On March 10, 2024, the 96th Academy Awards ceremony took place at the Dolby Theatre. Many of the Oscar 2024 red carpet dresses were a nod to the past, with an emphasis on femininity and understated luxury. America Ferrera in a dress by Atelier Versace
A straight silhouette dress with a slightly flared skirt at the sides, a train, and shoulder straps. Seven tailors spent 400 hours creating this luxuriously shimmering dress. The dress is hand-embroidered with fine chains and sparkling rhinestones. To achieve a perfect fit, the designers divided the dress into a bodice and skirt, also adding a vertical seam at the front center. To sew such a dress, use the patterns “Dress with integrated shoulder straps” and “Bell skirt.”
To obtain the bodice pattern up to the waist, cut off the parts below the waistline from the pattern pieces:
Cut the skirt back using the “Mermaid skirt” pattern. The diagram shows half of the gore.
Three full gores are required for the back.
Add an extension for the train on the pattern.
The following courses will assist in making the dress:
Anya Taylor-Joy in a dress by Dior Haute Couture
The story behind this dress is fascinating. In the Christian Dior 1949-1950 collection, there were two famous dresses, Junon and Venus. Replicas of these dresses are now kept at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute.
Inspired by these dresses, Dior’s creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri created a modern version, refreshing the silhouette and paying homage to the original’s picturesque embroidery.
This dress took 6000 hours to complete, including 3500 hours of embroidery.
The structure of this dress consists of a corset with a straight neckline and a bell-mermaid skirt (bell-shaped in the front and three godet panels with an extension for the train in the back). The base of the dress before decoration looks as follows
Standard corset pattern:
Skirt. The base is sewn first, onto which the embroidered decorative elements are applied.
Skirt pattern:
Cut the skirt back using the “Mermaid skirt” pattern. The diagram shows half of the gore.
Three full gores are required for the back.
Add an extension for the train on the pattern.
Once the base of the dress is ready, begin decorating. The corset is covered with an embroidered mesh. Embroidered elements are sewn in layers onto the skirt.
The following courses will assist in working on such a dress:
Becky G in a dress by Vera Wang
Becky caused a sensation in a custom-made dress featuring a dazzling corset and a black skirt with a high slit.
For the bustier, the following pattern should be used:
The skirt is hand-gathered on a mannequin. It is recommended to make a preliminary draping mock-up.
The following courses will assist you:
Camila Alves in a dress by Atelier Versace
The straight silhouette dress, created for Camilla Alves McConaughey, features Versace's exquisite signature bust structure with crystal embroidery. Over 550 hours were spent by six atelier masters crafting this artwork.
On the black background, the seams of the reliefs blend in and become invisible, making it difficult to determine their location. However, I found several photos online where I could discern the construction of the dress from the front and back. In the technical drawing, the grey areas indicate the embroidery locations
To create this dress, take patterns from:
“Luxury Dress” course (dress and skirt patterns)
“Bra pattern or corset template” for the cups
The dress pattern should be modeled by cutting off the upper parts of the cups.
Draw the side seams, extending the parts downward.
By removing the skirt pattern, you will get a dress pattern with a bell skirt.
Check the pattern on a mock-up. If desired, you can replace the under-bust side part with vertical darts. Conduct the dart modeling on the mock-up, then transfer the changes to paper.
The train has a conical shape. In the drawing, the red lines are the stitching lines attaching the piece to the middle seam of the dress.
Select the correct cup size pattern.
Sew the cups separately.
The cups are hand-sewn inside the finished dress. A bra belt can be attached to the cups and fastened under the dress to ensure the best breast fixation.
The straps are also separate details and are hand-sewn through the edge of the dress.
The following courses are recommended for creating the dress:
Carey Mulligan in a dress by Balenciaga
Carey Mulligan embodied the spirit of old-school Hollywood glamour by donning an exquisite Balenciaga gown, specially created for her. This dress, recreated by Demna after the original design by Cristobal Balenciaga from the winter collection of 1951, is made of black velvet. Its long lines extend all the way down, finishing with a scalloped fishtail. The lower cream skirt is made from 150 meters of pleated silk tulle.
For the dress pattern, use a pattern with a sweetheart neckline.
First, sew the lining of the dress, extending each pattern piece straight down to the level where the tulle skirt will be attached. Fit the lining on the mannequin.
Calculate the expansion of each godet according to the volume of the tulle skirt. The top part with scallops should lay freely over the tulle skirt. Use the mermaid skirt gore pattern as a template. To get the template along the hip line, cut off the top of the mermaid skirt gore.
Aligning the skirt template with the hip line of the dress pattern, extend each piece to the bottom line.
This will result in a pattern for an integrated mermaid dress.
Sew a mock-up using this pattern. Fit it over the lining and draw scallops along the bottom of the skirt. Trim the excess fabric and cut the face fabric using the resulting pattern. The courses described will aid in the construction of this dress:
Danielle Brooks in a dress by Dolce & Gabbana
Danielle Brooks wore a custom-made black satin corset dress by Dolce & Gabbana. Her stylist, Jennifer Austin, describes the look as “a deconstructed tuxedo, but in dress form.” Spiral bones, typically inserted into corset channels, are sewn on as a decorative element in this outfit. Every detail of the look is carefully chosen: a wide belt with a lowered waistline, reminiscent of a tuxedo cummerbund, a large bow leading to a long train, and a high slit in the front.
Here we see a classic corset, sewn from a pattern with four reliefs at the front:
After altering for a specific size, all pattern panels will significantly expand.
Using a mock-up fitted on a mannequin, carry out the modeling, adding relief lines and increasing the number of pieces.
Adjustments in the waist area are also necessary (deepen the darts) to enhance the corset's cinching and achieve a more curved figure.
The skirt can be cut using a bell skirt pattern, adding new lines for a tapered silhouette.
The bow is formed manually using the draping method.
The courses described will assist in creating this garment:
Emily Blunt in a dress by Schiaparelli couture
While some actresses prefer to stick to a simple and classic style for the Oscar ceremony, Emily Blunt is not one of them.
Blunt's dress from the Schiaparelli couture spring 2024 show was created by the perpetual proponent of the trompe l’oeil style, Daniel Roseberry. The designer developed straps that hover above the body, adding a surrealistic effect to the dress.
On the one hand, the effect of the floating straps adds height, elongates, and slims the figure. On the other hand, it simplifies the process of fitting the straps to the customer's figure specifics.
For this dress, the following pattern should be used:
After resizing the pattern according to the customer's measurements, a mock-up should be sewn, and the position of the straps on the back refined. Under the "flying" straps are elastic straps that secure the dress on the shoulders. To create this dress, the techniques from the following courses can be used:
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