The Black Pinafore Collaboration

Debora Baudoni is the talented dressmaker behind The Black Pinafore. 

Debora

I came across The Black Pinafore on Etsy whilst searching for a 1950s reproduction dress. I wanted something to wear for work and I found exactly what I was looking for in Debora's shop.

My work dress, made by Debora. Photo Rachel Spivey

The Black Pinafore is based in Sarzana, Italy

The beauty of Etsy is that it connects you with talend people from all over the world so it feels like you are corresponding with someone much closer to home. The whole experience was so easy. We decided on suitable fabric and trim and I sent her my measurements. Considering it was a hand-made dress, I received it relatively quickly. I found the whole experience to be a really enjoyable one. Debora was a delight to work with and luckily her English is far better than my Italian which stretches to the total sum of one word 'bella'.
More images of Debora's 'bella' creations can be found here.
From that intial order, I asked Debora if she'd like to collaborate further and we got together on a photoshoot project to showcase our services. I ran a competition and asked entrants to send me their photo with a description of why they would like to be styled vintage. I chose five lovely ladies to take part.

Debora and I corresponded with ideas on outfits, and hair and makeup styles. The winners had their makeup applied by Wendy Donaldson, who is part of the Kitty Wink team and I did their hairstyling. Chris Alty of CJ Shtterspeed did the superb photographs. 

We did the shoot over two days on the Bank Holiday weekend in May. 

We couldn't of asked for better weather. On the Saturday we went to local Duxbury Park with our first two models.

Duxbury Park was so quiet

The following day we went just around the corner to Astley Hall with the remaining three models.

The models received many admiring glances

People approached us to ask questions and we got so many compliments, it was lovely. 

If you are looking for a unique 1940s or 1950s reproduction from an original pattern, I cannot recommend The Black Pinafore highly enough. 

Choose your own fabric and see your ideas come into fruition through Debora's superb dressmaking skills. The Black Pinafore