Akari Shinohara Meets Grace Kelly

Time again to rethink the Akari dress project following the results of the last test. Reviewing the book (Grace Kelly: Icon of Style to Royal Bride), I noticed a couple things that I think I will incorporate into the next tests. As I mentioned in a previous post, I've been trying to balance making this dress use Grace Kelly dress construction "theory" with Akari dress appearance, making arbitrary decisions about what's "correct". Now I'm going to lean more towards the Grace Kelly construction and the first thing to go is the button closure from the Akari.

Keep in mind that one difference between the Akari and Grace Kelly dresses is that Grace Kelly bodice/underbodice unit opens in front, while the Akari closes in back. The Grace Kelly has a two part front that opens, while my Akari pattern has a single front piece and opens at center back.

This picture got me thinking about the bodice I've been working on for the Akari. So far, it's basically been a corset, but at some point, it was going to have to have something added to the bottom. Since I hadn't decided on how to do the skirts, I hadn't worried too much about it. For the next round, I'll add on the charmeuse slip section.

The slip section might start higher than I was previously thinking. Originally, I was thinking of attaching something at the "hip" line below, but now I'm considering shortening the bodice to the "Mid" line and starting the slip at that point.

Alternately, I might leave the bodice the current length, but attach the slip starting at the Mid line, to give it  more stability on the body. I don't know if it will matter, given the other structural components, like the boning and wide petersham "belt", but will probably keep it hip length.

Looking at this picture, there is a separating zipper for the closure.

While sketching things out, I was wondering how to  put a slip on the bottom of the bodice and have a separating zipper. The solution I think will be as mentioned in the notes (snap closure). The slip section will start above the lowest part of the bodice (and bottom end of the zipper) and the rear seam will have an overlapping, placket type section. That section will have a snap closure which when opened, will allow access to the  zipper. This will allow the rear opening to be large enough to step into, while also being able to have a finished looking closure.