Dragon Empress Costume

So, the local renaissance festival is in full swing, and the Loonatic and I recently spent a day seeing the sights. The Loonatic has already put up a post about the parts of her costume, so I thought I would do the same! I didn't make a specific character for the faire, but instead put together a look with a couple major pieces (a pair of wings and horns I made myself), with a motley collection of things from my closet. The end result is sort of a weird dragon-lady, which is pretty much what I always wanted to be, so: Mission Accomplished.



Costume Parts

1) Skirt




This is a thrift store skirt that I think may have started out as a dance skirt. It's made of a lightweight but draping fabric, and it's a full circle skirt, so it has a lot of swirl-a-bility.

2) Corset


Not a thrift store find, this is a black and silver/lavender over-bust corset with black leather accents. It's pretty comfortable, but after 7 hours or so, my ribs needed a serious break.

3) Boots


Also not from a thrift store, these are a pair of Minnetonka moccasins I've had for many years, and they're still going strong.

4) Wrap

It was a little chilly the day we went, so I went ahead and put together a super simple wrap. It's literally just two rectangles of black fabric that I draped over my arms and stitched together right behind my neck (leaving the wing harness free in the back). I also put a couple stitches in to make the drapes more like sleeves as well, so I could let the drape hang behind me like a cape, or put my hands through and have kimono sleeves. I actually have no good photos or this (Curse you, weather gods!) so the only picture I have is actually a close up of the fabric (which is good, the fabric is super neat stuff). However, you can see the drape in the full costume photos as well.


5) Horns


So, I made these horns out of some craft foam (I just made strips and wrapped them freehand to make to original spiral), and then covered the foam with strips of faux leather. From there, I made a basic head band to hang the horns from, with a strip around my head and a secondary strip over the top of my head.

6) Wings


I did make these wings as well, and to see the full process, check out my Making Dragon Wings post from a few days ago!

7) Accessories



Finishing the look, I carried a little silver purse, wore a pair of battleaxe earrings (charms from Hobby Lobby, dangled on a couple of kidney earring wires), and took along my favorite Occamy buddies from my previous Fantastic Beasts costume.

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