Masquerade

mas·quer·ade

–noun

1.

a party, dance, or other festive gathering of persons wearing masks and other disguises, and often elegant, historical, or fantastic costumes.

2.

a costume or disguise worn at such a gathering.

 (There are other meanings, but these are the most applicable.....)

Ah, the Masquerade Ball! What girl doesn't dream of attending one?  

This post is divided into three categories, parts, or "chapters", if you will....with a really, really, really, really, really, really exciting SURPRISE at the end!!!!!!!

I hope you enjoy!

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Part One: Movie Costumes

 NOTE: I am not necessarily reccomending the movies mentioned in this post... just drooling over their outfits!


Christine's dress from Phantom of the Opera 

 This is a GOREGEOUS dress! Just take a look at the back:

Read the full costume study here

 Danielle's "Breathe" dress from Ever After:

 Did you know they made a corset to support those huge wings?

A very in-depth costume study here.

The  Masquerade dress from Marie-Antoinette

Here's an AMAZING costume study.  
I love her mask:

 Worn with this cloak, which was supposedly not even made for this specific movie!

Margarite's  "Peacock" costume from Ever After

 Cool head dress!

 Rich fabric... and perfect color.

Costume study here. 

Part Two: Some cute, modern "Masquerade" attire
You don't have to be "costume-y" for a Masq. Here are a few modern formal outfits that could also be for a Masquerade ball. (These are basically just ideas, as most of these dresses need to be altered to be more modest.)

my attempt at Polyvore

From Mod Cloth I found:

 

Put on a Party dress: $164.99

Step and Repeat dress: $149.99

New Hollywood Glamour dress

On Etsy.com, I found this:

Prom ball gown black sequin

Part Three: What to Wear (accessories)
Here's some stuff I've found on Amazon.com (probibly my fave place to shop) that's very "masquerade-y"..

Gloves:












These are nice, basic, gloves. You could personalize them by adding Hot Fix crystals, seed pearls, or perhaps some gold trim.

Cloak/cape:

A lovely evergreen is one of the color choices! Reminds me of a book...













Shoes:














GLASS SLIPPERS! I've always wanted a pair... even if they're not really "glass"


Just for fun, I added the Titanic necklace replica. I haven't actually seen the movie, but you have to admit this is a gorgeous necklace!
















A lovely mask is needed of course:















There's also the option of making one, like Amanda Beth did a looong time ago.

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Here's a tutorial on how to do a Marie Antoinette pouf hairstyle....

And now, the surprise.....

You would not BELIEVE how excited I am!

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My "Marie" dress!!! 

I'm not really done, but close enough to where I can take progress pics! YAY!

In a week or two, my final pics should be up.

Special thanks to my sister for taking these in a moments notice. :)

~Celine

Arwen's Mourning dress: 75% complete

The inspiration:

 Arwen's Mourning dress from LotR

in the scene where her (Elven) father shows her what her future is with mortal Aragorn. It's only on the screen for less than five seconds! Fortunately, the movies were so popular that the costumes were (and are) on display quite often....


My original sketch:

 Ignore the Hawaiian flowers, lines, and "January".... I have a bad habit of grabbing the first available paper *grin*

The 75% completed project:

All that's left is hemming, which I strongly dislike, and besides that, there's a lot to hem... :^l

After I find the proper head scarf + crown I'm planning on having a photo shoot.... but who knows? Can't say for sure...

Thank you for reading :)

Celine

Planning...

Mom bought me six yards of this silver taffeta last night! It's absolutely gorgeous. It'll be a 18th c. inspired ball gown, with pewter and white/silvery beads on the stomacher and sleeves. I'll have a black tulle mask and also have tulle and a black rose is my hair.
Thank you, Mum!!!! :)

This is some olive green cotton broadcloth-type fabric. I'm making a medieval gown (that I've dubbed the "Autumn" dress), and embroidering the sleeves, neckline and possibly the hem with the thread colors shown.

These are the materials for Arwens Mourning dress (check out my previous post).

A close up on the buttons. I took these pics myself.... I didn't want to bother Amelia..... however, my close ups are really bad! She's so much better at this than I am!

My Oktoberfest costume!

My Bavarian dirndl in it's completed state.

To define dirndl: "The dirndl consists of a bodice, blouse, full skirt and apron." --Wikipedia (here's the rest of the article. Very interesting.)

Picking lavender barefoot. I love lavender tea.

The skirt and the shoes and stockings I should be wearing that I took off after a few minutes...they're VERY warm!!!

Now, on to the vest:

The front and back of the vest. Laced in front with a yellow ribbon.

Concerning the skirt: It is constructed like this one. (You'll have to scroll waaaaaaaaaay down, as it was a loooong post of mine :)

Concerning the missing apron: I didn't end up sewing the apron. I left it for last.... and then decided that my outfit didn't need it. In fact, if I had stuck to my original plans, it would look pretty plain.

Princess seamed.

And a first look at my purity ring! Pics coming soon.

Patterns used: Butterick 6196 for the vest. I'm wearing a 18th century shift (or chemise) I've had on hand for years for a blouse/slip..... and as I mentioned before, the skirt is simply two rectangles of fabric, gathered, and sewn right sides together with a waistband. Then I slip stitched the waistband on the other side so that the raw edge of the skirt was covered. The waistband overlaps a few inches and is fastened with two buttons. Comments are welcome if this is confusing.

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Pics courtesy of my younger sister Amelia (THANK YOU!!!!). She's getting VERY good, yes? :)

lovely dresses....

I know I haven't posted in awhile.... first I was gone in Victoria (so fun! More on that soon) and now I've been sewing lately...pics coming soon.

Anyways, I thought I'd share a few pics of dresses I like and will sew one day. This isn't the post I was going to write today, but it'll have to do....

First of all, is Victoria's wedding dress from The Young Victoria gorgeous or what? I haven't seen the movie yet.... but it's coming out on DVD tomorrow! Yay!!!!

This one Kate Winslet wears as Marianne in Sense and Sensibility is lovely. It was also worn by Charity Wakefield in the new one.

And Marianne's nightgown. Very ruffle-y and romantic. Low, but that's the advantage of sewing it myself.

Here is the long view of Kitty's dress from the '05 Pride and Prejudice. Too bad she's sulking... otherwise we could see more of it!

And, you may be asking, what about my "18th century" phase? Still going strong! In fact, I have some fabric, but I'm not sure about the design of the dress.

anyways, here's a lovely blue one from "Amazing Grace". Great movie, by the way.

and here's some from "Felicity: an American Girl" that I like. (not the movie necessarily, but the dresses)

My next project will have ruffles at the neck and sleeves like this one.

I like this one two. Very pretty embroidery.

well, that's all for now.

Celine

p.s. Grace is having a giveaway!!!! http://gracesgardenwalk.blogspot.com/2010/04/my-giveaway-is-here.html

I love this site!

I've been brousing Historically Dressed ...... and I have to say, I love it! Jenny is so creative--and skilled! For instance, she made a dress like this out of a pattern she altered herself:

I also love all of her 18th century creations, like this one. (this is her pic by the way)

So, head on over there! http://www.historicallydressed.com