2spooky15

 
Today, I saw my first SPIRIT store, reassuring me that it's not to early for Halloween posts (it never is), although I've been officially planning for about two weeks now in the form of a pinterest board.

Halloween is usually the time when I can get away with doing some mild historical costuming, and I wanted to do something in those veins, but not strictly a reproduction.

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I saw this incredibly terrifying Victorian raven taxidermied as a priest and thought I might do a Victorian crow, but that's a hell of a lot of work, and it is basically September. Somehow, I landed on doing a 1920s bat, and though I'm not as into the decade as I was a while back, I think the style would really suit the costume.

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  I've always really liked this art deco moth print, and thought it could translate well into bat.

early 20s, butterfly could translate into bat

really like the pointed parts of the skirt on the right

c. 1920, Russia

I always lean towards the beginning of the 1920s decade when it comes to fashion, as I think it's a lot more flattering and less stereotypical than the standard "flapper" look, and I really like this dress.

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 This one of my all time favorite fashion plates of any era in the history of man. It's already witchy and halloween-y without even trying. I want to be buried in the outfit on the left. Send me into the afterlife looking like a bootlegging Transylvanian countess!

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I really like the points on the skirts of this dress that was worn to the Royal Ascot. I'm not sure what year, but I'd guess 25 or so. The points kind of echo the points on the photo of the bat costume above, and the tassels on the Russian dress.

c. 1926, Metropolitan Museum of Art

 

 

 

 

 The sleeves on this are reminiscent of wings. I really like the shape and drape of it.



I'm not entirely sure how it's going to come together, other than being black and having the wings/ears be made in the form of a cape, and made from something sheer.  I found some sheer poly voile curtain panels at Ross for $8, and I think I can fashion the cape out of these. I didn't want to try and do chiffon or anything too filmy. They need to be slightly substantial.  Dress-wise, as I said, I want to skew earlier than later in the decade.  We can all agree this Downton Abbey knock off pattern is pretty atrocious, but I think it may be a good jumping off point.