Costumes

Here is one of the first costume's I've made. I wore it to the Southern California Renaissance Pleasure Faire located in beautiful San Bernadino.

See that lovely brick red bodice? I didn't make that, The Fitting Room did. It set me back a pretty penny because I asked for a working corset (rather than a costume one), but it has provided TONS of options for me and I love it... and it's cool... hehe. The skirt and shirt are all my doing! I really think that this is a nice piece to show. The skirt was really simple to make (hemming it was another story) but I'm really happy with the result. Next year I'm making my own bodice and hopefully by then I will have a pewter mug so I don't have to carry around the crappy cups they serve you soda in. But I digress.

The shirt is made of osnaberg with bias cut twill tape to gather the sleeves and neck. The skirt is made of cotton quilting fabric. It took me about two days to make both. It would have taken me less time if I'd been more 1) familiar with the patterns and 2) more focused. But I wore it to Faire two days in a row and the first day we snapped that little picture in one of the clothing stores!

The bodice is from my Marguerite St. Just costume and it's a Georgian bodice (or, from the 18th century if you're not familiar with the time period). The Renaissance bodice is smaller, lower cut, and provides more "projectile cleavage". There was less boning and the fabric on the outside of the bodice was different.

Sacre les aristos!

Ah! The Bastille Day that wasn't! This picture is from July 14th, 2002. I'm dressed... as a young French whore. Note the tri-colour ribbon upon my breast and the "beady look about the eyes" that I was attempting to re-create. This is a really really great example of how I like to re-use my costumes. Chances are, if I paid big bucks for a costume or I made it myself, I will be wearing it *several* times before it gets retired.

Here is a great example of my skills with a "bruise kit" and a "stipple sponge". I've done the same with really crappy make-up from Clinique that my mother purchased in the 70's when I had to pretend to be one of the survivors of the Titanic. I did such a good job that it actually made a few girls physically ill. I could, like totally be a make-up person for Les Miserables! But I won't be. Cause I don't like spraying that glycerin sweat on people...

Vivez! Mes amis, je suis enchantee!

Anyway, here's a pic of the costume that I helped Britt make. She made her full-length chemise and knickers, we both made her authentic Georgian corset (no more boning channels mommy!), she made her white satin skirt, and we both made her bodice. It was a hellish expirence, but she looks SO gorgeous I mean, come on! It was more than worth it.

The corset (not pictured, but just imagine my red bodice in... white... exciting eh?) was half boned using steel boning. We used both straight steel and coiled steel to bone this corset. Boning was originally made from baline, the stuff in Blue Whales' mouths that filters brine shrimp. The blue-collar, run-of-the-mill, middle-class lady could probably only afford one corset once she was of the right age so she would literally use one corset from about the time she was 15 until she died. Smelly eh? The lining was made so you could rip it out and replace it, but you can imagine the aroma... Corsets are *always* worn with some sort of chemise underneath them. In fact, I recommend a tank top if you can't find anything else. It helps protect your skin by absorbing moisture, it helps protect the corset by absorbing moisture, and it leaves the corset waaaay less stinky than it would be normally.

Jack! I have a bad feeling about this!

Alright! For all you lost souls requesting it... here is not a full body but a headshot of a costume. Yeah, I was REALLY thinking when I had Amber take this pic, wasn't I?

Anyway, I made the base sheath dress from a single piece of muslin, drew/painted the pattern on the patches, used yarn and did the stitching, created my own "wefting" for the wig, and did the make-up all by hand and all without pattern or instruction. It was an adventure and made for a LONG night before Halloween. But I looked fucking awesome! This was my second go at the make-up. It was before the Cal Arts Halloween Ball. We had a ton of fun!!

For the makeup, I took my official Sally doll and I copied the markings on her body with a water-soluable cake make-up (which I purchased from the loverly people at Cinema Secrets in Burbank, CA). I used a wet make-up sponge to get the correct coloring so that I'd be that PERFECT shade of Sally Ragdoll blue! It took FOREVER to get the make-up done (as you can see, I did my arms, but what you can't see are that my hands and legs are all painted as well). I highlighted the stitches first with a thicker layer of the blue, then I used a purple creme shadow (also from Cinema Secrets) and a liquid eyeliner (that I purchased from Hot Topic a while ago and took a fancy to the staying power it had) for the stitches. I used fake eyelashes and an old red lipstick I had and that was it! Voila! Sally!

"In walked a man in the shape of a man, holding a hat-shaped hat. And he held up two fingers and said 'How many fingers?' and I said, 'Peace man, that's where it's at.' I said, you are what you do in order to prevent becoming what you're busy not doing. And if you do do it truly and you arrive at it newly then in the end you are absolved and the problem of heaven is solved. And the man broke into a smile like he was breaking into song." - Ani Difranco, "Hat Shaped Hat"