Fashion at the imperial court

Whimsical and colorful vignettes from an imaginary, far-flung Empire:

From the genteel Western Hills to the formal Eastern Highlands to the tribal Southern Savannas, the nobility strive to outdo each other in pageantry and barbaric splendor when attending the Imperial Court.

Each tableau is imagined, composed, and then sewn by hand. No two are alike.

Utterly fanciful, any resemblance to actual apparel is purely accidental.

 I have always enjoyed sewing. Having a plethora of colorful fabrics on hand when I conceived the notion of wall hangings, it was easy to turn my creativity to fabric. Always an avid fan of fantasy literature, my head is full of costumes from imaginary and fantastical worlds. When I started folding and combining fabrics, costumes emerged, the first of a collection that has become Fashion at the Imperial Court. From there, the costumes have come tumbling out, nearly non-stop.

I love the combination of colors, patterns and shapes, and I love discovering what the next costume will be. I get enormous satisfaction from seeing the maelstrom of color-pattern-shape possibilities coalescing into a finished piece. Additionally, these tableaux (scenes) give me a wonderful opportunity to experiment with embroidery and beading; indeed, sometimes my challenge is to stop embellishing.

After I had created more than a few costumes, I found that they fell into several distinct styles. The notion of a whimsical back story began to take shape, and thus was born Fashion at the Imperial Court.