LOTR + costume details
this is my fetish
(via crawled-outofthe-sea)
It’s Tiger Lily time! This is Nautch again, and I’ll be typing this up even though it’s not me wearing the costume. Here goes the breakdown of her Dapper Day outfit!
The Dress
All hand-made by Nautch (Peter). We weren’t satisfied with any of the fabrics in our local store for this one, so we had to scour L.A.’s garment district for just the right blend of fabric in that special shade of khaki. Designing it was a bit of a challenge, because to keep it recognizably Tiger Lily and not cross over into any fits that ended up looking too childish or unflattering turned out to be harder than it sounded. There was a lot of sketches and adjusting of lengths to get it just right. The belt was made from the same fabric as the dress, but we had to let it soak for over a day in a vat of coffee to get it just a bit darker, but not too brown.
The Shawl
This was probably the part of the outfit that had to be the most perfectly shaped, or else it threw off the look of the rest of the outfit altogether. Once we had that, it was the next to impossible task of finding that trim. First, it was debating colors. In our old vhs copy of the Peter Pan movie, it looked to be two shades of pink, but more recent versions/merch showed it to be some fushia and orange. We went with pinks since it seemed more classy. Hunting down two shades of pink in matching trims that worked for the style of both the dress and Tiger Lily herself was almost impossible. We were trying to match laces, though florals just didn’t quite look right, and any scalloped or crochet trim was either far too small or the colors were off. By complete chance and constant searching for about two months, we finally found this trim that looks to be two-toned feathers (perfect, right?) that happened to be with the light on top and dark on bottom. We tea stained it just a bit to give it a more antiqued look, added a large turquoise brooch and voila, Tiger Lily shawl!
The Hairpiece
To represent Tiger Lily’s headband, Venia made this with a teal feather pad she added a hairclip to the back of. She painted a red tip on the white feather and arranged that with a turquoise piece to match that on her shawl.
Accessories
The Shoes: Venia was on the hunt for light teal shoes, but they had to be just right. Suede in this color just isn’t that easy to come by, but we finally came across some in the local mall!
The Parasol: Made by the lovely ladies right in New Orleans Square at Disneyland! They didn’t even hesitate to try to bend the rules for us once we told them what it was for. Apparently, using the name Tiger Lily (or any name of a Disney characters that isn’t common?) is some sort of infringement on Disney, but they used their wiles and figured if they alternated “Tiger” and “Lily” on the pannels, it would be acceptable.
The Earrings: It just so happened Venia had these after an aunt gifted them to her. It was just coincidence that they had all of Tiger Lily’s colors!
Oh nooooo, way too cute. I can’t even handle this blog.
All right. It is time for details on Dapper Day outfits. For those who don’t want to read through an exacting spiel on all that was put into these outfits, scroll on down. There was a lot put into these. Making them was part of it, but what we really want to show off is all the little references and such we slipped in to stay true to the characters. The devil’s in the details.
I’ll start with mine (Peter). I think going to break it down by article of clothing. Yeah, yeah. Definitely.
The Waistcoat
First off, it is impossible to find a decent leaf/vine brocade when you are actually on a mission for one. From the beginning of designing this ensemble, I was bent on a green waistcoat with leaves to simulate Peter’s skeleton leaves. Through L.A.’s garment district and all of my local fabric stores, I eventually found one with a color and pattern I was happy with and stitched up the vest from scratch. No pattern or nothin’, because I just don’t do things that way. Just sketched it up and altered along the way. Next it was on to my quest for acorn buttons. Given I don’t live near anything remotely arboreous to pluck them up and make the buttons myself, it was off to etsy. Lastly, I found a Tink pin to add to my lapel (had to make sure it was one that showed off her ‘tude!).
The Shirt
This one I didn’t make, but I did do a lot of altering. Venia (Tiger Lily) can attest to how many times I dyed, bleached, and redyed in different shades of yellow and green (and some super dark coffee) to get just the shade I was determined to get. This was probably my biggest headache and most damage on my hands, but I finally got a nice color, I think.
The Pants
Short pants were another constant from my initial design. Though I didn’t make these entirely on my own, I think I altered about every stitch but the crotch. They were originally a pair of granny dress pants I picked from the thrift store, but I took them in about a billion inches all around, cut off the bottom and added a contrast of brown plaid wool to help break up the green overload.
The Cap
This started out as a lifeless olive hat I bought from Target. I dyed it dark green, attached the feather and a old bronze button I had floating around for accent.
