Construction Details:

Everything in this costume was made from scratch, save for (obviously) the pointe shoes! So bear with me, I'm going to go into detail here! The tutu is made up of 9 layers of diamond net, all of which are double-hand-pleated and also dagged in order to get the "feathery" effect, which is common on most Odile and Odette tutus. There is a hoop slid into a hidden casing on the seventh layer that I spray-painted black so that it blends in. The lower basque (the panties, essentially) also has a few layers of "butt ruffles"; they were pleated by hand and then zigzag-stitched to the powernet. All in all I used approximately 118 yards of black netting, plus another 3 yards of golden sparkle tulle on the plate. [EDIT: To clarify, it was 14 purchased yards, but when every frill is cut out, the total yardage covered is 118 yards. The math is down below in the comments!] The plate and bodice were both made using black bridal satin; the plate is essentially a circle skirt sewn to the upper basque. The upper basque for this costume required a little bit of modification from the standard tutu basque, because the bodice goes so low in the back. So I made the upper basque a bit thinner than it would be in a professional costume. The plate itself was a doozy, though! The designs were cut out of gold satin, and then I stitched the center bead designs onto them before attaching them to the plate. Then each design was outlined with sequins that were secured with more seed beads. The little circles are made of gold sequins surrounded by black sequins, and more seed beads. Finally, the outer edge of the plate has two rows of two different trims hand-sewn to it, accented with - you guessed it - more seed beads! The beading on the bodice was a lot simpler, and for the most part it uses the same beading methods as the plate. In total, there are 2,730 seed beads, 1,659 sequins, and 41 miscellaneous beads. The bodice itself was constructed using a custom pattern I made from scratch; it's lined with a bottom-weight linen, and then both the top and bottom edges are finished with piping. I used steel boning to give it more stability, but the majority of the stability comes from it being adhered to my torso with spirit gum, haha! The feathers are a blend of duck and ostrich, along with a few swan feathers thrown in for good measure. The tiara is constructed with three different types of gold wire, and uses three different golden beads, including Swarovski rose montees, and then the ruby teardrop beads. Last but not least: fake nails, circle lenses, light pink dance tights, and Capezio Infinita pointes to complete the look! I can't say for sure how many hours this took to make because I lost track somewhere around the "35 hours" mark, but I'd say at least 150 hours went into this costume, if not twice that much. Phew!

Personal Thoughts:

This has been a dream cosplay of mine for a long time now, and I have to say, I'm thrilled with how it turned out! There's still a lot that I want to fix up before I wear it again, but overall, it's one of the few costumes I can say I'm 100% proud of! Also, just to be clear, I'm NOT a ballerina! I do take ballet, but admittedly it's not my forte at all (I have godawful turn-out) - I'm very much a hip-hop and modern dancer! So obviously I won't be en pointe for any pictures, but hopefully my posing isn't toooo horrible, haha!

Styling Notes

This is a Jeannie ponytail wig by Arda. For the cowlick, I moved the ponytail up higher, then hung the wig upside-down and sprayed the heck out of it with got2b Freezing Blast Spray! I also used a blowdryer to set it with heat, and there's floral wire in it for stability too. The feathers in the cowlick are a mixture of duck and ostrich feathers, and the ostrich feathers were styled lightly with hairspray so they're not as fluffy.

Wig Review

I absolutely adore working with Arda's Jeannie wigs! I own two of them currently, and I'm planning to buy many, many more in the future!

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