My Adventures in Costuming

This is my first actual post on this blog! I do not intend to be very regular, but I just wanted a way to chronicle my costuming journey. :)

So here I am to tell you about my wearable arts entry.

Here in New Zealand wearable arts is kind of a big thing. World of Wearable Art (WOW) is the HUGE competition that happens in Wellington every year, attracting competitors from all over the world. It's a big deal! In my titchy little town in the North Island we have our own WA competition. It's called Evento. My high school puts it on and other local secondary schools compete. It is a big deal here, with very high quality entries. I took the opportunity last to finally make something I was proud of.

One of the categories was "Crown and Glory", which I decided I could twist around to make something historically inspired. And so I did!

At the photo shoot, before pearls and sequins were added.

This is my entry titled "The Young Queen"

I am going to talk you through the different parts. :)
Sorry the photographs are so bad! I am not be any means a model!

First, the

Headdress

Is it obvious I'm not a model?

It's based on a traditional Russian headdress called a 'kokoshnik'. They are normally made completely differently, but mine is literally cardboard covered in fabric then painted with glitter. I know. It's hideous. I hate it! It is not what I pictured.... Oh well...

Sorry, don't know who this is. Nice headdress though. #goals

The Ruff

Makes my neck look teeny tiny!

This huge Elizabethan ruff was a challenge! I found the lace at an op shop, but had to buy the lace to edge it from a fabric shop. This took a loooong time and several attempts!!! I had to make a "support" for it, but I think it was hideous! :P I sadly can't find the tutorial I used for this... If you're interested in amking one, just search for ruff tutorials and I guarantee you will find something. :)

The Corset

(Weeeell, actually they're stays, but most people aren't familiar with that term.)

The sleeves were attached to the skirt.

I will do this in a separate post. It was such a learning journey for me!

The sleeves

The lacing has no purpose. SYMBOLISM.

These were two layers. The under sleeves, which were tight and laced up. Then small ruffs clipped onto the ends. Six metres of ribbon on went into making each of those small ruffs!!

The outer sleeves were medieval inspired. I put in some eyelets at the top to continue the lacing theme of the ensemble. I edged the sleeves in ribbon, and painted the fleur di lys on. This was several coats of paint, and a lot of work! Then they were gathered up to better show the undersleeves. This was to give an effect often seen in Tudor-ish times.

The Hoop Skirt

I am still in love with these hoops.

Wow. What an adventure! This will have to be another post!

The Skirt

First stage.

Before waistband and bow.

Does this make my bum look big?

That bustle though.

There is really not much to say about this! It was fairly straight forward, just a skirt with loads of ruffles sewn on. Then I made a bustle-ish thing, This was made following a tutorial I saw aaages ago, but sadly cannot relocate. :(. But of course the skirt shape is very different from the bustle era, I just had to make it bustled so it would not be plain gold! :) The peacock feathers edging this were kindly given to me by a friend who has a farm with peacocks on it (I've been there. It's weird just having these magnificent creatures strolling around you!!!), and they were awful to sew on. I was not happy with this, so literally the afternoon before the first show I ripped them off and hot glued them on. It looked much better. The lace on the bottom is the same as the ruff.
The big bow was some plain fabric made into a bow shape. I put newspaper rolled up and covered with plastic bags into the loops of the bow to hold them out, then I mixed blue with glitter and over a few days did about four coats over the entire bow.

The Bloomers

Haha. So much work for something never seen!!! I made them using a pair of pyjamas as a pattern, then added the lace and ribbons the put elastic in. They did up with a drawstring. These caused much delight for everybody behind the scenes of the show! Everybody laughed at them and said how cute they were. There were even suggestions that onstage I pull my skirt right up for them to be seen. :P But it was decided that it was not particularly queenly behaviour to show off one's knickers!
I haven't put a picture here because I will assume you can scroll back up. :)

The Tights

I followed this tutorial. Petty straightforward.

The Shoes.

I covered them with glitter. Tip: Mix the glue (PVA, but I think it's called Elmer's in the U.S.?) with the glitter, then paint on. I think it took three coats. Then I gathered ribbon to put all around. I hot glued little loops of ribbon inside the shoe to do the 'laces' part. These shoes were the most uncomfortable shoes I have ever worn ever in my whole life. Never. Again.

They were inspired by the of Marie Antoinette (2006), and these sorts of shoes:

So the idea of the garment was a young queen who has recently acsended the throne. She is overwhelmed by the decisions she has to make, and feels the pressure to be a great queen like those before her. That is why there are so many elements of historical styles in her dress. She feels constrained (hence the use of lacing as a theme)and unsure. She feels as though everyone wants her to something in particular but she's not even sure who she is yet. I hope this got through!