Costuming
Hello, all you fashionistas and fashionistos (is that a word?), I need some help/advice/ideas.
I'm looking for a costume for my backup character for Sabbat, also something I could wear to work (which means it has to be not uber-formal and not spaghetti-strapped; I wear jeans to work on a regular basis), as I can't currently afford to have outfits I wear once every two weeks and not for anything else. This can be something I could buy, or I could sew.
Requirements:
* Black, all black
* ankle-or calf-length skirt or full-length pants; full-length sleeves (in short, somewhat demure, although I don't mind a neckline cut down to there)
* Attractive or at least flattering to my figure: I'm tall, leggy, busty, and rather chubby in the stomach area. Things that hang loosely from my chest downward make me look 20 years older and 30 pounds heavier; too-tight things just make me look trashy.
* passably comfortable: not too tight in the shoulders or in the chest
* preferablly flowy vs. tailored, not too stiff or businesslike
* Under $100, preferably
My current idea is a colarless jacket in black chineese-style brocade (like the middle jacket on this line ), unlined and with the shoulders fitted to my shoulders, rather than to the shoulderpads, cut low, over a shirt in red silk/brocade with a just-barely-higher V-neck, so that the edge of the red shows under the jacket, over a solid black a-line skirt... but I'm not sure.
Thoughts? Ideas? Photo references? Help?
(I also want to be able to wear this necklace with it ;-)
I'm looking for a costume for my backup character for Sabbat, also something I could wear to work (which means it has to be not uber-formal and not spaghetti-strapped; I wear jeans to work on a regular basis), as I can't currently afford to have outfits I wear once every two weeks and not for anything else. This can be something I could buy, or I could sew.
Requirements:
* Black, all black
* ankle-or calf-length skirt or full-length pants; full-length sleeves (in short, somewhat demure, although I don't mind a neckline cut down to there)
* Attractive or at least flattering to my figure: I'm tall, leggy, busty, and rather chubby in the stomach area. Things that hang loosely from my chest downward make me look 20 years older and 30 pounds heavier; too-tight things just make me look trashy.
* passably comfortable: not too tight in the shoulders or in the chest
* preferablly flowy vs. tailored, not too stiff or businesslike
* Under $100, preferably
My current idea is a colarless jacket in black chineese-style brocade (like the middle jacket on this line ), unlined and with the shoulders fitted to my shoulders, rather than to the shoulderpads, cut low, over a shirt in red silk/brocade with a just-barely-higher V-neck, so that the edge of the red shows under the jacket, over a solid black a-line skirt... but I'm not sure.
Thoughts? Ideas? Photo references? Help?
(I also want to be able to wear this necklace with it ;-)