My Whirlwind Wedding Engagement: From The Cliff House to Las Vegas, In 4 Months and 3 Dresses!2/2/2016  All photos featured in this blog article are the sole property of Roxanne Rodriguez, if not cited otherwise. Dress #1. May 2015, The Proposal. This past spring, in the spring of 2015, when I was finishing up my senior year of Fashion Design College, I came across some yellow and green fabric in a fabric donation bin, and I used this fabric to create a day dress as one of my final projects for my Pattern Drafting II class. I absolutely love this dress and happily received a high grade on the assignment. The bodice of the dress features a lapel collar, and is made in a yellow and green floral printed fabric. I then used a solid yellow linen fabric for the skirt. The skirt has an exposed lining at the hemline, showing the bright green lining beneath. The dress fits me perfect.  Roxanne Rodriguez Day Dress with Lapel Collar As May approached, and my final day of college arrived, Javier and I planned to enjoy a lovely weekend trip to the city of Napa. The two of us left immediately from my last class at my college campus in Sacramento. We enjoyed a delicious lunch and then headed North West to Napa! Javier had already suggested that we would be dressing up that Sunday, so I brought a few dresses, including my new yellow and green dress, in addition to skirts and blouses.  Javier and I enjoying a lovely weekend in Napa, California. Wine tasting, bike riding, and dinning! Then as Sunday approached, you can imagine my surprise when Javi told me that he would be taking me to The Cliff House in San Francisco! We left Napa dressed in our finest for an early champagne brunch in San Francisco! The Cliff House, San Francisco  An amazing panoramic view, taken by Javier Rangel: myself gazing upon The Cliff House and the Pacific Ocean. I had never been to The Cliff House before this day, nor had I been to this particular area of San Francisco's Land's End before. If you have not visited this area yourself, I highly recommend that you do! If you have been here before, it may be time to visit again!
Interestingly, The Cliff House is rich in history. The original Cliff House building was built at this location in the year of 1863. Tragedy soon struck this dwelling, causing it to become severely damaged in 1887, then becoming destroyed completely due to a chimney fire in 1894. The Cliff House was re-built and became the beautiful massive structure shown in the illustration pictured above. Unfortunately, this building too was soon destroyed by fire in 1907. The Cliff House was re-built, yet again, this time in 1909, and in a similar style to that of the simple original Cliff House building. Today it stands as a very beautiful neo-classical building, situated next to the ancient and decaying Sutro Bath Ruins. Now, back to the romance at hand... Javier and I had been dating for a little over three years at this point, and things were quite serious. I had a feeling that he might propose marriage to me during this particular romantically planned weekend, but I was still very surprised when he actually did! The food at The Cliff House brunch was amazing! The champagne was really good too! A harpist played music while the waves of the Pacific Ocean crashed around just outside the windows overlooking the sea. We had an amazing time... which we always do when with each other... I was feeling the champagne...I think Javi was too... But the endless seafood, water, and coffee was helping dull the effect slightly to a sensation just beyond utter contentment. I excused myself to the restroom, and giggled out of sight. When I returned, Javi proposed! He had the ring placed in the bottom of my champagne glass, and when I noticed, he asked. My solitaire black sapphire ring was so pretty. How could I say or think anything other than yes! We drank more champagne, talked endlessly, and ate more food & desserts, and then we headed happily together down to the Sutro Bath Ruins, and then to the beach!
Javier and I enjoy our "Engagement Day" at The Cliff House. Dress #2: July 2015, Our Garlic Love Story. Javier and I began to discuss the date we would plan our wedding to be on. One day, as I was reading some Northern California event news, I came across an advertisement for the Gilroy Garlic Festival Dream Wedding Give-A-Way Contest. The contest advertised a “Dream Wedding Give-A-Way”, in which a winning couple would be chosen to win an all-expense paid wedding ceremony, along with cake, Gilroy Garden tickets, and a year supply of garlic! This contest sounded great, and since we were planning to be married soon, this contest seamed made for us! Javier and I looked up the entry form, and began to get together the requirements needed for our submittal. Although not required, a video was recommended to tell our “Garlic Love Story” to the judges. As we thought about our love story, I thought about making a garlic inspired dress, perhaps for the wedding! Then one of my friends suggested that I make a garlic themed dress for the video filming instead! Why, that’s genius! So that’s what I did!
You can watch our “Garlic Love Story” by clicking on this link: Enjoy!
Roxanne and Javi during the filming of "The Garlic Love Story". Much to our dismay, it was announced that Javier and I were not even contestants for the Gilroy Garlic Dream Wedding Give-A-Way contest! It was very surprising! We stopped eating garlic for a while, picked our wedding date, and began booking our venue and reservations for a wedding in fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada!  Dress #3: September 2015, Our Perfect Las Vegas Wedding. Dress #3, is not a dress at all, but a Formal Ball Skirt that I created especially for my wedding. When Javier proposed to me, I knew I would design and create my own wedding dress. As I started brain storming ideas, I continually was drawn to the concept of a formal ball skirt, paired with a charming blouse. Completely untraditional, I selected a gold satin fabric, and then I layered grey netting, for a truly unique look. The skirt features a hand beaded design, all designed, constructed, and sewn by me! However, time began to run out as our wedding day quickly approached. Instead of making my wedding blouse (as planned), I happily found a blouse, beyond perfect, on the sale rack at Wet Seal, just days before our wedding, while in Las Vegas!
