Phantom costumes - real and replicas 1

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http://australia.broadwayworld.com/printcolumn.cfm?id=36103
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Am I the only one who noticed the candelabra in the last picture?!
OG

thephanfullerton wrote:

http://australia.broadwayworld.com/printcolumn.cfm?id=36103
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Am I the only one who noticed the candelabra in the last picture?!
OG[/quote]I always notice the Aminta costume first. I remember seeing this exhibit when that article first popped up. I was so annoyed that they wouldn't let us take pictures.

Viscountess wrote:I always notice the Aminta costume first. I remember seeing this exhibit when that article first popped up. I was so annoyed that they wouldn't let us take pictures.

Did they say whether it was Sarah Brightman's dress or not? Seeing the flounced layers have lace deco instead of embroidery it must be from 1988/1989 sometime, but the picture is way too small to tell whether it is the one Brightman wore or not.

operafantomet wrote:

Viscountess wrote:I always notice the Aminta costume first. I remember seeing this exhibit when that article first popped up. I was so annoyed that they wouldn't let us take pictures.

Did they say whether it was Sarah Brightman's dress or not? Seeing the flounced layers have lace deco instead of embroidery it must be from 1988/1989 sometime, but the picture is way too small to tell whether it is the one Brightman wore or not.

Would love to know which Aminta costume that is! Or I should say...what year/cast it is from....

Devon wrote:

operafantomet wrote:

Viscountess wrote:I always notice the Aminta costume first. I remember seeing this exhibit when that article first popped up. I was so annoyed that they wouldn't let us take pictures.

Did they say whether it was Sarah Brightman's dress or not? Seeing the flounced layers have lace deco instead of embroidery it must be from 1988/1989 sometime, but the picture is way too small to tell whether it is the one Brightman wore or not.

Would love to know which Aminta costume that is! Or I should say...what year/cast it is from....

If I remember correctly, the sign said Sarah Brightman.

Thanks for that info, Viscountess.

I've worked a lot on the Sylvan Glade costume. The trims of the overskirt were so hard to get right. Plain silk ribbons looked flat and cheap, and metallic floral ones almost disappeared on the glittering fabric. The solution was to add as much texture and details as possible.

The two metallic floral one was sewn to a lace trim, which gave them a nice outline and popped the colours. The silk ribbons got various treatments; the pink one got a broad silver trim on top, while the mint one was box pleated and got a narrow silver trim on top. In effect, each trim consists of TWO trims. I originally planned to have three rows, but noticed the costume design had four rows, in alternating pink and green. I just couldn't ignore that.

As of now I'm struggling with the mint fabric over the hips; to make it fit casually snug over the hips before attaching the glittering overskirt. In the picture it's crudely (and, I see now, not very straight) pinned on.



When the overskirt is in place, all that remains is the drapes (apron, shoulders, back bodice), plus the big bow in the back. Can't wait to show you the underlayers of the skirt. So... fluffy!

Anéa - Your Sylvan Glade costume is looking beautiful! Great work!

Speaking of Sylvan Glade...Viscountess made some beautiful headbands using several Sylvan Glade rosettes that she found at the Broadway Flea Market. I was able to purchase one and I absolutely love it! It's fun to have a wearable accessory that has some Phantom history tied to it.

A few pictures are below:

Stephanie, that is just too cute for words. Really lovely. She did a great job with those.

Raoul de Chagny, also known as Errol Flynn:



I noticed when I started studying Maria Bjørnson's costume design for POTO that some of the faces looked like they were taken from period newspapers, fashion plates and/or paintings. At the time I thought it was a nod to where Maria B. found her inspiration, or maybe even that it was the work of her assistants.

I didn't think of it until the RAH brochure featured a nice little article about her, written by the head of the MB archives. According to him Maria B. enjoyed collaging in the faces of given persons. Two funny examples are given - Errol Flynn in the Raoul sketches, and comedian Kenneth Williams in many of the female cast member designs! I suspect the main Hannibal princess might carry his face, along with one of the Donnas in Don Juan (their face is approximately the same).

