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I know I’ve been like Preakness, Preakness, Preakness! But it’s my favorite weekend of the year and SOOOO many cool things happened this year!!!! I’m trying to ride out last weekend’s awesomeness a little bit longer!!!
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February is usually when I start to plan my Preakness weekend style!
You might remember that February was an insanely crazy month for me with Kade’s First Birthday, NYFW, planning a styled shoot, my birthday, speaking at Stevenson University, and a few other things I can’t seem to remember all while starting to plan for the Preakness.
During my speaking engagement at Stevenson University, they asked if I had internships available for their students. At the time I hadn’t really thought about it and politely said I didn’t, but later kept thinking about it and I came up with a pretty unique idea. I presented my thought to one of their professors, which they seemed pretty excited about, and asked me to write up an intern proposal. My project proposal was for one of their students to design a dress that I would wear to the Preakness this year. In my proposal I included my Preakness looks from the past and an inspiration board of other race day looks I was currently crushing on!
Erin Boggs, now asenior at SU, was the first to reply (coincidentally, Erin had designed for this years NYFW and I saw her looks while I was there in February). One of her designs in NYFW was actually my favorite of the show!!! I knew I was going to be in good hands working with Erin.
To start the process we reviewed the project proposal I created and then set up a meeting to look at some of Erin’s dress sketches, check out fabrics and take my measurements.
During that first meeting Erin presented three designs that were all very “me” and perfect for Preakness. But I fell in love with one over the others. Knowing the design of the dress, we started to look at fabrics. It was clear I knew nothing about designing because all the prints I liked wouldn’t work with our design for several reasons, but mostly to get the skirt to have the tiered, dimensional look we needed to use neoprene. Focusing there, I liked a print Erin found… it was sort of tie dye (a secret fav of mine) but we thought that it might be too much for the entire dress. We then thought about a blush/soft pink dress with the printed fabric as accents. Another addition to the dress was the neckline. While we were talking, a structured collar popped into my head. I asked Erin about adding a collar, and she said yes but wasn’t exactly sure if she knew what I was describing. So our next steps were to find the fabric and an example of a collar similar to what I had in my mind.
Unfortunately (or looking back, fortunately) Erin wasn’t able to find blush/soft pink neoprene fabric. But, she did find the perfect collar inspiration. It was exactly what I had envisioned!!! And, the two images she sent me were gorgeous!! I quickly asked Erin what she thought of these and if an ivory/gold combination would work for the dress. We quickly talked about how white/ivory is really risky, but I was all in and ready to take the chance!
Erin mocked up a second sketch with the new collar and added accentuated sleeves (inspired by one of the images she found). My excitement was off the charts… the dress was going to be amazing! Erin then started to create the pattern, and I mean design the pattern from scratch for the dress! This dress is truly a work of art with every part of the process handmade by Erin. (When she is a famous designer one day I’ll be able to say I wore one of her original designs!!)
Once the pattern was complete, Erin started to make a “mock” dress or sample dress to check all sizing/measurements. Simultaneously we picked out a gold lace and ordered all the fabric we needed. We scheduled a second meeting to try on the sample and I got a peek at the fabric. The gold lace was even more exquisite in person!!! With only two weeks until Preakness, it was now my turn to accessorize!! In Erin’s design she had included a gold metal belt from ASOS.com. I ordered a handful of gold shoes from Zappos. The Aldo gold Traycey pumps matched the belt perfectly. Next, I needed a fascinator, clutch and to finalize my jewelry. Nicole from Finchy Baby Hats custom made my fascinator based of the dress sketches. I wore my Julie Vos bangles from Becket Hitch, Rachel Mulherin earrings, and Mignonne Gavigan earrings (I’ll explain that later). I found the perfect clutch at DSW, however their customer service left a lot to be desired (Basically DSW stores around me didn’t carry the clutch and after calling for days, I finally spoke to someone and they wouldn’t two-day or overnight the clutch, even though their website said they offered expedited shipping options) so I wore my tried and true Tory Burch gold clutch.
As Erin was putting the finishing touches on the dress (hand stitching all the gold lace to the dress) she was sending me updated pictures! I couldn’t have been more excited to wear this dress!! Of course, they were calling for rain all weekend but I didn’t care! Worst case our seats have cover and I’d bring rain boots!
Thursday night I was out at The Charles with Baltimore Style Magazine kicking off Preakness Weekend. I thought I might swing by to pick up the dress after the event. But it ended a little early and Erin still had a few hours of lace stitching to finish.
I shared with Erin my Friday morning Black Eyed Susan Day schedule to coordinate pick up. I was going to be on Fox 45 that morning modeling Preakness inspired looks with Lana Rae for our local Macy’s and Sassanova. I had to be at the station at 4:30AM, after hair & makeup we were then going to the track to film and April Bly, with April Bly Photography, was meeting me mid morning to shoot hopefully both my Black Eyed Susan and Preakness Dresses. Erin said “text me on your way to the station I might still be up”. I thought surely not… but I texted Erin around 3:45 and she was up! Just finished the very last stitch!!!! I was blown away by her talents, of course, but also her drive, dedication and perfectionism! I picked up the dress on my way to the station, it was raining out and the dress was covered so I wouldn’t really see it until later that day.
After filming, April and I met up to shoot some photos at the track. It was still early, probably about 9:30am we shot the Preakness dress designed by Erin Boggs first! April and I were standing in a bathroom at Pimlico unveiling this amazing masterpiece and we were both blown away by the gorgeously intricate details! The dress was exactly like Erin’s design boards and absolutely breath taking! I received SO many compliments all day in this dress! I couldn’t help but to smile all day and proudly tell those who asked all about Erin and our collaboration!
THANK YOU ERIN, NICOLE, RAECHEL, MALIKA FOR HELPING ME LOOK SO GLAMOROUS & APRIL FOR CAPTURING IT!!!
Dress: Erin Boggs
Fascinator: Finchy Baby Hats
Makeup:Wow Royal Beauty Service
Spray Tan:Two Bronzed Babes
Photography: April Bly
Jewelry: Rachel Mulherin & Mignonne Gavigan
***Quick note on my earrings… I wore Rachel Mulherin’s earrings on Friday when April and I took pictures of the dress and then I wore the mini Madeline’s from Mignonne Gavigan on Saturday for the Preakness.
