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A Library of Dress designs: Chapter "R"
Published Jun 15 2021 in #cherryvelvet, #cottondresses, #plussize, #plussizedresses, #retrodress
Ready to reminisce over these ravishing, romantic, regal dresses? Passing right over the letter "Q" (because we didn't make one yet) and we've arrived at the letter "R" this week with some of the most desirable dresses to date!
RACHEL
Released in the fall of 2014, The Rachel was a charmer with her pretty portrait collar, short puffed sleeves and A line cut. She graced our epic photo shoot at the Canadian Museum of flight. What a lovely day we had at that photo shoot among the vintage planes with these gorgeous models! Rachel made her second appearance for Fall 2018 in fun seasonal prints.
RITA
This darling dress was a tribute to the legendary Rita Hayworth of course. With sweet accents like a tiny bow tie at the front of her square neckline, 3/4 sleeves and a lady-like skirt; the Rita was as classy as the fabulous star she was named after. Rita debuted in the Fall of 2013 and reappeared one more time in 2015 with rave reviews.
ROBIN
The most darling of sundresses; demure she was definitely not. The Robin had some serious sass and a daring sweetheart neckline, banded straps, featuring a charming gathered knot between the 'girls' and shorter hem length perfect for summertime soirees. Robin appeared at our Hycroft Manor photo shoot in the spring of 2015 and once again in the summer of 2016.
ROXY
The Roxy was a stunning style from the Spring of 2013 that showcased a lovely portrait collar. The Roxy was originally made in stretch cotton sateen to give a fabulous fit and had 3/4 sleeves with turn back cuffs, a fitted bodice with a mock row of buttons and a full skirt. She reappeared in Fall 2018 in classic solid colours too.
RUBY
Named after the vivacious Miss Ruby Roxx, the Ruby dress was appropriately full of sass with plenty of attitude just like our model. With her fitted princess seam detail and a daring mermaid hem, she was a showstopper for sure. Cut in only 2 prints both with illusion black side panels for plenty of va-va-voom. Ruby was a one-time limited edition in the fall of 2013
Now that you have strolled on past the "R" dresses on our walk down memory lane you can envision how each of our dresses comes to life with their own personality. The inspiring women behind these designs are a big part of the creative process. Our journey continues with the scintillating, sensational "S" dresses soon....
XOX Cherry Velvet
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Strut for a Cause: Benefit for Elly Mayday and Ovarian Cancer
Published Mar 30 2021 in #ArthurErickson, #cherryvelvet, #ellymayday, #ladyballs, #madeincanada, #ovariancancer, #retrodress, #retroglam, #waterfallbuilding
*The story of "Strut for a Cause" to benefit Elly MayDay and Ovarian Cancer was originally posted on Jan 20, 2014. Since we've been sharing the history of our dresses, this addendum to the Elly dress is an important part of the story. Elly had a message for all of us women: to be aware of our #ladyballs, the Silent killer "Ovarian Cancer" and the symptoms to look for.
It was truly a surprise! In several short weeks, Katherine Dockrill (Helly Hepburn), Nadine Eberts (Rain Hair Salon) and Jen Kaboom (Jen Kaboom Designs) planned a spectacular event for their close friend Elly Mayday. #strutforacause was both a fashion show and fundraiser to benefit Elly and Ovarian Cancer. A unique event space, the Arthur Erickson designed "Waterfall Building" was chosen. Then the mad dash began to line up models, sponsors and volunteers. So many people helped put this event together, and everyone involved deserves a thank-you, but my purpose here is to tell you the story of this special surprise for Elly.
To get Elly 'party ready', what better than to plan a photo shoot? Gal pals Shimona Henry (Pin-up Perfection Photography) and Stela Licina (model and make-up ninja) whisked her out to a studio in White Rock, did her hair and make-up and spent the day shooting. Elly had graciously agreed to take a few photos for me on this last day of shooting before her scheduled surgery. So we quickly sewed up a new Cherry Velvet wingbust dress design with a full skirt, and named it the 'Elly', with the hope that she would wear it to the party. We kept our fingers crossed that we'd gotten the size right (as Elly has lost 45 pounds) but we did. From our size large at the start of her modeling career about a year ago, she's now a size XS in our dresses.
With a ruse to pick up Nadine at Rain Hair Salon (adjacent to the Waterfall building), they got Elly all the way to the door without her really suspecting what was planned. With a full house including family, friends, photographers and press, the look on her face was both touching and priceless.
