Empire: Facing the Monsters of Varushka

I had thought at first that we hadn't any costumes that would work with Varushka, but after some rummaging, it turns out that the elven embroidered coat works a lot better for Varushka than it does Urizen or even Navarr. The silver embroidery on dark forest green of the wool works remarkably well given the Varushkan love for complex embroidery and stark contrasts. The addition of the white fur mantle and red sash decidedly makes it Varushkan.

The stripy hero trousers belong to the Slander Rat and the cream tunic to the Designer. The firebird cloak seems now almost made for Varushka with its strong reds, ornate trim, stark contrast and a fairytale allusion.

As always, the various cloth components can be commissioned from the Mercenary. The round boar shield (£110), the sword (£50) and the embroidered coat (£110) are all available from Character Kit.

More photos of the Varushkan costumes under the cut.

Empire: Three Tears Entwined

Of the multitude of costumes we've pulled together this weekend, the Kallavesi Mystic (as worn by Lord of the Macaroons) is probably my favourite. The mask is far more stylized than the ones on the wiki, but do think it works very well. With the crest of feathers, we sort of imagined that he's some sort of feathered fox, probably a trickster of sorts. 

The feathered fox mask was made from moulded leather by the Designer for a Loki-esque character he played at Ragnarok. The mantle of many furs and the goatskin skirt are both made by the Designer. Both garments have also appeared in the Navarr costumes.

Given the rather diverse inspirations Wintermark draws upon (I believe the mood board was rather flippantly described as House Stark With Eskimos at one point), its rather nice to see that there is still a sense of continuity and cohesion when you stand the three together. In these photos at least, the consistent palette of reds, browns and blacks really helped.

The sword held aloft by the Ginger Ninja is, if I recall correctly, from Saxon Violence and the helmet from Planet Trading. The jewellery and assorted belt hangings of bone and bead are made by myself. 

The various tunics, cloaks and robes can, of course, be commissioned from the Mercenary. The highly detailed vambraces (£40), the pouch (£40), small wooden shield (£50), the feathered mantle (£60), cloak with hidden pocket (£60) and the fey dagger (£15) are all available from Character Kit. 

More photos of the Three Entwined Tears of Wintermark under the cut.

Empire: The Many Paths of Navarr's Great Dance

Navarr was odd for us in that instead of doing all them as a set, we did the three sets of costumes separately and thus had no group shot. It seems that these Navarr are loners and walk their own separate but intertwined paths (after all, they do seem to be tracking each other).

This is the only set of photos that we've done with any form of Lineage makeup. We had originally intended to do one with each nation, but it was soon obvious that this would be impractical given how we had intended to do all the nations in one weekend.

The Slander Rat was originally done up as a Draughir, but due to the Designer wanting to do some gill makeup (closeups under the cut), she was swapped over to a Merrow. The pale grey (or more accurately, a lightly applied black and white) colouring the Draughir was tinted green around the eyes and mouth. The colouring around the mouth in particular gives her a more fishy, inhuman look. The fluttering gills are done with tissue paper and latex over a patch of skin coloured black and red. The Designer describes it as a sort of latex papier-mâché. The black and red snazz provides contrast with the gills as the move.

There are quite a few photographs of myself festooned in half of my troll kit, which last appeared on that Carthaginian Philosopher. The jewellery was made by myself (though that feather is borrowed off a straw tricorn).

None of the bows in the house proved to be plastic-free enough to be photographed and in the end, there was only the beautiful quiver and some arrows. There's probably a story there.

The Navarr costume guide recommends long, close fitting boots and the only pair of those I own has a faulty zip on the right boot. Thus was necessitated the belt to hold it shut and the Navarr penchant for belts and straps is thus further fulfilled.

The armour worn by the Ginger Ninja is that set that was made for a Dragon Age cosplay some time ago. It was made by Julie Knox and is still for sale. It would fit a medium-sized man. The leather shoulderpiece is part of a matching set and was made by the Slander Rat (among her first efforts) and the goatskin skirt, inspired by Morrigan's in Dragon Age, was made by the Designer. The mantle of many furs (including rabbit, goat and sheep) is also by the Designer. The green man quiver is by Miss Wu. The dubiously functional armour I'm wearing was inspired by that from the film King Arthur.

