This teen made herself a stunningly detailed hand-painted graduation dress

Twitter | Ciara Gan

When it came time for 17-year-old Ciara Gan to graduate high school, she knew she wanted to make a splash at her graduation ball. So, together with her mom, the Filipino teen created a beautiful, hand-painted gown to wear to the big event this spring. The result is absolutely stunning!

“My inspiration came from my mom, who pushed me to make the dress,” Gan told BuzzFeed News. “Because I love to try new things, I thought why not? It was my last big event for school and I had about a month of graduation practices, so I’d be able to focus more on making my gown without worrying about schoolwork.”

Check out the gorgeous gown in these photos Gan tweeted out through her account at @ciaragan:

Gan designed the dress to reflect her own personal style and interests. She chose emerald green as the main color as a nod to Slytherin, one of the four houses of Hogwarts School from the “Harry Potter” franchise. As for the hand-painted florals, she decided to go big and bold to capture who she is as a person.

“I recently reread the book ‘Tiger Lily’ by Jodi Lynn Anderson (which touched my heart) and then decided to paint the orange florals,” she explained. “I strayed away from basic roses and dainty florals because although they’re pretty, they don’t reflect my personality. I love the vibrancy of loud colors like orange and green — they speak more about who I am.”

She’s even posted a YouTube video about the making of her dress.

“I really can’t thank you enough for the support I’ve been getting the last two weeks,” she says in its introduction:

It took her about a month to make the dress, and when she finally debuted it at the graduation ball, her classmates were super-impressed. And of course, making her own dress ensured that no other student rocked the same look.

Now that she’s done with this project, it’s time to look to her future. Gan plans to incorporate her design talents into her career.

“I recently graduated from the STEM strand, so I plan to pursue a degree in a science-related course,” she told My Modern Met. “I am in love with both the arts and sciences and I want to incorporate two different things with each other. I want to bring art into science, or vice versa.”

Sounds like this creative young woman can definitely do that! We’re looking forward to seeing what her future has in store.

DIY & Improvement, Fashion & Style, Home

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Kate Streit
Kate Streit lives in Chicago. She enjoys stand-up comedy, mystery novels, memoirs, summer and pumpkin spice anything.

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