Luxecycle

I have fetishized English boarding schools my entire life. As a kid I totally wanted to be sent away to school.

Although most of the books I read about boarding school were full of murderous headmasters, edwardian poltergeists, and stale tea cookies, none of them managed to deter my preppy anglophilia.

While the root of my fantasy stemmed from wanting to escape my strict parents and the all around dullness of public school, I obsessed, mainly, about the trappings of boarding school life. The monogrammed blazers. The striped school ties. The white shirts with peter pan collars. The straw boater hat. Ah, the simplicity of a well-tailored uniform. I loved the concept of a small, worry-free, super-functional wardrobe that always looks tidy and elegant.

Although my friends who actually attended english boarding schools have let me in on the less glamorous details of their childhood outfits (polyester shirts, wooly knickers, dumpy seersucker jumpers), decades out of adolescence I still haven’t given up my sartorial hunt for the ultimate uniform.

So, when I heard about The Uniform Project, a year-long experiment by Sheena Mathiekan that combined the idea of school uniforms, sustainability, and education in the 3rd world, I was all over it like a cheap suit. I immediately contacted Sheena and designer Eliza Starbuck about getting the pattern for the U.P. little black dress.

Alas, The Uniform Project wasn’t selling the pattern, although a year later I did buy one of the 365 limited edition dresses based on Sheena’s original LBD. And, although I love the original LBD for its versatility, it’s too damn short for every day work use (and I bought the “longer” Large size to fit my broad shoulders and tailored the dress to fit my medium torso and butt).

I was just considering taking apart the original LBD and making a longer pattern from it, when the Uniform Project came out with The New LBD.

Which has a button-on peter pan collar. OMG.

So, like a junkie to the needle, I bought the pattern, along with the proprietary black fabric made from 75% cotton and 25% silk. (I really hope there’s enough proprietary fabric to make the dress long enough to cover my crotch).

Since the pattern and the fabric have been lurking at the bottom of my crafty crap bureau for months now, unsewn, I decided that this will be my first garment for the Spring Palette challenge.

Uniform Project Picture Book from The Uniform Project on Vimeo.

PS: For those of you who want to support The Uniform Project, but aren’t handy with the needle and thread, you can now buy The New LBD and several other Pilot Project dresses at the Uniform Project Store.