In 2016, after seeing photographs of Sara Bunn's exquisite fashions with collages or individual images of historic African American greats, I inquired about the possibility of having a child-size dress (size 2) made for one of my largest dolls. This image of artist Leroy Campbell posed with a little girl modeling a dress that replicates his painting, Stands Out!, prompted the inquiry. My idea was for the doll-size dress to be a tribute to my mother that would contain images of her dating back to the 1940s to the present. It would also contain several statements my mother has expressed throughout the years.
When the opportune time presented itself to Ms. Bunn, her work on the dress commenced. Using the provided photographs, phrases, and doll's measurements, she created the perfect photo collages for the sleeves and skirt of the dress with one image of my mother in the center of the bodice.
Several photographs of the dress to document the unboxing, individual pictures of the front, back, other areas of the dress, as well as the doll modeling it are included below.
Unboxing
Inside the corrugated cardboard shipping box was the brown-paper-wrapped dress tied with string and a note card from Sara. |
A piece of Bunn Funn logo tape was used to seal the brown paper. I held my breath before breaking the seal... |
... and exhaled upon viewing the bodice of the long-awaited dress. |
Images of the Dress
Full-length frontal view of the dress |
A closer look at the skirt of the dress; these images extend to the back of the skirt. |
This image and the next two are the expanded center pleat of the skirt of the dress. |
Another photo of the center pleat of the skirt. The seated woman in the top image is my maternal grandmother. |
The final image of the expanded center pleat of the skirt |
Mama and my brothers are on the right sleeve of the dress. Above their images reads, "All of you came out of me." |
Sara created a photo booklet printed on cardstock that contains six black and white images of the dress taken from different angles. |
Smiling Debbie by Woelfert-Puppen is the doll the dress was custom made to fit. She is shown above in a full-length color photograph. |
This is the same picture as above in black and white. |
Smiling Debbie poses for a close-up photo. |
In this final photo, Smiling Debbie poses from the back. The velvet waist ties create a small bow. |
I am very pleased with the dress which will serve as a beautiful, long-lasting, tangible tribute to my mother, who has only seen the photo booklet. She will see it in person soon. Greatly pleased with the concept and the dress itself, my mother thanked me profusely for honoring her in this manner.
(Today is my mother's birthday. Happy Birthday, Mama!)
If interested in having a collage photo dress made for yourself or for a doll you own, feel free to visit The BunnFun Collection website where Sara's contact information is located under the contact link.
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Such a sweet and lovely way to honour your mother!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Arlette!
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That is amazing!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, April!
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Spectacular! Beautiful artistry.
ReplyDeleteThank you! My pictures do not fully illustrate the beauty.
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