Now I'm wondering who this is a nod to - this Don Juan Rehearsal character definitely looks collaged:



For a moment I wanted it to be Gaston Leroux, as the moustache and glasses reminded. But he was a much larger man, wasn't he? It doesn't seem like the perfect match. Alas!

operafantomet wrote:Raoul de Chagny, also known as Errol Flynn:



I noticed when I started studying Maria Bjørnson's costume design for POTO that some of the faces looked like they were taken from period newspapers, fashion plates and/or paintings. At the time I thought it was a nod to where Maria B. found her inspiration, or maybe even that it was the work of her assistants.

I didn't think of it until the RAH brochure featured a nice little article about her, written by the head of the MB archives. According to him Maria B. enjoyed collaging in the faces of given persons. Two funny examples are given - Errol Flynn in the Raoul sketches, and comedian Kenneth Williams in many of the female cast member designs! I suspect the main Hannibal princess might carry his face, along with one of the Donnas in Don Juan (their face is approximately the same).

Now I'm wondering who this is a nod to - this Don Juan Rehearsal character definitely looks collaged:



For a moment I wanted it to be Gaston Leroux, as the moustache and glasses reminded. But he was a much larger man, wasn't he? It doesn't seem like the perfect match. Alas!

OMG....the resemblance is uncanny! Well move over Raoul, Robin Hood is here to stay!

Stephanie wrote:Anéa - Your Sylvan Glade costume is looking beautiful! Great work!

Speaking of Sylvan Glade...Viscountess made some beautiful headbands using several Sylvan Glade rosettes that she found at the Broadway Flea Market. I was able to purchase one and I absolutely love it! It's fun to have a wearable accessory that has some Phantom history tied to it.

OMG! When I saw those pictures pop up on the thread I was like "Those totally look familiar!" It looks awesome on you!

What about the book, "The Great Opera Stars in Historic Photographs"? That was mentioned at Fans Week as being a place Maria went to a lot. I haven't had the time to compare faces but some of them were familiar.

OMG! This topic is full of good advices and studies!
This will help me a lot thank you!
I'm a costume maker too, for the moment I only made few 18th century dresses and as I needed a crinoline for the Opera, I'm currently finishing the 2004 movie version of the Think of Me dress (please don't kill me, I needed a crinoline, and I'm also a Sissi fan... so I made the only "Phantom Crinoline available") .


When I finish this one (and a regency dress) I'll make my Wishing Dress (what a surprise!)
As I found nothing similar to the original fabric in Paris, I ordered a 3 test swatches (2 different blues and 3 different cottons) of this on spoonflower.com

This is a design I made on Photoshop. It's not the same flowers as the original fabric because of copyrights issues but it's very similar. If the quality is good enough, I'll definitly buy this fabric O_O (and this would be a good solution for the historical costume maker that I am! It wouls also be a solution for wishing dress makers...If the result is correct, it will also be available in a public shop for 18$ I don't wan't to keep this design for myself )

But I wanted to know. How many yards of this fabric should I order to make the wishing dress? 10y? More? the pleated parts are surely fabric-seeker? I'll certainly work from the Truly Victorian Patterns (I already use them for my ToM Dress, they are wonderful!)

I can't wait to receive the swatches! If the quality is good enough I can't stop thinking of historical gowns I'd be able to make O_O Correct fabrics are hard to find for specific eras

Anyway, Congrats with your hard work! All these costumes are SO incredible! Thanks for sharing I love you!

Melly wrote:This is a design I made on Photoshop. It's not the same flowers as the original fabric because of copyrights issues but it's very similar. If the quality is good enough, I'll definitly buy this fabric O_O (and this would be a good solution for the historical costume maker that I am! It wouls also be a solution for wishing dress makers...If the result is correct, it will also be available in a public shop for 18$ I don't wan't to keep this design for myself )

Wow! That is amazing and looks great! I hope it works out for you! I would definitely love to be able to buy that fabric as well. Please keep us posted.

Stephanie> Swatches have been shipped yesterday! I can't wait! If the result seems interesting, I'll post some pics here. My patterns from truly Victorian have been ordered too. I'll try to start a mockup as soon as possible so I'll be able to know how many fabric I need I'm lucky, I already own two Victorian corsets. I'll just need to make a bustle and a petticoat!

The Truly Victorian bustle is fantastic and I love the silhouette it gives. It's very easy to make too. You're going to love it!

I think so! I've already made a ball gown bodice, an elliptical cage crinoline and an elliptical skirt (and its petticoat) to make my Think of me Dress from 2004, it was a real pleasure to work with those patterns!