The warpaint swirlies are drawn by The Slander Rat (of Slander Rat Crafts). She appears here as a Merrow with green fishy.

The black hooded coat (£75), fey daggers (£15), fey swords, tooled vambraces (£40) and the intricately tooled quiver (£140) can be bought from Character Kit. The Forest Cloak (£75) also makes an appearance. The spear is utterly ancient and has been tipped and repaired so many times that it's really only good for being in photos for this blog.

More photos of the Navarr under the cut.

Empire: From the Streets of Holberg

The League was an immensely fun, if chaotic shoot. The direct sunlight was deeply unforgiving on our whites and creams, especially given the better camera being out of battery during this segment of Saturday. On the other hand, we had pulled together sufficient costumes that we really felt we had on our hands a lively cast of characters to pose. When reviewing the photos, a convoluted narrative of intrigue, passtion and jealousy seemed to unfold from the sequence of images, following the misadventures surrounding this odd little red leather book. It is probably best we don't dwell on it here, but suffice to say it was a deeply evocative experience.

The bravos are both in doublets and are lightly armoured on one side (for the fighting of duels! With flourish!). They are actually sharing the same set of plate which I believe is from Mytholon. The rose rapier is a custom job from Eldritch and other is a Medlock. The mask is from Durham's Georgian Window, though I don't know if they ever intended it to be worn.

Pillywiggin is wearing the same velvet gown that appeared briefly in Mirroring the Pre-Raphaelites (and did not get its own post for some reason). Other costumes on that blog that would work in League include: Early Venetian Gown (though these specific colours are a touch dark and gloomy); Winged Doublet; Tudor Loose Robe.

The various dresses pictured would cost in the region of £90-150 to commission, depending on design and materials. Both the doublets pictures can be purchased at Character Kit and fit a men's Large. Do email in for a more detailed quote.

More photos of the Streets of Holberg under the cut.

Preview: Embroidered Elven Robes

Due to the nature of the embroiderers and them reluctant to take on any orders that don't involve fewer than a dozen garments, we have been experimenting with designs and have come up with this elven ensemble, drawing quite strongly on elven aesthetic of the Lord of the Rings films. Though as said before, there's something very oriental about the garments and it came easily to people who were accustomed to making tangzhuang.

The whole outfit doesn't really fit me. It's a couple of inches too wide in the shoulders and hangs more than a little oddly. The wide sash (maroon faux silk with a silver white embroidered design) makes the whole thing neater than it really should. The sash is just pinned to me in the photos (being on the large side) but there are snap buttons.

The elven coat is a dark green wool (very much the same lovely medium weight wool as that of the tail coats), though we've also done a couple in a much lighter fabric, a faux silk. It's fully lined in green faux silk and the buttons are small, round and in gunmetal grey, fitting into tiny little satin loops. The stretch velvet robe is unlined (and really quite rough). We've more made it to show the effect of a complete outfit than selling large numbers of them.

And yes, these are indeed more blurry photos. I'm having some problems with the camera battery and long story short, it might be a little while before we're seeing really good photos on the blog again. But hopefully we'll sort this out.

Also, if you have any commissions, I do recommend sending them in the next week or so. The official deadline is the February the 3rd, after that it's very unlikely we'll be able to do any custom work.

If you're interested in our Elven designs, do have a look on the items we have in stock on the Character Kit website. These embroidered coats (sash included) are likely to cost something in the region of £95-115, depending on how the maths works out at the moment. Unfortunately due to how the extra surcharge on single item orders with the embroiderers, custom versions would likely cost about £15 more than the standard.

More photos of the embroidered elven robes under the cut.

Preview: The Cloth and Dagger

We were down by Durham's cathedral and castle with Femina Necans, who very nicely agreed to appear in her commissioned cassock and various other bits and pieces.

Perhaps the primary frustration with using beautifully imposing buildings like the cathedral and the castle in such photoshoots is that many of their interesting features aren't near human height. We're only just beginning to learn the various tricks of manoeuvring the model into an interesting pose and have an interesting bit of masonry conveniently in the background. I must thank Femina Necans here for her ongoing patience with shuffling in front of the buildings concerned. 

