and Greece is at the centre of this composition, her wedding garment not only has significance on a national scale, but should have additional personal value known to the bride. Olympia’s love for floral’s, in particular orchids, made this the perfect muse for my final major project. Blackwork drew upon the lace seen in her mother’s dress, gold-work giving the garment luxury, tambour beading to give the dress a couture modern design to suit her own style, 3D beading to connect add texture and shine to the garment and I drew upon her coming of age dress for the colour palette – blush.

Moving into my newer collections and professional work a key element will be creating bespoke inspired wedding garments, but it will also involve designing ready to wear collections for boutique stores. Furthermore, an important element to this project and future projects is insuring that the practice can tailor to all couples and individuals no matter their culture, gender or relationship. Not just catering for women but also for men, especially as a wedding no longer only means man and woman.

My work and work in progress are consistently recorded on my Instagram account: @katemadelynnescorey and @k.madelynne.