This one product has been the motivation for it all. I had planned a masquerade for my 18th birthday, and I was determined to make it look like I stepped out of the Parisian opera house. I went down a rather long rabbit hole, and changed my designs many, many times. When I looked at Mardi Gras in New Orleans, I used the color scheme of purple, green, black, and gold. I looked into French fashions from when Louisiana was a French colony. I studied the movement of people from Europe to North America, and then I went more specific into decades of fashion in France. I settled on a time period of 1660 to base my dress on, and a color scheme of gold to mimic the sun, since I would be the star of the party. I was so excited to research the dresses of 1660 period. When I had found the dress I liked, I went on a hunt to find original patterns for it. When I had finished the dress, I felt decadent. Absolutely stunning. There is no word that could describe how I felt in my own creation.