The FR Challenge

the long way to.....

The Fr challenge was hard to solve and we started with different opinions on this solutions, so we put together pieces and colours and here are some pics of the process of the doll, with a not released dress in red and black and the start of the challenge dress.






after this the coat and its colour....


Well, it's not always easy to create and sharing opinions and ideas on a project in a duo....



so the coat appeared but with a different colour, more dramatic!
So we turned into moonlight ......
Following you can read the Q&A for the judge we gave.
Thank you
Magia 2000 - Mario Paglino & Gianni Grossi

Veronique - #7 challenge


What was your concept for this gown?
We tried to get inspiration from the live of Veronique and her job. She is the CEO of a cosmetic industry and she studied in France, so the title collection is a tribute to her love for Paris and the french allure. We imagined that she came in France to introduce the new line of her cosmetic during the most joyful and glamourous event, the Cannes Festival, and the “joie de vivre” is related to the Cote d’Azur, to St. Tropez. In fact we immagine that she enjoy the day in St. Tropez and during the evening of the gala for the presentation of her new Parfume “Moonlight”, she arrive with her french couture inspired outfit. She comes out of the limo in front of the Cannes Festival, covering herself with the iridescent grey taffeta coat and after she walked up to the stairs , she turned back to the public and all the paparazzi, opening her coat and revieling her stunning wrapped satin light blue/grey evening gown.
She is terrific an breathless, with a soft elegance, but completely stunning in her beauty.
2) Why did you choose that particular fabric? The satin is light and luminous and the wrapping works very well with satin, they looks more alive. The coat must be very stiff to reach the volume we wanted, and so we decided for taffeta, lined in satin lining fabric.
3) Why did you choose that color? The choice was hard and we wanted to create the moonlight idea, but don’t want to choose black or white. We did different changes during the challenge, and at the end we defined that the light blue/grey looks wonderful for the moon, looking like the colour around the moon in a beautiful night. It’s not the colours of the moon, but the shadow of it and the surroinding colours, then we thought about the coat as the reflection in the dark sea, that is not completely black but such a grey iridescent , reflecting the moon, with metallic accent. The beadings in silver are the ligthing accent of the waves of the sea..
4) Do you think your gown is appropriate for FR? Yes, it’s sexy but not vulgar and Veronique is a lady, a young lady but very sophisticated, so the sexy cut of the dress and the breast wrapping enrich the shapes of Veronique, but keeping her chic.
5) What element do you think distinguishes your design and sets it apart from others? Cut? Fit? Embellishment? Color choice?
We think that the mix of the cut of the dress with the soft and light wrapping makes a wonderful contrast with the stiffer appeal of the coat. It’s a mix of 2 different volumes, the softness of the bodice and the modern line of the dress , comparing to the construction of the coat, more elegant and a sort of retro cut.
6) What element of this challenge was the most difficult for you?
The hardest point was to avoid thinking about the Jason’s idea and his point of view.
Usually, dolls have different styles and during their collections they wore many different style, like Barbie, with so many changes and not so personal point of view.
Here we got a specific point of view and Jason’s one is incredibly modern and detailed. It was hard to think about our favorite cut and style for a specific lady as Veronique, being ourselves and forget for a while the incredible talented opinion of Jason.
7) What element of this challenge was the most enjoyable?
To think about the story behind, we enjoyed so much in building the original tales and we loved it so much that it was hard to stop just to only one outfit, but we’d love to think about the all collection. It was nice to imagine Veronique moving into the scenes of our script.
8) If you could change one thing about your gown what would it be?
We love this doll very much and by now we haven’t any piece we don’t like, it was a mix of many things and we love them all. We don’t know if everything works together as we want, but we found a story and a sense in this outfit. Also the jewels were made with pearls, always very close to the moon idea, in many philosophy the pearls are close to the moon influence, and all the beads used in the jewels are in the same colours of the coat and the rhinestones of the rings in the necklace are near to the dress color.

