From Natalia’s Design Journal: The sketching process started in September, with swatch creation in October, and the beginning of making the dress in November (the dress took over 2 months to create and perfect). Some people buy their bread, others buy the dough and bake their bread, and yet others make the dough and then bake their bread. This was a true “make the dough to make the bread” process. The fabric started out white and I hand dyed it to the perfect beige and sandy tones (the process of choosing the perfect shades took over three weeks of creating dye samples and swatches). Next we hand cut the 3 chosen shades into long strips that I could knit with. I incorporated chains in three colors to add to the sparkle and depth of the fabric. And finally a crystallizer spent over 30 hours individually adding beautiful rose gold Swarovski crystals to the dress to make it truly glow under the stage lights. This was all done under the direction and guidance of Nicolas Bru . The dress traveled back and forth between Miami and Los Angeles as we tweaked it to make it the absolute perfect silhouette – always keeping in mind the importance of movement and stage presence. Finally, Nicolas decided it would be best to send me to Mexico City for the final fittings with Shakira. This was a dream come true in so many ways. Working with her tailors and team was awesome. And meeting and working with Shakira was a childhood dream come true. She is the ultimate icon – she is everything you wish her to be – as inspiring and beautiful in person as she is on the big screens.