Courtesean: Inspiration

So I am hoping that I have the money to make a dress for XX Con that is coming up in February.  I'm pretty sure that I have the time to make it, but I'm really picky about fabric.  I'm happy to indulge in a sale or even settle for something that "isn't the right fabric" as long as the look, feel and hang of it are right.  Of course, sometimes that means that there are no substitutes.  Still it's not an exceptionally full dress so hopefully it won't take an extraordinary amount of fabric.

The dress that I want to make was worn by the Mord Sith Denna in the 2nd season of Legend of the Seeker.  At that point in time she is working as a Madame and her dress is very appropriate for the part.  It's simple, and really quite modest except for the back which plunges down to the small of the back.  The look is perfect for a more elegant Anat.  I apologize for the quality of the photos but it was hard to find any online.  I had to capture them from the video.  I'll probably go to Joann's on Friday (I'm off) to at least price fabric to see if it will be doable.  If not it will have to wait until later in the year.
The back is admittedly my favorite.  The front is so simple you don't really expect it as well as keeps it from being obscene.

 The front is a simple scoop neck and the lines are simple.  It seems to be fully lined.  The gold peeks out around the neck like and can be seen at the folds on the arms, the inside of the sleeves as well as the underside of the train.

I probably won't wear the train so long, or at all, as I will run the risk of having it stepped on.  I might have it a little longer in the back to keep in with the overall look, but I have done trains in the past and they can be a little impractical.

The Snow Queen: Final

So it seems that the fates conspired against me for the Longest Night's Ball.  I didn't get a chance to finish my dress and when it finally came time to go to the game I was so worn out with everything we had done during the weekend that I was sick.  I still wanted to go but needless to say my make-up suffered for it...suffered in that I didn't do anything extensive.  That being said I still think the look was successful overall.

Photo by JMN

I always have enjoyed wearing this dress because it's sort of gravity defying.  The fabric is also gorgeous.  It's not the best craftsmanship since it was one of the earliest things I ever made.  It was an old 80s prom dress that I retooled to wear for my very first character.  While Anat does not have black hair she does sometimes wear a wig, especially if she is dressed in more traditional Egyptian style, I thought it more fitting for the outfit since the dress is darker than I had originally planned.

To answer your question, yes I was taped into the dress.

Photo by JMN

I look a little grumpy in this photo but I was starting to get chills and body aches.  Also I was listening to an exceptionally silly conversation.

I used two Sephora eye shadows for my cheeks.  One was a icy silver and the other was a dark navy blue, both had tons of glitter.  On my eyes I used Pompadour, Mermaid and Snow Queen all of which are discontinued Lime Crime colors.  On my lips is the gloriously red Glamour 101with Hard Candy's Prom Queen gloss over it.  It stayed on all night so I was super happy!

Still, overall a little disappointing for my first venture into blogging the process.  Especially after the success of the costumes I made for Grande Masquerade.  I'll just have to get some photos done in them so that I can post them here.  Hopefully my next endeavor won't have as many speed bumps. 

The Snow Queen: A Darker Twist

I was working on my dress the other night, trying desperately to get it ready, and it just didn't come together like I wanted.  I didn't look bad but it didn't look finished either.  I was very upset because I had this vision in my head of how I wanted things to be and it wasn't turning out like I had hoped.  I didn't have the time to figure out how I could make it look like I wanted either. 

It was very disappointing.  Fire was still an option; I have five or six red dresses that would work for the occasion.  I have all the makeup I would need to make a fiery red look.  Still, I was really looking forward to doing an ice costume.  Briefly I thought about a dress that I had made for my changeling character when I first started playing.  It was this pale pool blue and would have been a great substitute but ever since we moved I haven't been able to find it.

I moped around the apartment.  I chose the red dress I was going to wear, and the shoes.  I packed all the appropriate makeup.  It still didn't keep me from feeling sad.  I knew it would look nice but that wasn't the point.  So in a slightly less-happy state I went to bed.  The next morning I told my fiancee that I had to fall back on plan B, but he could see that I was upset.  Suddenly he remembered a dress I had made when I first started playing.  It was dark blue and black and very very daring (it requires tape). 

