Indian Rococo
Costume-Con 33 had a competition inspired by Gone With The Wind, where you had to take curtains and turn them into a costume. I found these synthetic taffeta curtains at Value Village and thought they reminded me of Indian decor colours, so that sparked my imagination. The concept is loosely based on the fancy-dress parties that clueless European upper classes would throw and dress up as 'Cleopatra' or some such, where the costume was clearly based on what they were familiar with but with 'exotic' touches.
I had just enough sillk left over from my Madame Morpho underpinnings to make a pair of pocket hoops that match my stays (not shown).
The overdress is made from the curtains, and the petticoat skirt is made from a sari. The trim is vintage sari trim (if you value your sanity and wallet, don't search for 'vintage sari trim' on eBay). I didn't foresee that the beaded trim would be so heavy that it crushes the petticoat a bit; eventually added netting under the petticoat to help beef it up. I also had to do a lot of splicing and re-beading of the trim to make it go around corners and curves.
I made the headdress from heavy-gauge brass wire and beads, hammering the ends of the wire to fan it out and keep the beads in place.
When we were going to France in 2019, I made a matching outfit for my husband out of Indian textiles. It was my first time making historical menswear and it was definitely a learning process! Amazingly, at the party there was another lady with the same idea - she had done a 1600s dress out of Indian textiles.
Awards won: Best Master, Costume-Con 33
I had just enough sillk left over from my Madame Morpho underpinnings to make a pair of pocket hoops that match my stays (not shown).
The overdress is made from the curtains, and the petticoat skirt is made from a sari. The trim is vintage sari trim (if you value your sanity and wallet, don't search for 'vintage sari trim' on eBay). I didn't foresee that the beaded trim would be so heavy that it crushes the petticoat a bit; eventually added netting under the petticoat to help beef it up. I also had to do a lot of splicing and re-beading of the trim to make it go around corners and curves.
I made the headdress from heavy-gauge brass wire and beads, hammering the ends of the wire to fan it out and keep the beads in place.
When we were going to France in 2019, I made a matching outfit for my husband out of Indian textiles. It was my first time making historical menswear and it was definitely a learning process! Amazingly, at the party there was another lady with the same idea - she had done a 1600s dress out of Indian textiles.
Awards won: Best Master, Costume-Con 33
