Lanvin at H&M: fabrics and fitting

As promised i took today some pictures of details of lanvin dresses.
The first impression is that the fabrics used are different compared with the usual h&m ones.
They are all synthetic.
I'll talk about the pieces i've bought first.

• The pink ruffle dress.

The fabric used look like satin but it's not shiny.
Hems are all unfinished but they put a rigid ribbon in the borders. There is a small black ribbon belt attached to the dress.
The ruffle part has borders exposed in the skirt.
These dresses in my opinion fit bigger than usual,i would say a size bigger.

elastic band at the belt

• The zebra trench coat

The zebra trench coat has the most particular fabric, when i saw the preview pictures i tought it was satin but it's not, the fabric has structure, a little rigid and rough to the touch, a little creased, hems are unfinished here too even lateral sewn parts have rought borders on the front part of the trench instead of being on the reverse side. It's a pity!

• The white bow skirt

This skirt is made of taffetta,no hems here too,borders are secured only by a zig zag stitch.
This one has the zip hidden by the bow, it's the only one who has the zipper hidden, all other dresses have a big black zipper exposed on the side or back.The skirt sits on hips and it's higher on the back than on the front.

My cousin bought the ruffle flower print dress. This one apart from the exposed zipper has refined borders, a rigid ribbon sewn into the borders, the straps are of tulle with unfinished borders and unthreades a bit.
The pink one shoulder dress available even in plum has a fabric like jersey,medium weight something like this
The puffy shoulder is taken together by just one stitch.
I couldn't touch the yellow dress because flew off the shelves but i would say it's the same fabric of the pink one, still with unfinished hems.
Overall these dresses are good although they could have been more refined.
I would say they fit bigger than usual h&m dresses a size bigger.
With every dress they gave me a garment cover that is nice.
I'll try to buy a couple of more pieces on ebay now that is overwhelmed by listings and i'll share with you links for some good buys! In any case the first thing i'll do is to make invisible those zippers!!

Couldn't wait, i had to wear Lanvin now!

I was one of the lucky bloggers who could wear the Lanvin collection before the others, touch the fabrics, take the pictures, have them as a gift, neither Madonna or Jlo could have them in advance.
Ah ah I'm kidding. It's not true. We're not one of those fortunates but we do can wear Lanvin in advance, yes there's a way. Do it ourselves!
Why? Because it's fun! Because we can do it our way!Because it will fit perfectly!
My chosen dress from Lanvin collection is the black little black dress decorated with all those loops

This one!
Ok my passion for fashion is eating me and i want to get involved in the process of dress making. I want choose the fabrics, i want to draw patterns, i want to learn as much as i can the way i like it more, discovering step by step, resolving one problem at the time when a question arises. Call me crazy i can't stop myself.
So after a week searching for the fabric (you can find every patterned fabric you like but when you need black no one has it!) i managed to get my hands on a 1.5 meters of black wool a little acrylic in it that gives just a little bit of stretch.
I came home and it was time for pattern making.
This is a classic lbd sleeveless, this basic dress pattern worked fine! It has 4 seams that define waist line.

This pattern is from Rosanna La sarta website, thanks Mrs Rosanna!

click here to see how to measure

Basic Dress
half front	half back
AR=1/12 chest AC=1/4 chest CM=1/4 chest+3 cm AD=front waist lenght DN=1/4 waist+5 cm ON=1,5 cm DE=1/10 height EG=1/4 hip + 2 cm KP=1/18 chest RP=1/7 chest CL=1/2 breast distance BL=CL UV=3 cm UZ=10 cm RT=bust height DB=skirt lenght	AR=1/12 chest AC=1/4 chest CM=1/4 chest+ 1 cm AD=back waist lenght DN=1/4 waist+2 cm ON=1,5 cm DE=1/10 height EG=1/4 hip - 2 cm KP=1/18 chest RP=1/7 chest+1,5 cm UV=4cm UZ=14 cm DB=skirt lenght

If you want i'll translate for you the legend so you can draw your pattern according to your measurements, mail me if you need them!(*DONE*)
Now some work till i got the dress ready to be decorated!


The pattern

Loose threads
And the dress is done!
Now let's move on with decorations!
I've cut more than 60 rectangles of fabric for the decorations, sewn the borders to avoid loose threads, folded and then sewn on the dress




Deciding loops position (they don't need to be on rows just try to fill the space regularly)


Finished dress

What do you think?I put longer loops at the neck to make it more regular and well refined. I decored the dress on the back of the skirt too, i don't know if the Lanvin's dress has decorations on the back.Personally i don't like those dresses decorated on the front only because they make the dress look like an apron. It looks like they didn't have enought time to finish the dress.
As you can see i left the waist decorations free. That's where you put a wide elastic belt. The final result is a slim looking waist compared to the puffy effect of the decorate dress. I love it!



Dress tried on
Now just some numbers to let you figure out if it's worth realize this dress instead of just buying it.
the fabric cost 22 euro (but was a special price, a remainder piece)
(price of fabric will depend of your choice (and shop), polyester is 8 euro per meter, pure light wool 44 euros per meter)
i employed a full day of work to complete it, like 9 hours
Lanvin dress is 129 euro
Now i'm even more curious to see the h&m collection!