And more deatils and answers about Dolly!

at the start the bow position or the wrapping was not obvious and so we tried many different skirt shapes and more!!!

Following you'll find the answer to the Judge questions for this challenge.


Magia 2000 - Mario Paglino & Gianni Grossi

ALEX - #6 challenge


What was your concept for this gown?
We chose the musical “Hello Dolly” and we immediately realized that we need something very glamourous and glittered. She is an extraordinary caracter and at the beginning we watch the movie many times to understand the scene and the movements she gotta do with the dress and the complete impact of the scene’s colors.
We realized that the scene is very elaborated, with many ornaments in gold and red, so we wanted something of that period, but different from the original and different form the ballgown of the other ladies on the scene. She is an incredible funny, elegant but extravagant lady and this has to be part of our design, keeping the original idea of sparkling image.
2) Why did you choose that particular fabric? That was the hardest part of the project, because we wanna keep the outfit beautiful , light and sparkling, but not expensive, and the original dress has a completed beaded fabric in gold. So the fabric has to flow to let her dance and move under the skirt, but be sparkling, and so we chose to mix 2 fabrics, one crepe satin and a gold net to reach the idea. This way the bodice was lined twice to get it stiffer, with a bustier line, and the crepe satin flows, with an oblique cutting of the net, also the net is not so stiff as it seems and at the and it looks wide.
3) Why did you choose that color? The colour was truly important, because we wanna be different form the original and it was not easy. We chose light blue/green to make a complete different dress from the other, as she wears something different in the scene. No other ladies has complete gold dress, so we need to have a complete different colour too, and we choose this light blue to get the sparkling idea also in the colour, very strong, funny, extravagant and new. The gold net make the light blue more sparkling and decrease it from its flashing impact.
4) Do you think your gown is appropriate for Susie? Yes, Alex is a great doll, and ready to wear anything from historical costumes to daywear and ready to wear garments.
She is truly changeable and we believe she is great in this outfit that put your attention on the waist point, and Alex has a wonderful butterfly waist and important bust. So we think she is great in this type of dresses.
5) What element do you think distinguishes your design and sets it apart from others? Cut? Fit? Embellishment? Color choice?
The eloborated costume is full of details and the great impact of the colour really put your attention on the caracter. We thought that if Barbara Streisand wore this dress in the scene, nobody could take the eyes off of her, coming out from the screen as a real diva, as the original dress made.
Wa wanna impact and attention, she is the diva who was coming back at the restaurant from so long and makes her great entrance.
6) What element of this challenge was the most difficult for you?
There were 2 points: the first was the choice of the movie, and following the fabrics, and the colours, that drove us crazy to find what we want and how to make it different from the original.
At the beginning we chose a different movie and then realized how poor of chance this could be, so it was not easy to chose the movei we felt close to our attitudes.
The second was the comparison with the origial and so we tried to mix a little the ideas of the movie scene with the theatrical outfits, keepin gthe shapes of that time.
7) What element of this challenge was the most enjoyable?
The beadings and the accessories was the most funny part, even if we loved to watch the movie and we got so much inspirations from many movies.
8) If you could change one thing about your gown what would it be?
We wouldn’t change anything, because even if probably we did something wrong, the complete outfit gives us a good impact and we think we achieve the point we wanted, with sparkle but not too much and a right proportions of the dress, line of the skirt and so on. So we love the complete image.

and then...... Dolly came!

Black and White movie are hard to understand, especially if you think about changing the colour of the dress and using colors to express your idea.
That movie was impossible to reinvent and so we moved.

Waisted 2 day!

One close friend, Massimo, is a great fan of Barbra Streissand and last time we were in NYC, last october 2006, he went there just to go at her concert.
We were so envy outside of the Madison Square Garden, and he was inside with Paolo, sitting near to Sarah Jessica Parker.
The choice was a tribute to Lady Streissand, who is an icnredible artist and we absolutely must know more.