Accessories and Et Ceteras
The Ears: Bought from Aradani Studios (which I highly recommend). I sought out some tiny bronze earcuffs with leaves engraved in them for an added touch. I hope you can tell from the pics!
Tie/Tiebar: I wanted the tie to replace Peter’s brown belt since I didn’t really have one, and I fashioned a tie bar for his dagger. It was originally just a bronze pendant, but I wrapped it with a red floss to make it look more like his and added a backing to attach it.
Panpipes: Bought off ebay. They’re unplayable, given they’re not real pipes but just whistles. Going to get a real set for next time!
Pocket Compass/Watch: This one was fun. I got an old pocket watch and gutted it. I painted a face to replace the old one with the night sky showing off the second star to the right and set back the needle to give it the look of a compass. Since that wasn’t enough, I found the crocodile watch charm and added it on.
The Shoes: You would be surprised how hard it is to find the perfect pair of shoes. Originally, I was going to go for a pair of kiltie loafers, but all of them looked too… loafer-ish. I wanted a classier look, and after literally three months of searching, I finally found a pair I fell in love with. These are vintage Florsheims I’m guessing are from maybe the 1940’s judging by the style and the fact that the soles are leather and the heel is wood. Not sure, though, given I’m not that informed about that sort of thing.
I’m sure I’m forgetting a few things, but the rest was either simply bought or doesn’t have any story behind it. I think that about does it for the breakdown of this outfit, and points to you if you actually suffered through to the end of it.
These outfits and characters are very dear to us and we just love to share all the construction details and such—and hopefully you don’t mind hearing it! Going to write up Tiger Lily’s next!
Oh my god, this is stunning. I love reading the details of people’s costumes, too - this blog is a new favorite!
Oh, the cleverness of me!
Peter is a punk rocker.Aherm. Yeah, this is what I wore to the Disneybound Day at Disneyland (which was full of fun and great people, by the way). Breakdown time, but…
First and foremost, I want to thank whimsicalmela for taking many of these pictures! She was super sweet and offered while we hung out for the day!
All righty, here it goes. Basically, I had to do a sort of punk-ish Peter Pan. What else would the kid be?
The shoes: Picked ‘em up at the Melrose swapmeet. Heck yeah.
The pants: Those were white once. Dyed ‘em.
The shirt: Bought it from a kid who was making these. I think he was starting his company? Either way, my favorite shirt I own.
The vest: Okay, here’s where hours of my life and ounces of blood went into. I butchered an old denim jacket to start, and from there, it was all scratch. The patches were all hand painted and sewn on. I made the hood from some flannel then got some feathers and colored the tips. Sewed those on one-by-one and had to make sure they all stayed flat so they wouldn’t fold and snap. All the star spots on the back were painstakingly pushed in and bent back so they didn’t pop off. On the front, more hand painted patches and the green star panels (more dyed fabric so it’d match everything else). I made several pins like the ones you get at concerts for bands, but instead relating to things of the Neverland variety. Most are self-explanatory, but there’s a few tougher ones in there I’ll let you ponder on. One side is reserved for native american-ish/Tiger Lily stuff, because she’s awesome. Of course, we couldn’t forget Tink! I took a charm Cindy gave me and painted it to put it in a bottle cap. I think that’s it? Yeah, I’m going to say that’s it.
Accessories: I really do love the crocodile. I found myself a ring and made a wrist band out of various pieces of leather and a button I painted to look like an eyeball. The little chevron band is something I made a long time ago, just sort of has all Peter’s colors in it. The rings were part bought, part made. The leather one with the acorn I carved and dyed, and the dagger ring I rigged with a charm I painted. The raven’s claw is kind of a distant reference to a character in Kensington Gardens, but that’s not exactly Disneybound-related so much as just Peter Pan. Lastly, I made a little clip with a bottle full of pixie dust!
P.S. Please don’t hijack/alter/etc the idea. This took a long, long time to construct and is pretty dear to me and all that jazz.
Oh my god!!
That is a damn fine lineup of cats.
This is my friend ThePrettiestBird cosplaying Black Canary. I think she looks great!
It saddens me to say that when she posted these pictures, she got some very rude comments about her body type, and even some death threats. I will not re-post what they said specifically because that kind of ugly language has no place in cosplay.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I support all cosplayers regardless of race, age, gender, ability or body type. I’m touched by the enthusiasm of the fans and their love for the material being so strong that they literally want to become part of it. That is just awesome. ThePrettiestBird is awesome.I think she’s done a marvelous job re-creating the essence of the character, and I’d ask everyone else who thinks she makes a great Black Canary to please reblog this post.
Dat Canary!