Getting ready for our big day, at the Wynn Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada.  My family and I on our way to the chapel, we pause to take a photo in the lovely lobby garden of the Wynn Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
 The Rangel Wedding, A Special Memory Wedding Chapel, Las Vegas, Nevada. Bride's hair and make-up by Stevee Danielle Hair and Make Up Salon, Las Vegas, Nevada. Our Wedding Day experience was truly perfect! Everything planned went accordingly. The ceremony was held at the Our Special Memory Wedding Chapel, in Las Vegas, followed by a dinner reception at The Fremont Hotel's Paradise Buffet. We then enjoyed a wonderful honeymoon night at the Wynn Hotel and Casino, before departing to The Grand Canyon! I loved being able to design and create the three outfits that I wore for my wedding and pre-wedding occasions! Creating my own bridal wear allowed me to be the unique, fashionable bride that I wanted to be! If you have any of your own special occasions in the future, contact me regarding your custom outfit! Related Links:
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 Minoan Inspired Illustration by Roxanne Rodriguez, 2013. While studying Art History in college, I was continually inspired by art works of the past to create fashion of the future. Today, fashion influenced by art is a familiar concept. The examples of art and fashion in Fashion's Modern History is plentiful. Looking back, Elsa Schiaparelli collaborated with Salvador Dali in 1939, creating several Haute Couture pieces, including her famous Lobster Dress, worn by Wallace Simpson (The Duchess of Windsor). In 1965, Yves St. Laurent created a couture collection inspired by the fine-art work of Piet Mondrian. Recently, popular clothing e-commerce retailer, ModCloth, has created dresses inspired by Vincent VanGogh, with his famous Starry Night Painting printed on the fabric.
Examples of Minoan Frescoes As I learned about the ancient Minoan Culture, which was located on the island of Crete, now in modern day Greece, I became inspired by the lovely Minoan Frescoes that were depicted in my history book. The beautiful hues of blue, brown, and gold, alongside stark black and red, were striking and distinctive...  A Map of Ancient Greece during the Bronze Age. The word fresco, is an Italian word that means 'fresh'. The term fresco refers to an art work where the artist has used water based pigment applied to the plaster on a wall while the plaster is still wet. As the plaster dries, the paint that has penetrated the plaster becomes fixed, or bonded to the wall. Frescoes were popular in the ancient world, and were quite common for painting large murals during the Renaissance. Leonardo da Vinci, used this method while creating The Last Supper, as did Michelangelo while painting the Sistine Chapel. Here are a few examples of Minoan Frescoes that I found to be quite beautiful, and inspiring:  Minoan Fresco  Minoan Bull Leaping Fresco. Conceptualization
Creating a Minoan Inspired Hand-Painted Skirt Later on, in my college career, I decided to create an article of clothing inspired by the Minoan Fresco of the women, for my final project in Art History Class. For this project we were asked to create something inspired by the Art History we had learned about during the semester. The options were endless. Some students who were working towards a degree in Graphic Design decided to recreate historical artworks through their use of photography, while I myself wanted to re-create an artwork using my education in fashion. I decided instead of creating the Minoan Inspired Swimsuit I had illustrated previously, I would create a Hand-Painted Minoan Inspired Skirt. To create this look, I first assembled the front panels of the skirt, made of canvas, and then, laying the fabric flat, I Hand-Painted the Minoan Inspired design using Fabric Paint. I then layered a sheer aqua blue Organza over the painted canvas to create dynamic dimension. I wanted the final look of the skirt to be just as striking as the Minoan Fresco that had inspired me. Check out the photos I took as I Hand-Painted, free-handedly, my rendition of the Minoan Woman:  Creating a Minoan Inspired Hand-Painted Skirt! Hand-Painted by Roxanne Rodriguez.  Creating a Minoan Inspired Hand-Painted Skirt! Hand-Painted by Roxanne Rodriguez.  Creating a Minoan Inspired Hand-Painted Skirt! Hand-Painted by Roxanne Rodriguez. Here I am wearing the finished skirt during a Student Showcase at my college:  Designer, Roxanne Rodriguez (pictured Left), wearing Minoan Inpired Hand-Painted Skirt, with her models, at the IADT 2014 Student Showcase. Here is a photo of the lovely model, Marisa Johnson wearing my skirt on her trip to Greece!  Photo of the lovely model, Marisa Johnson, wearing Minoan Inspired Hand-Painted Skirt by Roxanne Rodriguez, on location in Greece! I hope that you enjoyed this Blog Post about my fashion inspiration, and creating a Hand-Painted Minoan Inspired Skirt! I was very pleased with the final result, and have since used the technique of hand-painting motifs on other outfits I have created. I would love to hear your feedback, on my Blog Post, my skirt, or what historical art has inspired you. Leave me a comment below!  Designer, Roxanne Rodriguez wearing Minoan Inspired Hand-Painted Skirt. I look forward to sharing with you more adventures of fashion creation, in my upcoming Blog Articles! Until then... Have a extraordinary day! Related Links:
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AuthorHello Readers! Welcome to my Blog! I am Roxanne Rodriguez Rangel, a Fashion Designer from Northern California. I love all things Fashion, particularly historical fashion! Join me, as I take you around Northern California, covering fashion events and related topics! 
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