Dale’s miniature dresses captures imagination
Glen Anil resident recently completed a number of miniature dresses that were made iconic in the Titanic movie.
IN 1998, the film Titanic won a number of accolades at the Academy Awards ceremony, key among them was the award for Best Costume Design given to Deborah Scott. The film told the story of a romance between Rose (Kate Winslet) and Jack (Leonardo Di Caprio), on the the ill-fated maiden voyage of the R.M.S. Titanic. Titanic would go on to win countless awards at various ceremonies but the intricately beautiful costumes was what stood out for local artists and designer, Dale McCarthy.
The Glen Anil resident recently completed a number of miniature dresses that Winslet’s character Rose wore in the film.
“I absolutely loved Titanic. Even more so because I thought Deborah Scott did an incredible job. The film is set in 1912 and those fashions and dresses were so specific, but they were also ornamental and decorative that it appealed to me to try my hand at creating scaled downed versions of the dresses. I love challenging myself and being able to scale down some of the dresses from the iconic scenes was great.
“I shared a few designs on my Instagram page and the response was overwhelming. I was able to connect with other people who do similar work to me and so many fans of the film responded because they instantly recognised the dresses,” McCarthy explained.
The 30-year-old said the dresses took around three months to complete.
“I relish the details in any costume and for me the challenge is getting to grips with the technical aspects of the dress and scaling them down. For me this is an art form I have a passion for,” he said.
McCarthy has been involved in miniature dress making since he was a young boy saying a Princess Diana scrapbook was what started his foray into miniature dressmaking.
“My mom was a massive fan of the late Princess Diana and she had a scrapbook dedicated to her life. One part of the book that stood out for me was Diana’s wedding, and her wedding dress in particular made by Elizabeth and David Emanuel. I loved the sketches of the wedding dress and the designs so much so that I made a really bad miniature of it,” he said. “As I’ve gotten older I’ve made versions of the dresses by improving my techniques. I’m a perfectionist in that sense and it is thrilling to me,” he said.
McCarthy is already working on his next Titanic themed miniature dress and said he would like to try his hand at costumes from Gone With The Wind and My Fair Lady.
Through his work on Instagram, McCarthy has also been commissioned by Frances Fisher (she played Rose’s mother) who appeared in Titanic to do a drawing of her daughter.
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