MORE DETAIL PHOTOS
Yup, more details photos - this time of the "Star princess" costume, also a replica from Phantom of the Opera. The costume is almost finished, but not quite. I love the bodice, but need to fluff up the skirt a bit. I also need to make new "hanging stars", as the one I have now is a bit... messy... This costume never come off as sparkly and lush in photos as it is in real life. It looks a bit... flat? in photos. I dunno. But I tried angled photos in direct sunlight, and it looked BETTER that previous photos, at least. Assembled costume, without tiara, silver boots and star strings on skirt:
The bodice is made of three panels - one pointed front panel and two side/back panels. The bodice has tabs in the bottom, and lotsa lotsa opalesque beads, both horizontally and vertically. I remember counting them once, and I think it was about.... 2500 beads of different size? The ruffle is made out of 14 metres of ca. 5 centimeters broad strips trimmed with metallish ribbons, while the skirt has 10 layers of fabric (of different colour), each layer with ca. 2,5 metres of fabric. And no, I don't have a thing for pink.... hahaha! I know many of my costume projects has been pink, but my favourite colour is actually green...
Details of the costume design by Maria Bjørnson, so you can see what I tried to achieve. I like the way the stars are "hiding" her cleavage, so I adapted that into my own replica. I also like the way the strings of stars are corresponding with the strings of beads in her bodice - I definitely want that.
The front of the bodice (hanging on the back of a chair, so the shape is straigher than when I wear it). I'm very happy with the bust area. I got to see the costume design right before I started decorating, and that helped me tremendously. The hanging stuff in front are strings of "chrystals" with a blue/golden drop bead in the bottom, and the strings are of various lenght and sewn to a silver elastic ribbon attached under the ruffle (easier to get it straight and even that way).
The multiple layers of the skirt - four blue, five pink and one coral-shiny-white-golden one... I think I'll add another blue layer, with a lot of ruffles in the bottom to make the skirt hem fluffier, and to get a more bell shaped skirt.
Closeup of the ruffles over the shoulders. It's identical to the front bodice, except with two added (longer) layers, one royal blue and one turquoise (they look the same, but they're really not). I saw a POTO costume in Denmark that had a lot of gold in it, and it created a most interesting effect towards the otherwise cool silver tones. It actually emphasize the silver shades. So I adapted that for my own costume, in one of the ruffle trims, plus in the blue front beads. I've also glued on lots of small silver stars.
A closeup of the front. My idea for the costume was a sunset. The blue sky is fading into pink, and the stars become visible in the sky. It's a transient moment, and that's what I wanted to capture.
An angled photo, as an attempt to get the spark and colours right. The silk for the bodice was dip-dyed in two different pots; one with "hot pink" and one with "sky blue" (from Dylon, I think). The hardest part was to get the big piece of silk into the pots while still getting an even colour, and to blend the colours into eachother. I was so freaked out when I did it! But it really is my favourite part of the costume - it came out so much better than I feared!