There was a total of 5 segments of fashion shows, including ours, with a huge line up of models all donating their time to the show. I'd like to thank all the amazing models who enthusiastically strutted their stuff down the runway. We're in the process of producing a video of the show which we'll share asap! But I'd like to personally thank all the girls that represented Cherry Velvet:
Elly Mayday and Nadine Eberts (photo credit to Brian Perkins)
Jihan Amir (Wilhelmina Models) in 'Brigitte Shutterbug" Patrick Rooney Photography 
Charlotte Curve Model in Brigitte "Turquoise Orchard" Patrick Rooney Photography
Sarah Lexi Lafontaine (Lexi Whitewall) in Elizabeth "Floral Bouquet" photo by Zemekiss
Christine Barham (Chrissy Noir) in Trudy "Chatroom" photo by Zemekiss
Nadine Eberts (Rain Hair Salon) in Trudy "Cherry Blossom" photo by Zemekiss
Tracy Cake (Tracy Cake Make-up and More) in Brigitte "Anime Flowers" photo by Zemekiss
Leah (MissLuscious Ness) in Brigitte "Rosy Dots" photo by Zemekiss
and of course Elly Mayday in the Elly Dress in "Black Damask" photo by Zemekiss
Elly took her turn walking down the runway in her new "Elly" dress. Patrick Rooney PhotographyElly's story and legacy is meant to be shared. She brought awareness to Ovarian Cancer and through her advocacy; Elly helped many, many women who struggled with this silent killer.
XOX Cherry Velvet -
A Library of Dress Designs: Chapter "D"
Published Mar 18 2021 in #1950s, #cherryvelvet, #dressdesigns, #madeincanada, #pinup, #retrodress
D is for darling, delightful, decadent, divine... dresses! This post is all about the beautiful designs released with a "D" name. Come continue this journey through Cherry Velvet history with us!
Diane
After more than a decade our very own designer finally decided to name a dress after herself. And so the Diane was born. This dress features a flirty sweetheart neckline with adjustable ties and a full skirt perfect for twirling the night away. A sassy and unforgettable style that quickly became a customer favourite!
Danielle
Named after a darling previous staff member and model, this design was released for the first time way back in 2015. Ironically, we never did get a photo of Danielle, in her namesake dress. However, we'll always remember Danielle fondly anytime we wear one. We once did a photo shoot of the Danielle dress right in Fluevog's Granville store! What a treat that was to have a wonderful selection of shoes on hand to pair with the dresses.
Daphne
After many requests for dresses with sleeves and due to the popularity of the Brigitte dress, Diane, our designer, combined those desires into one dreamy dress. You might recognize the back detail from the Brigitte as the neckline in the Daphne. Sometimes, that's how a new dress is born, from customer requests or details re-imagined into a new style. This first image is of our long time model Danielle of the 'Daneille' dress fame, here modeling the Daphne at our Save On Meats photo shoot. The Daphne dress debuted in our Fall 2012 catalog.
Dina
The Dina dress was named after a very lovely lady that was the buyer for a company called Gwynnie Bee. They bought many, many dresses from us over the years for their dress subscription service. The Dina was only released once in Fall 2013. (P.S. it was never made in the Camera Print)
Dita
This iconic dress was named for none other than Dita von Tease herself. It was a design that was directly inspired by a dress that Dita wore. It was originally released in 2 colours in the summer of 2014. And once again in the Fall of 2017 in the Golden Galaxy print with white and gold stars on a black background.
Doris
Named after 1950's songbird Doris Day, this dress is just as lovely as the lady. With a bustier style top, the details are fabulously flattering and just perfect for the summer, with straps that cover your bra's. She was designed with unique seaming at the bustline to not only emulate a corset but some of the classic Alfred Shaheen styles of the 1950's. You may not realize this but the Doris is actually the exact same cut as the Elly, the only difference is the addition of the 'wings' on her sister dress, the Elly.
Aside from our iconic Cherries and Dots print, there were several wildly popular and often asked about prints in the Doris. One was called Pixel Party....we even made a video game out if it! 
Another super popular style was Octopus Garden. A fabric designed by Margot Elena of Tokyo Milk.
And how could we forget Starmagic? Glow in the Dark dresses are a fan favourite and this was the very first one we made that #glowedinthedark.
I hope you've enjoyed this chapter from our dress archives. Stay tuned for the next library instalment all about the letter "E"!