Melly, that pattern for the Wishing fabric looks really, really good. Can't wait to see the fabric swatch!

Me? I'm still droodling with that Sylphide costume. Working on the draped apron now. I think I got it fairly right, but only after 8 different draping attempts... Now I have to replace all the pins with actual seams, and then decorate with flowers. I want to throw some grey and orange in there, just to make the colours pop. It needs to make the eye wander. When the apron is done, I'll make the bow in the back. And then the skirt is DONE!!

It is really beautiful! The skirt looks just like a flower which would be almost opened! You know, still green outside but with a transparent and fragile pink/purple inside

Oh and a question for you who made the Wishing dress: when I'm looking at the TV patterns (apron + skirt + bodice and pleated decorations) I need about 10y of fabric. But I think that you may loose A LOT of fabric when you want to make the pieces joining perfectly with the flowers and the stripes (?) Did you loose a lot of fabric considering this detail? (I don't know if my question is very clear! Gah I wish I was better at technical english sometimes!!! )

Melly wrote:It is really beautiful! The skirt looks just like a flower which would be almost opened! You know, still green outside but with a transparent and fragile pink/purple inside

Oooh, that's a nice allegory.

Oh and a question for you who made the Wishing dress: when I'm looking at the TV patterns (apron + skirt + bodice and pleated decorations) I need about 10y of fabric. But I think that you may loose A LOT of fabric when you want to make the pieces joining perfectly with the flowers and the stripes (?) Did you loose a lot of fabric considering this detail? (I don't know if my question is very clear! Gah I wish I was better at technical english sometimes!!! )

Your question is very clear! I think you'll be safe with 10 yards. If you cut a mockup of cheap cotton, an old bed linen or whatever you have in hand, you can fit the Truly Victorian pattern to your individual measurements and try it on before sewing the real deal. At the same time you can draw on approximately which direction you want the stripes and flowers to go. When you take the mockup apart, you can place the individual pieces on the stripy/floral fabric and get a best possible use of it when cutting.

Naergilien, who examined a Wishing dress from Hamburg in 2006, made this fabric layout:
http://www.naergilien.info/phantom/bluewish/Fabriclayout.jpg

She wrote: This represents a 6.6 meters long piece of fabric with all pattern pieces required on it. The two rectangles at the bottom represent the underskirt, which I will sew and pleat from these two rectangles.
You can also see the slight changes I made to various other pattern pieces by simply adding new lines to their outside shape. The waterfall draped is just indicated by such lines on the fabric, and it is directly joined to the center back piece of the bodice. From top to bottom: Apron, bodice front (without darts in this layout), bodice side back, bodice undersleeve, bodice center back with waterfall drape, bodice oversleeve, pannier, underskirt rectangles.

If you don't make a mockup and/or a fabric layout, you will probably use more than 6,6 meters. I still think you're save with 10 yards, though. The piecing of the bodice is probably the worst, followed by the apron (if you're making the V shaped patterning) and the backdrapes. For the rest it's mainly big pieces of fabric draped in a certain way.

If in doubt, you can use a period "cheating" on the skirt: make the lower half of the fancy fabric, and the upper half of a taffeta or plain cotton. The US costumes are made that way:



It will save you at least one yard of fabric.

This is a very good idea to use another fabric for invisible parts It's another good reason to make a mock up, just to find the invisible parts.
I had already seen this fabric layout but it was impossible to find where I first saw it! Thank you SO much! *saved in my files - won't make the same mistake twice*

I'll try to make the V shape on the apron, I love this!
In the truly victorian apron + zigzag tail pattern, I think that the tail is not long enough (it means possible extra yards...). I'll try to make a half tail with a cheap fabric just to be sure... There are no pleated decorations on the TV apron... more fabric needed! And there's the bow or little tails depending on wich dress I'll try to reproduce ^^

I'd like to buy all the fabric once instead of ordering some missing yards some weeks after... I think that the two orders would be consistant and similar concerning the color but... we can never know...

It's very expensive to buy/make it in US when you're french... I hope I won't have customs duties to pay and that my package won't be lost or opened (it happens quite often T_T)

By the way I'll definitly let you know about the printed fabric pattern

Thanks again for all these details operafantomet! It will really help me Why do I have regency clothes to make before starting this dress?! Well Regency's funny too but...

