This dress and jacket combination was originally supposed to be for the opening of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I had seen pics of Professor McGonagall in her ball outfit and really liked the idea. Loved the green too. But I had several yards of red/black tafetta and red and black chiffon was on sale for a ridiculously great price. I was going to attend the opening with a bunch of other people in costume but plans fell through and the costume was never started.
Jump ahead a few months and Labyrinth of Jareth had started advertising for that year's masquerade. I had always wanted to go but never had the opportunity. Now that I was less than a two hour drive away, I had to go and needed a costume. For some reason this fabric jumped to my mind immediately. The original plan was even to make it exactly as planned but that somehow morphed into a rose costume.
Then started the quest for a mask since Labyrinth requires one for entrance. I found several that were okay but nothing special. Bryan was having problems too until we came across Falconrose and her wonderful masks. Both of us found several masks that were gorgeous and we wanted. Somehow we each managed to pick just one but the colors would mean completely different fabrics would be needed. A quick email later was followed with a snail mail package that included scraps of our actual costumes. Georgia Lambert is such a wonderful artist and so great to work with. She was willing to alter her designs to create two masks that matched our costumes perfectly.
So with masks on order, it was time to actually make the costume. The dress was pretty easy. Simple fitted bodice with the straps barely on the shoulders and rhinestones all along the neckline. Full circle skirt because full swishy skirts are an addiction for me. There are supposed to be rhinestones scattered along the hem and there should also be a sash to go with it but since most of the dress would be covered up, that never happened. There are three layers of chiffon in the dress - black, red, black - to create that deep dark red. Black was too harsh with the taffeta and the red really doesn't coordinate but put it all together and it almost shimmers.
The jacket has two layers of taffeta making up the body with all seams open below the hips. The sleeves are in three pieces with the seams open at various points. However, because the plans had changed, I didn't have quite enough taffeta in one piece. I had another piece so cut out the inner layer from one and the outer layer from the other. For some reason, I didn't realize until I was making up the roses that they were two different colors. It's a happy mistake because I love it this way and when I ran out of fabric for the roses, it made it much easier to get some more fabric since it would only be a bonus if it didn't match exactly. There are easily one hundred roses already attached with another 150-200 left to attach as well as a bag still to make up and several yards to be cut. My design has many more roses on the jacket but, as always, it took a lot longer to do than I had time for.
Just a couple close-ups of some of the roses...
The jewelry happened to be a lucky find. At the time, I was searching for jewelry for Inara's gold Shindig dress and happened to find this set. Obviously the red wouldn't work for the Shindig dress but I loved it. I'm really not a red person and wouldn't have had any other way to justify purchasing it but for this dress. I sacrificed part of it to make a bracelet, changed the earrings around so they wouldn't be quite as heavy, and repaired the necklace - shipping had damaged it slightly but nothing a few quick twists of the pliers wouldn't fix.
However, like most costumes that I wear, getting pics of me wearing them is a last priority and I normally don't even realize until several days later that I never got a pic. Labyrinth was exactly like that. I was so excited to be there and see all the wonderful costumes that pics were completely forgotten and not just of me. 2007 came around as well as the last minute opportunity to attend Costume College. With ComicCon the week before, there wasn't much chance to make something so I brought this along and managed to get these few pics (I look a bit silly because I hadn't tied the mask tight enough and it was slipping a bit).
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