(...this is starting to sound like Sesame Street! :)
XOX Cherry Velvet
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A Library of Dress Designs: Chapter "C"
Published Mar 09 2021 in #10yearanniversary, #cherryvelvet, #dressdesigns, #history, #pinupdress, #plussize, #retrodress
We sure hope you're enjoying looking back at our history of dresses as much as we are enjoying writing it and reminiscing! We got to know so many lovely women in all the photo shoots we did over the years, and it's an honour to share all these stories again.
On to the letter "C"!
CELESTE
The Celeste dress was a one time only design that came out in the Spring of 2014. We designed it especially to accommodate this metallic border printed fabric. To make a border print work, the pattern pieces need to fit sideways on the fabric so that the border runs along the hem of the dress. This style and the Sally dress were the only two styles we ever set up for a border print so far.
CHARLOTTE
The Charlotte was the very first dress Cherry Velvet ever made. You can imagine our excitement in the office when the first shipment of dresses arrived. Even though the caption reads 10 prints, there were actually 14 prints all together, all on the chart below plus the Butterfly print. Only a very small handful was available in some the the prints. What made the Charlotte especially unique was each of the 14 prints had it's own special trim around the 'V' neckline.
Some of you may remember our original studio in Railtown, Vancouver. A customer is modelling the butterfly print that is an all time favourite of our designer Diane's. She still wears this dress to this day.
CHLOE
The Chloe dress made her only appearance in the Fall of 2013. She was a very pretty style with a scallop detail around the neck. Even though the Chloe never came back again, the bodice and fit of this style was the precursor to quite a few other styles like the Brooke and the Olivia. The green colourway modeled by Ruby Roxx was the most limited pattern in this design.
CHRISSY
Many of you will recognize this classic Cherry Velvet style, it's a design that has been recut many times throughout the years. It was named after our model Chrissy Snow (in this first photo) The mock wrap of the bodice is universally flattering to many figure types and indeed is a style that fits whether you have a larger or a smaller bustline.
The Chrissy first appeared in the summer of 2015. She was often cut in a polka dot or a floral print as this design requires a 2 way print.
CHRISTINA
The Christina dress was the third style we ever made in the Fall of 2011. It had the addition of vintage trim on the collar and cuff. This Kimono Fan print was especially adorable with it's red ric-rac edging.
COLETTE
The Colette came out in the Spring of 2014 and again one more time. It was made of cotton sateen with a bit of stretch which lent itself well to this wiggle dress design. Colette's sassy style featured unique cut outs at the shoulder and a cheeky flounce at the hem.
I hope you've enjoyed this chapter from our dress archives. Stay tuned for another chapter next week!P.S. When the whole library is complete, we'll save it permanently on our website so you can look through it any time.
XOX Cherry Velvet
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A Library of Dress Designs: Chapter "B"
Published Feb 23 2021 in #10yearanniversary, #cherryvelvet, #dressdesigns, #madeincanada, #pinup, #plussize, #retrodress
Join us as we continue our pictorial history of 10 years of Cherry Velvet dresses, this chapter all about names starting with the letter "B".
BARBARA
The Barbara was the second dress style we ever made in 2011. It was named after a former Cherry Velvet employee, Barb Wilkins. The Barbara came in a whole range of prints with contrast banding around the neck and sleeves. Can you pick out which prints were the most popular?*
BETSY
Betsy debuted in the Summer of 2016. Another employee Dawn modeled these for us as well as Charlotte Doering at our Hycroft Manor shoot.
BIANCA
The Bianca dress named after our model, Bianca Bombshell, was the wiggle dress version of the wingbust Elly dress. The wingbust style was popularized by a designer named Alfred Shaheen in the 1950's. It's a name used to describe the petal or wing shaped accents on the dress bodice.
BRIGITTE
Our most popular dress of all time is also the one that we made the most of by far, is the Brigitte dress. Named after the gorgeous starlet, Brigitte Bardot, she was first released in the Spring of 2013. The following is only a small selection of the prints that were made in the Brigitte dress. This first image is of Model Elly Mayday photographed by Pin-up Perfection Photography.
BROOKE
The Brooke dress is a really special dress with a full-circle skirt. She needs the most fabric of all our designs, taking a whopping 4 yards of fabric in some of the bigger sizes. This photo is from our January of 2013 Hycroft Manor photo shoot.
More exciting 'C' dresses to see next week...
XOX Cherry Velvet
*P.S. The most popular prints for the Barbara were "Good Luck Tattoo" and "Polka Party", although once we introduced the Sugar Skulls, that one quickly became the most popular print for the Barbara dress. -
A Library of Dress Designs: Chapter "A"
Published Feb 18 2021 in #cherryvelvet, #dressdesigns, #history, #madeincanada, #pinupgirl, #plusmodel, #retrodress
Cherry Velvet began making vintage-inspired retro dresses in 2011! That's over 12 years now, can you believe it!?
