The Birth of a NiniMomo

Follow the creative process of making a NiniMomo from  A-Z. NiniMomo takes you through the various stages that go into to creating one of their one-of-a-kind pageant Delegates.

Thank you for the positive feedback from last month's premiere issue. We received many comments about this section of the newsletter and decided to add this as a monthly section.

October, we've decided to focus on taking you step by step replicating an ensemble from our favorite designer, Christian Dior. It is actually John Galliano, designer for the House of    Dior that we consider a "God" of Design. Our featured ensemble made it's debut back in the 2008 Spring/Summer Collection of Dior and we thought it would be a nice touch to add the video of that stunning fashion show to let all our customers get a true feeling of Dior's  exquisite designs (video featured at bottom). We were so inspired by this particular collection that many of our current delegates were replicated from this one amazing collection. Miss Miami, Miss Botswana, Miss Florida, Miss Ecuador, Miss Ireland, Miss Dominica, and Miss Israel were all visions from the House of Dior's Spring/Summer 2008 Couture Collection.

When we decided to take on replicating this stunning short turquoise dress from Dior, we immediately realized that the color scheme was much like our Miss Dominica, also from this collection. After some deliberation we decided to switch to a color palette of soft pink with beadwork of black, mineral green and metallic gold. With the colors chosen, its time for Marie to work her magic by translating a rather complicated design into a 1:6 scale replica. Whenever we take on a replication, we try to do as much research as possible and nothing is more helpful than a video as this enables us to see all sides of the design, bringing it into 3-D for us.

We decided to create this dress in shantung and chose this soft pink shade that you see Marie working on here......

Since the dress has many separate panels, once a panel is sewn, it is sent off to be beaded. Rosa, our amazingly talented in-house seamstress and beader began work on the panels once the pattern was laid out on the satin.

 Once the longest and most tedious step, the hand-sewn beadwork is complete, its time to put the gown together. Galliano is famous for his intricately constructed designs and it is always a challenge to figure out how this genius pulled off his designs. Here you see the beginning process of putting the dress together and hand-sewing it onto the body of the doll.

the process of putting together the ensemble and hand-sewing it onto body

Choosing which doll to don the gown usually takes some time and in this case we decided on the "Winter in Montreal" Barbie. We both liked her haircut with the dramatic Dior hat. It was really the haircut that made the decision. We decided to have her represent Tuva, a Russian Republic in southern Siberia which shares its borders with Mongolia. We think of the Republic as being a blend of Far East and Russia.

Once the head is rooted, it is time to give her a re-paint. We chose a Spring green shade for the eyes (hey, if its a mix between Russian and East Asia, there's always a chance for light eyes!) and soft pink lips. Since the doll hair is crusted with the setting gel used, we'll give the hair a good wash to soften it up again. Once she has been washed and dried, her head is popped on to the body and we're almost there!

One of the unique aspects of this ensemble is the dramatic and ostentatious golden hat worn by the model. In the past we've used many different methods to create hats but Marie has decided to try it out this time with a moldable plastic to get the hat's large form....

Here Marie is creating the form of the hat with a pliable plastic layering it with fleece.	Once the foundation of the hat is complete, the next step is to line the inside of the hat. We're using a gold liquid lame to match the Dior hat.	Third, Marie sews the outer fabric of the hat to the inside liner creating a neat form.	The final touch which is a sphere of hand-sewn tiny mineral sequins with matching centers.

While the hat is being worked on, accessories are being created for Miss Tuva. We decided to add a matching shantung hand-beaded purse to the ensemble along with decadent golden arm bands bedecked with shimmering Swarovski crystal rhinestones. Her earrings, similar to the Dior's in shape are in gold with genuine Swarovski crystal rhinestones. Finally, her very cool Dior-esque pink platforms are added. We spruced them up with some golden accents of hand-sewn beadwork and some pink ribbon ties.

With all the final touches added, its time for Miss Tuva to be photographed and released to the world!

and finally....introducing Miss Tuva 2008!

We have just added Part 1 of Christian Dior's Spring/Summer 2008 Couture Show which features the original Miss Tuva dress. If you choose to watch this video full of exquisite designs and ideas, check for some of our earlier Delegates that were also inspired by this show: Miss Miami, Miss Florida, Miss Ireland, Miss Dominica and Miss Botswana! Enjoy!

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