I had totally forgotten it even existed.  I was very excited.  While I was really looking forward to the dress the thing I was looking forward to most was the over all look.  Because it is such a darkly colored dress I have decided to take a darker approach to this wintery theme.  Much like the look Emilie Simon has in her video for Fleur de Saison.  I plan to wear my long black wig and probably do red lips for a Snow White feel.  Thank goodness for Glamour 101!

Pics to come!

The Snow Queen: Makeup and Hair

First of all I would like to say that my Lime Crime lipsticks came in this weekend!  I'm always very excited to get my shipment from them in because the packaging is always so cute.  Now they are including a sticker--I plan to put mine on my laptop--as well as a poster for their new Carousel lip glosses.  I'll be getting the ruby red, gold and purple as soon as I can (maybe stocking stuffers?).

Glamour 101 and Chinchilla

I already own two of their other colors: Cosmopop, a creamsicle orange, and Retrofuturist ,a bright true red.  I often use Cosmopop with a dusting of Treasure Chest, LC's gold eyeshadow, over it for Anat's costuming.  You can find all of their products here at www.limecrimemakeup.com.

So now that I've got that out of my system I figured that I would do a post on how I come up with makeup ideas and what I plan to do for this particular look.  Since there was a Featured Game this weekend I didn't get a chance to sew.

The Makeup:

When I think about how I want to do makeup for a particular costume or character there are a few things I try to consider.  Obviously the color of a costume will affect the colors you use with your makeup but the personality of a character is also greatly brought to life through makeup.   Do you want a soft natural look?  A glamorous old Hollywood starlet?  Maybe you want to do something over-stylized?  Do you want a bright punk-rock look?  Dark goth?  I love makeup because it is a fun tool that can completely transform the way people think about you and the way you think about yourself.  You also don't necessarily need a lot of different makeup to create a lot of different looks.

Obviously when it comes to a costume like this the makeup is going to be a bit more theatrical.  This won't be a look normally worn by the character.  Instead it will be as much a part of creating an icy vision as the dress is. Ice brings to mind a palette dominated by pale blues, white and silver, so naturally these are the colors that I decided to focus on when bringing the look together. 

Makeup is never something I completely plan.  I don't know exactly what I am going to do until I actually sit down to put it on but that doesn't stop me from putting together a general idea.  Often times I get an idea in my head but it's usually vague concepts so I start with an internet search on looks that are similar to what I want so that I have something a little more concrete to work with.

Google is your friend...most of the time.  I've also used DeviantArt to find inspiration though it can be a little more dangerous.  It's surprising the number of "artistic nudes" you come across even when you think your search was fairly tame.  Sometimes if you have an idea that's a little more abstract this part is difficult.  When I have this problem with makeup or costumes I try to think of a film or book character that I can use for a starting point.  Usually once you get going you can come up with keywords that might get you better results. 

As you can see a theme emerges.  After scrolling through a couple of pages you generally can get a good grip on what aspects you like and want to bring into your own look.  In this case I personally didn't want to paint my whole face white.  I don't have white face makeup and I've been trying to keep this whole production at low cost so I didn't want to buy some.  I'm also very picky and I didn't want to over-do it.  Instead I wanted to do more like the third photo and bring hints of blue and silver onto my cheeks, forehead and lips like hints of frost.

The final part, next to actually putting it on anyway, is assembling all of the tools.  I plan to use several of LC's eye shadows (All but Mirror Mirror have been discontinued) as well as Chinchilla to help bring this look to life on Saturday (yes, it is that soon...eep!).  While I think my new lippy is a gorgeous color on its own I want the whole look to sort of glisten.  Think of the way snow glints in the light.