So we chose the gold beaded dress , when she comes down from the stairs in "Hello Dolly".

Not an easy choice, but an elegant and elaborated dress, that we think works on Alex.
And then we started sketching , and finally choose the one we love.


It's time to choose color and fabrics, and we thought about the background of the scene, where everything is dark and we need a stardust of light, with an extravagant colour .

She is Dolly, so the best in town!



Of course it's time for creating, sewing and beading, beading.....







We creatd a bustier with light blue/green crepe satin, lined and adorned with tons os gold beads and crystals, covered and doubled with a gold net.
A macramè lace adorned the breast area.

Hope you all can imagine her coming down as Barbra!!!!

The start o fthe Alex challenge

WOWWWWWWW!
this could be a great challenge!!!
No , this could be a tragedy!
No this could be the greatest nightmare of all!!!!!!!!

Yes, we truly stared that way with the emphasy ove rthe top and finish with the worst depression!
Creating is not easy and especially when you are used to express yourself with your instinct. Creating with such a strong influence of the great pictures of an icon is worse than anything else.
When the opriginal designers created the iconic dresses on their movie, they didn't know it will become such famous and iconic.
Now we know and we couldn't take as a normal experience where we just create with our instinct, but the comparison is strong in your head.

We started with an italian dress ......

Fellini's movies are really famous and iconic themselves and so we first chose "La Dolce Vita", and the anita Edberg's dress to be reinvented!

BUT....................

Susie Challenge - Spain

Dear friends,
this challenge was a true challenge, in many different levels, and the Project Dollway is getting harder and harder to solve.
We absolutely started wondering which direction we should follow and especially to understand the city or land we would love to reinvent.
Of course we are latin, and the obvious choice was Italy, but Spain is in the air.

Many references aare in Fashion during this past summer, when we created the dress and the last Dior Haute couture was especially inspiring for us.
Of course we wanted to to something as RTW, and the choice of Denim was our challenge.

We were just came back from Dallas Barbie Convention and it was called "Denim and Diamonds", and so we were inpressed by denim.
So we tried to use it as the modern and contemporary fabric on Susie, to create a nice and easy dress with a latin taste.
The Torero was our choice, and the top was fresh and easy in our minds, we wanted in violet, but red was more straight.
We first created the top in violet and then truned into red.

Here some pics of the Susie challenge and some backstage pics.

the way to final dress

it was a long way to decide a so simple dress, but it was not so direct!
Fom the choice of that cotton gold plated fabric and the first fabric in different print.

Then the choice was where we should add the bow?
Front, too much modern!? Maybe a little difficult to dance with?

And then teh final one. Add the purse in same material with a modern accent of gold metal.
To view the challenge go to www.projectdollway.com

Preparation of Tyler Challenge -details

It was hard to put together the ballgown style, that we intended like a wide skirt and the big element and the oversized print.
WOW, we hope many details following, will delight your eyes.
there were more versions of this outfit before ending the final one, and we started witha different oversized printed fabric, with big big jewels on it.
then we decided to make the big flowers and them to move the big bow from the front to the back.
It was a process of trying to find the solution.
And all in COTTON!!!???
We couldn't believe it was not so easy to make it works.

The Tyler Challenge hints

WOw, we are already at the 4th challenge and we truly can't believe it.
We were not used to work on bigger size dolls as Gene, or Ellowyne, completly new for us but we went through them and now we are the Tyler challenge.
Tyler is elegnat and sophisticated and we will try to put together the elements of the challenge in the better way possible.
One more problem: COTTON!!!!!!

Do you think it's possible to work for a ballgown with cotton?
We hope so! And start the research from the materials.
there are several cotton and several operations to enrich this idea.

a big problem!

