I decided to do this costume on a short notice, so I didn't exactly have enough time to really go all out and reproduce the to its cannon look (for those of you who don't know, cannon means as close as possible to the production of the original costume). I am a ballet dancer so I happened to have a good amount of leotards on hand to work with. I basically hand sewed all kind of different types of feathers in as close as they were in the movie, almost matching the original bodice. I used ostrich and regular store bought feathers and also some with a slight green tint to give some different colors. (I will post more pictures of the bodice very soon after I repair it, CAUTION on wearing this to an actual event with lots of people). I also hand stitched large square rhinestones.
Some what closer image of the bodice top.
NOW the tutu! Which was actually very therapeutic. I started with my waist measurement for the 2.5" wide elastic and stitched it an 1" less than my waist measurement so it would stay put then did row after row after row of black strong tulle, I worked upside down and pleated the tulle every 1/2". So it ended up being completely pleated. I did about 4 or 5 rows each after stitching them to the waistband. I wanted to achieve that "pancake" tutu that the real swans use in the ballet Swan Lake. There are many ways to achieve it just make sure you use strong tulle and I found that working upside down helped maintain that pancake look. I also tacked the edges together at the very end
Next I added the feathers and rhinestones. This part was tricky, being that I did it like a week before halloween, I said to myself, "Amanda, its ok...get the hot glue..." So after that weeping moment of oh dear jesus I have to use hot glue, it was ok. I basically attached the feathers with hot glue all around the top part of the tutu. It worked out better, but as a perfectionist costumer, I wept inside. I sewed the rhinestones on. Adding an extra ring of tulle around the top edges helped cover that nasty hot glue evidence.
The makeup was super super fun. I mostly just found images of Natalie Portman with her makeup and took it from there, I used Ben Nye products and went crazy!
The crown lastly. I created it completely from scratch. I used leftover wire from the feathers I bought and fitted it to my head. Then I took black oven baked clay and molded it into organic different sized pieces about 1-2" each. Then baked them. Attached them in an organic way to the crown very closely to the original crown Mrs. Portman wears. Then to fill in the empty spots, I took air drying, paper weight clay and "filled it in". Once everything is dry I painted the entire thing with black acrylic paint, dried, then took watered down silver acrylic paint and brushed it on. Then super glued the rhinestones to there proper place. I also made, which you can see a bit of, a "bun cover" which is a crown basically for the back of your head, to give a complete crown look to the entire head.
I also added the detailing to my arms with black makeup and drew organic lines and feathers. Pretty cool till it rubs off, so powder well.