To add a shimmer to my lips I picked up a tube of Hard Candy's Prom Queen lip gloss which is sheer with white glitter.  I also picked up their silver eye tinsel Disco Ball which is essentially glitter that can be applied over mascara to add a bit of sparkle.  It's a nice subtlety to add to the whole look.  For my nails I picked up two polishes by Pure Ice.  One is a pale icy blue (A-list) and the other is clear with a blue sparkle (Oh, Baby!).  All of these are available at Walmart. 

Oh, Baby! Disco Ball, Prom Queen, A-list

The Hair:

Hair is usually the last thing I think of for a character, except in one where I built a character around Liz from Hellboy and a blue bob.  I own five wigs: two black, one brown, one blonde and the aforementioned blue.  I really want to get a baby pink one...but I'm getting off topic.  I like to use hair to help distinguish between characters.  It can also, like all the other elements, help lend to personality.  Not to mention it is often easier to have a wig then try to fight with your own hair before every game, and in some cases there is just no way to do it without one (again see blue wig). 

Now, when I first thought of what to do with my hair I figured I would just get a wig.  Something long and silvery white that I could pin up and fix how I wanted.  I figured I could find something else to use it for but ultimately it came down to cost and time. As I searched through images for inspiration on Google and DeviantArt I decided that maybe it would be better just to pull my hair back and then spray it with white and/or silver hair spray paint.  I figured I would take a simple route with something like this:

It's elegant and easy.  That way I wouldn't have to worry about covering every strand of red hair with white, I could just do an outer coating and it would suffice.  I also thought about using it to do some strategic painting of my skin like on my arms and neck.

I hope this helps give you an idea of what I'm going for.  I can't wait to see how everything pulls together.

Candy

A different sort of 'eye candy'

I didn't get a chance to sew last night.  I'm a little bummed out about it but I had something I had to go to after work and then when I got home I had to make two batches of pralines.  If you've ever made candy you know it's really not good to double your batch instead you have to make it twice.

The Snow Queen: Building the Dress

When I heard that the theme for the Longest Night's Ball was "Fire and Ice" images of pale blue and silver make-up sprang into my head.  I immediately knew what I wanted to do.  Of course I had to go with the difficult choice.  I have a plethora of red dresses, my hair is red, I've got loads of red and orange make-up.  I could have done fire at no cost and it wouldn't have taken me any extra effort to get a costume together.  Maybe it's because I wanted an excuse to sew or maybe it's my love affair with Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen but I became driven to create an icy look.

The first thing I thought about was a silver dress.  I wanted something silky and sultry, something that had a liquid quality to it.  I wanted a dress that was old Hollywood level of classy.  Imagine Yvonne's dress from Stardust:

Now finding dress really wasn't that hard.  You do a Google search for silver ball gowns and you will undoubtedly find one that fits your needs, and I did.  The problem was money.  I knew ultimately that I would have to find something cheap and make due.  My first try was Ross.  Occasionally they have some really nice dresses but this time there were none that had the look that I wanted.  Then I decided to go by Goodwill.  I thought maybe a wedding dress could be altered to fit my needs though I really didn't want white.  Then there is always the off chance that they will have exactly what you are looking for.  I went through all of the dresses to no avail then I turned around, ready to leave empty handed, when I saw:

It was the right color, it had the right flow.  The only problem that I had was that it was a nightgown.  This means that it hits several inches above the ankle, but I figured that for three dollars I could work with it.

The original Mab dress design

At first I was a little uninspired.  I couldn't think of how I wanted to dress it up and make it, not only a full length gown, but something that didn't look like something you wear to bed.  Then I remembered a costume I designed some time ago for a Queen Mab look that I never got to make.  I had planed to make it from two old dresses of mine.  One was a white Renaissance gown based off of Ewoyn's dress from LOTR and the other was a junior bridesmaid's dress from my godmothers wedding which was made out of really pretty grey-blue raw silk. 


