April wouldn’t be the same without a spring fashion show.Regali Boutique is hosting a show with a difference Shelly Hamill’s dresses can’t be worn and the wind won’t ruffle them, no matter how hard it blows.That’s because the artist makes her dresses out of ceramics and mosaic tiles; they are meant to be admired rather than worn.Her Spring Collection of ‘All Dressed Up’ will be shown today at Regali Boutique at Tucker’s Point Hotel & Spa.Ms Hamill had always been captivated by the beauty found in the things so many others failed to notice: passing faces on the sidewalk, the light reflected by the dew on leaves, the movement of fabric in a lady’s skirt. As a child, her maternal grandmother, also an artist, guided her artistic eye and talent. Encouraged to seek inspiration in the extraordinary as well as the mundane, Ms Hamill honed her skills in Fort Worth, Texas under her grandmother’s tutelage.As a flight attendant travelling the world, Ms Hamill drank in the magnificence she found in the diversity of cultures and the similar human spirit she encountered, and used it as fodder for her art.She married and settled in Bermuda, where she owned Bermuda Weddings and Special Events. After working for over 15 years as a wedding planner and coordinating countless weddings, Ms Hamill found ways to recognise more permanent beauty.“I love seeing beautiful fragments from different places come together to create something whole, new and amazing that will last for centuries,” she said.She began experimenting, cutting up photographs and putting them back together to craft a new image.She then moved on to traditional mosaics. From there she turned her hand to life-size sculptures depicting women’s dress forms.“My challenge is to create something that is feminine and flirty, with softness and drape like fabric, using ceramic, glass and stone,” she said. “I work to create flow and gracefulness. My hope is that the viewer is willing to touch the pieces, experience the rigidity of them, and appreciate seeing something in an entirely new way. To me, each sculpture is a confluence of pieces representing the unique history we each have. The pieces and experiences of our lives come together to create something altogether different in each of us, not dissimilar to the way pieces of fabric come together to create a quilt.”When creating a mosaic sculpture, Ms Hamill begins by creating a dress design. She breaks down her design to recreate it in an armature of wire mesh and concrete using a six-step process. Tiles, stones, glass, mirrors and beads are then applied using concrete as adhesive and grouted permanently in place. Finally, a layer of concrete is applied to the neck and armholes, completing the look.‘All Dressed Up’ opens today, between 6pm and 8pm.Useful website: www.shellyhamill.com.