LBD Barbie comments

Magia 2000 - Mario Paglino & Gianni Grossi

Barbie Silkstone - #3 challenge

1) What was your concept for this gown?
It wasn’t easy to re-create LBD in a new way, but we follow our passion for sexy fitting dress, with the stitching as a bustier. We usually silkstone fashion model’s line, and this is a tribute to that idea. We took inspiration from the lingerie, and create an outfit with similar constructions, also for the breast with single strapes linked with a gold metal ring. We also create a purse with light green accent color, like a wrapped purse, like the one used in the beauty Spa, but elegant and matching with the dress. The shawl is a mediterraen accent, like a sicilian or spanish lady, with all the fringes, romantic It’s simple in her concept and full of little details like trims , accessories and jewels.
2) Why did you choose that particular fabric?
We chose the black stretching satin to follow the lingerie inspiration, like the corsets, it’s stretch and it can be used on different body of barbie. The purse and the shawl is made with that satin and the georgette, to remind about the softness of lingerie.
3) Why did you choose that color?
We used the light green to give extrem life to the black dress, with a fresh color. Green is a fresh and joyful colour and it’s usually wore also in party and wedding from guests, it was a nice colour to get immediate freshness touch.
4) Do you think your gown is appropriate for Barbie?
Absolutly yes, because it’s really sexy and a little retro with the lace trim in the lower edge and the complete accessories are in good scale fo her. They are all handcrafted by us and created to get rich impression of the doll.
5) What element do you think distinguishes your design and sets it apart from others? Cut? Fit? Embellishment? Color choice?
We feel the purse and accessories are very modern, the wrapping of the georgette on the purse is absolutly modern and used in many fashion collection this year, and the accessories are truly important and relevant in the complete image. We can imagine a women like that, with the same fitting of the dress.
6) What element of this challenge was the most difficult for you?
Working on our muse was truly difficult, because we got hundreds ideas and it was hard to choose something new but absolutely in our usual style to be strongly related to our idea of silkstones barbie. We love this doll most of all , she is very chic and charming, but we wanna get a more sexy appeal, without being vulgar.
7) What element of this challenge was the most enjoyable?
Pattern making, we already had all the proportions we usually manage.
8) If you could change one thing about your gown what would it be?
Probably nothing even if we’d love to make a different shoes and got th chance to embroider a little the shawl.

More details on LBD

more images of the preparation of the LBD outfit challenge.

The LBD Challenge

it was a true challenge this time, more than ever, because we absolutely love Barbie and she is probably our favorite model.
Usually this could be an advantage but here is a big challenge and we were so afraid to make a big mistake.
We usually love chic and simple style, but we also love SEXY attire.

So this was our choice, to get a very simple dress but with a bustier appeal and with a strange breast part, covering the breast with a wide opening and nake back.

We love italian LBD, like Dolce & Gabbana and Versace. So we took inspirations from their fitting and their sexy style.
We added a wide stole with fringes, very latin and a little accent of light green, just in the wrapped purse and the little ribbon.

there are lots of details, the bustier lines on the bodice, and the riveting to hold the straps, or the little black shoes enriched with a little ribbon in satin with a tiny metal ring.
More, we create a special jewel set, with pendants and necklace.

All was packed in a customized silkstone display box with a big Magia2000 tag. A dream came true for a fake silkstone outfit designed by Magia2000.

We took the privilage to dream for a while!!!!

First Challenge - GENE

The First challenge was truly amazing, and even if at the beginning quite easy in its idea, it was not easy at all to introduce ourselve in a challenge with so many talented designer and find out our style as before.
We are truly happy for the result and of course we absolutely knoww this would very hard in future.
We love each other designs .
W Project Dollway.

The #1 challenge: Gene.

The first challenge was aboslutely a good start for us, with a great position in the top 3 designer and we are really happy.

to read the preparation of the first outfit please click on the following link

http://www.magia2000.com/projectdollway.htm

And soon we will post here new stuffs of the Ellowyne challenge.

Mario and Gianni