I had already deconstructed both gowns and sewn a 5 panel skirt together out of the white fabric.  It was a little short but I had already thought to add a ruffle to the bottom of the night gown to make it the length I wanted.  This wasn't a bad idea but it would have flowed strangely due to the type of fabric it was made from.  Instead I would sew a ruffle onto the bottom of the white skirt which would also help with the problem of sheerness.  I started making the ruffle last night.  It's not difficult but involves a lot of hand pleating, but you'll get the general idea from the photos.

The white will show a bit at the hem.  I wanted to add the blue into the color scheme with a hint of white.  It's hard to see in the pictures but the white fabric is actually textured and it's not paper-white either.  It's actually quite pretty.


I plan to use the silk to cover the current straps of the dress and make little cap sleeves.  I also plan to add a belly dance chain and some lace/beading as a drape on the arms like depicted in the original Mab dress design.  I'm trying to decide if I want to add a drape of some sort of the white fabric over the dress to create almost a Regency feel but I haven't decided. 

I shall post more progress as it comes along.  Hopefully I'll figure out some better lighting to take photos in.  Sadly I have nothing to put it on, like a dress form, so hangers will have to do.  I'm very excited and I think it will be quite lovely. 

Still to come: Even more building!  Make-up and hair!  The finished look!

Changing Directions

Creating a look for a character is one of my favorite things about gaming.  For me it is also a vital part of bringing that character to life.  The right clothes can completely change the way you carry yourself and when your trying to bring a unique personality to life this can mean everything.  Just like costumes in a play help not only the actors, but the audience, connect to the characters they change the way you and other people approach your character.

This doesn't mean your going to always be wearing an extravagant ball gown or Victorian frock coat.  Often it's just everyday clothes.  It's how you wear them and accessorize them that make the biggest difference.  Most of what I wear to an everyday game are dresses or outfits I've got hanging in my closet, but for big games like conventions I want to look my very best.  That is when I put scissors to fabric and try to create one-of-a-kind pieces to wear.

Since my first attempt at this blog was a bit of a failure I've decided to take it in this new direction.  It will chronicle both the process of creating a look for certain characters as well as those sewing projects I take on.  I imagine this will get updates much more regularly since it is something I enjoy very much and I already have a new project to start working on that needs to be ready for next week.

Stay tuned for the creation of The Snow Queen, an icy look that will be worn by Anat to the Longest Night's Ball.

Enjoy!

In the beginning...

It all started with an epic quest to find a pair of red pumps.  Maybe I was fooling myself, maybe someone else would have known better, but I did not expect to have to spend several hours going from store to store looking for these shoes.  I ran into just about every problem you can when shopping for shoes.  They only had sizes that were too big or too small, the display shoe was the right size but no one could find the matching one and some stores didn't have any pairs at all.  I wasn't even being picky.  I'd be happy with satin or patent leather, strap, peep toe, sling back...anything, as long as they were red and had a heel.

I hung my head and made one more stop before resigning myself to the truth.  I would have to go to the mall, a venture I usually find stressful and unrewarding.  So I walked into Sears, straight through to the shoes and there they were.  I approached the sales clerk, shoe in hand, and told her my whole sad story and then I said "Can I see these in a seven and a half please?"  I waited patiently delighted that I wouldn't be going home empty handed, wouldn't have to brave the mall.  But then she returned.  She looked crestfallen, "We don't have any seven and a halfs."  My first thought was to fall to the floor dramatically and shake my fists in the air going, "Noooooooooo!"  Instead I asked, "Do you have an eight?  I can work with an eight."  She had them in an eight.

Of course, it's not about the shoes.  It's about the conversation they started.  A conversation about the difference between flirting with a woman making her feel attractive and sexy, and objectifying her which generally just makes her feel like she needs a shower.  There is a line between complimenting a woman and being a skeeze.  Some people honestly don't seem to know where that line is and others just seem to enjoy stomping all over it.  Certainly there are different lines depending on the friendship, but this is just the origin story.  So my friend suggested I start a blog entitled, "I'm Not a Pair of Shoes" and here we are. 

Because being a girl and being a slut are not the same thing.