To mark this milestone we thought you would enjoy seeing a complete pictorial history of all our dress designs. You'll get to revisit each of the names, designs, favourite prints and all the lovely women that have modelled our dresses for you to collect over the years.
Let's begin our journey down memory lane with the letter "A"....
DELE
Named after the famous singer songwriter, the Adele was an elegant wiggle dress we could imagine the woman Adele actually wearing. She made a one time only appearance back in June of 2013 here on beautiful and curvaceous Ruby Roxx.
ADALINE
Inspired by the movie and beautiful dresses from The Age of Adaline, the Adaline had a vintage inspired, 1940's appeal. She made her appearance in 2015 at our photo shoot at historic Galbraith Manor on Ruby Roxx and Kaleigh Almond. Adaline's unique cutout neckline sure did turn heads.
ALICE
Croquet anyone? Models Veronica Belle and Ruby Roxx show off the Alice dress while playing lawn games at beautiful Momiji Gardens at Hastings Park. The Alice dress featured several hidden animal prints by fabric designer Tula Pink. The Alice was released only once in the summer of 2016.
ANGELINA
The Angelina made her first debut in the Fall of 2015. She's a style we've since repeated many times. With a longer, more natural waistline, Angelina is a great choice for average height to taller girls. She features a stunning back detail; two straps twisted in the middle to make your exit as memorable as your entrance! She's a long time favourite of many customers and is still available to this day.
ANNETTE
Our very first big official photo shoot was at the historic diner, Savon Meats with photographer Shimona Henry of Pin-up Perfection Photography in January of 2013. This was also the very first ever photo shoot for our patternmaker Genesis Hiles and model Elly Mayday. The Annette dress made an unforgettable apperance with her unique U shaped Peter Pan collar and a lovely open back detail all accented with contrast piping.
Annette came back once more in Spring 2018, but this time with the addition of a full skirt.
AUDREY (original)
In all these years of making dresses, we've only made one actual velvet dress called the Audrey named after our designer Diane's Mom. For Holiday 2012, it came in three colours of sumptuous rayon velvet; royal blue, dark green and midnight navy.
AUDREY (2023)
This sweet dress with timeless charm made a comeback in 2023 with a brand new look. It featured a style that was easy to wear both day and night with a lovely full skirt.
AURORA
Named after the Disney princess from Sleeping Beauty, this dress was certainly made for a girly girl. It had a mock wrap, pleated bodice, short puffed sleeves, a very full skirt and a generously wide tie belt to tie in a bow. We made it in cotton prints but also in several solid special occasion fabrics too.
AVA
Named after the elegant 1940's star, Ava Gardener, the Ava was the only peplum style we ever released. She was an early style that debuted in 2012. This was Danielle Keil first photo shoot with us, she was a Cherry velvet employee as well as a favourite model.
We hope you've enjoyed the first chapter from our dress archives as we look back at designs named with the letter "A". Stay tuned for more...
P.S. When the whole library is complete, we'll save it permanently on our website so you can look through it any time.
XOX Cherry Velvet
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Nostalgia, Foliage and Swiss Cheese
Published Feb 11 2021 in #cherryvelvet, #hawaii, #monstera, #palm, #retrodress
I always remember this big bodacious plant in our house when I was growing up in the seventies. I hadn’t given it any thought in years, until a vacation when I visited the Hawaiian Botanical Garden on the Big Isle. It was an experience I’ll never forget. This lush tropical paradise had every houseplant I'd ever seen, growing like a shrub on steroids. And there it was. The Monstera plant from my youth, growing up these massive palm trees. Wow!
I’ve never had much inclination to care for indoor plants, but as you know, we’re now spending lots of time at home. And so, a rather large Monstera came home from my favourite garden center one day. It’s got the premium spot by the window right next to where I sit to read or watch TV. Apparently they are very easy to grow and do get quite large. One day, it’ll be that monster monstera that I remember growing up!
"And what's Swiss Cheese got to do with it?", you might wonder. It's one of the common names of Monstera, given because of the leaves. As they grow, they form holes which eventually split open. Pretty cool!
Meanwhile I sit in my spot, gazing out at my little garden, with my hummingbird coming to feed right outside my window. I’m enjoying this little corner sanctuary with my newfound time to nurture.And if you didn’t already recognize it, the Monstera motif is echoed in our Waterfront dress in Palm print. (P.S. they’re on Sale!)
XOX Diane