Melly wrote:Thanks again for all these details operafantomet! It will really help me Why do I have regency clothes to make before starting this dress?! Well Regency's funny too but...

Very glad it was of any help. You're probably familiar with this, but Naergilien has a site about the Hamburg Wishing dress as well, with very good closeups:

http://www.naergilien.info/real-life-research/original-gowns-examinations/wishing-gown-examination

Yes! I've seen it! Lucky you who owns the dress in question

Fellow phans (and others), I need some help. I've been pondering on the flower tiara/head gear for the Sylvan Glade costume. After studying tons of pictures, I've concluded that these three are my favourites - at least, my favourites of those I have good pictures of:



The first picture shows the Danish/Swedish ones. I like these a lot. Partly because of the colours - I love the fresh mix of pink, raspberry, orange, yellow, white and green. I also like that there's two separate tiers, and that all the flowers are very small. They remind me of a mixture of fresh flower scent and candy.

The second shows the Mexican/Spanish/Brazilian/Argentine version. I like these a lot too. Partly because they're so leafy, with only a hint of flowers on top. It reminds me of spring, of nature coming to life. And it's rather in sync with the costume design.

The third shows a US version. I like the clear half moon shape, it reminds me of diadems from the antiquity. I also like the large, silky flowers. Not so sure I like the mixture of lilac and orange, though. That fits better with the bold colours of the US costume. I have a more muted scale. But I like the shape a lot, and I like the execution of the flowers.


So.... any input on this? Do you have a favourite of the ones above? Another favourite?

I love the Spanish and US versions. I love the ivy on the Spanish one, but I like the "closer to the head" shape of the US version. Maybe a compromise can be done with your replica. Muted colors with more ivy. However, I might be bias. So go with your gut.

I personally like the US one; it's neat and pretty.

Thank you so much for the feedback, you two! A frankensteined version sounds likely.

operafantomet wrote:Fellow phans (and others), I need some help. I've been pondering on the flower tiara/head gear for the Sylvan Glade costume. After studying tons of pictures, I've concluded that these three are my favourites - at least, my favourites of those I have good pictures of:



The first picture shows the Danish/Swedish ones. I like these a lot. Partly because of the colours - I love the fresh mix of pink, raspberry, orange, yellow, white and green. I also like that there's two separate tiers, and that all the flowers are very small. They remind me of a mixture of fresh flower scent and candy.

The second shows the Mexican/Spanish/Brazilian/Argentine version. I like these a lot too. Partly because they're so leafy, with only a hint of flowers on top. It reminds me of spring, of nature coming to life. And it's rather in sync with the costume design.

The third shows a US version. I like the clear half moon shape, it reminds me of diadems from the antiquity. I also like the large, silky flowers. Not so sure I like the mixture of lilac and orange, though. That fits better with the bold colours of the US costume. I have a more muted scale. But I like the shape a lot, and I like the execution of the flowers.


So.... any input on this? Do you have a favourite of the ones above? Another favourite?

I like the Danish/Swedish ones....between the color and head pieces, I just think they are prettier. :-)

Appliques for the Triangle Girl bodice! I picked them up when Kaedra was in town and we went fabric shopping.

I'm still deciding which one of the two multicolored appliqués should be the centerpiece. The color on the star one is a little bolder, but the bottom one has such a cool design going on.

Viscountess wrote: https://2img.net/h/i192.photobucket.com/albums/z200/OMGWTFGERIKHAWTNESS/11a4161c.jpg

Appliques for the Triangle Girl bodice! I picked them up when Kaedra was in town and we went fabric shopping.

I'm still deciding which one of the two multicolored appliqués should be the centerpiece. The color on the star one is a little bolder, but the bottom one has such a cool design going on.

Oh, I agree. The bottom one has such a gorgeous design. You could of course add some colourful "gems" to it? Very nice appliqués overall, wish I could have joined you gals for a shopping spree.

Devon wrote:I like the Danish/Swedish ones....between the color and head pieces, I just think they are prettier. :-)

I like those too. A lot. Especially the colours. But somehow they seem more advanced to make than the others. The two tier thing throws me off a bit. So I'll probably end up frankensteining a bit. But than you for your feedback. All of you. Sometimes it helps just to hear the opinion of others.