The beautiful horse-hilted dagger seen in the photographs is a Tallows. And the replica cap-firing firearm is from Evenlode Studio.

As usual, I should be posting the photos up in the next week or so as I sift through them. The lengthening nights and early dusks are making the business of taking good photos of people in clothes rather more difficult. The dreary cloud-shrouded day was largely It was two thirty in the afternoon when we took these and the golden rays of the setting sun were already happily bleaching the colour from the shots.

Prototype: A Simple Reversible Cloak

The basic cloak was originally meant to go with the feathered mantle as a sort of detachable cloak (and hence could be washed independently of it - we've not tried throwing the valshams into the washing machine, but it seems a dubious idea), but when that fell through as an idea we had the prototype of a rather nice reversible cloak on our hands.

It's simpler and shorter than the other reversible cloak we've done, which was black-brown with a wide trim. The wool is a cut above that which we normally use, long-haired and very soft.

The corset is the model's own and the full circle skirt is also from the Mercenary (£20, black faux silk, fully lined). Also present in the photos are some fall front breeches, which will be appearing in a post of their own shortly.

To commission a similar cloak from the Mercenary would cost in the region of £70-80. The prototype of the reversible cloak is available from Character Kit for £65.

More photos of the reversible cloak under the cut.

Preview: Elves with Guns and Foreign Fields

We return again to the ruined chapel of St Mary Magdalene and the beautiful arch of its east window. The day was a little grey, but as the Designer pointed out, we're unlikely to get a non-drizzling day this side of New Year, so having gathered most of what we need, we soldiered on.

In many ways, it's the elven coat again, but this time rather more feminine and closer to its inspiration (Arwen's Chase costume from Fellowship of the Ring). We wanted to make use of the Proprietor's stock of Fae Longswords in the photos, but with the muddlement of many bags, we managed to forget and the engraved London pocket pistol from Makai Larp lurking at the bottom of the backpack was the best we had for a weapon. Granted, Glorfindel (or Arwen, in the movies) wasn't exactly seeing off the Black Riders with a musket, but elves with guns is an unheard of trope growing trope, as fantasy medieval moves towards the renaissance and beyond (see books like Darkness Forged in Fire).

As the two hundred or so photos get sorted and cropped down (I'm not really good enough a photographer to trust myself to do composition in situ), we should be seeing more photos of the Arwen coat, the reversible cloak, (incredibly dashing) fall-front breeches and the winged doublet (this time on the Proprietor).

In Other News, the Proprietor (of Character Kit) and the Costume Mercenary will be at Elsecar Heritage Centre (near Sheffield) for the Foreign Fields Norther Lrp Kit Fair over 23-24th of October. We'll be bringing all the new pocketwatches and bits and pieces. I'm informed there will be a Zombie Show and a fantasy fashion show. Other traders who are awesome will also be present. I'm terribly excited and if you're in the region, do drop by and say hello.

Valshams: Feathered Mantle Prototype

In Skaldskaparmal, the Goddess Freyja is said to possess a valshams or "hawk-coat".  Loki borrows from her her fjaðrhams, "feather-form", so that he may find Thor's lost hammer in Thrymskvida. Generally it's accepted that this refers to a feathered coat or cloak that allows her to take on the form of a bird of prey (a hawk or falcon, usually), though some contend its simply the skin of a bird of prey. It is said to go whoosh (or that's how my professor used to put it) as one uses it to fly through the air.

Despite beginning with that, I'm not exactly convinced I look anything like the goddess Freyja (or Loki for that matter) and whilst I would very much like to say that the inspiration came from the mythical feather form of  the Norse goddess Freyja, it didn't. Rather more mundanely, the Designer was inspired by seeing feather trim for sale in various haberdasheries in Sham Shui Po. 

I made subsequent inquires and once it was possible, our good Tailor started work on the prototype. It was meant to be a cloak in conception, but the supplier only had enough feather trim for a mantle and we agree that it would more versatile and cheaper as that. 

That was some months ago and the schedule got held up and only very recently had I gotten the mantle back from the Tailor. For that reason, these photos and the outfit itself was put together rather hurriedly this morning when it turned out I may get a chance to do some with Loretta. 

The outfit just about works. The Designer thinks that the dress looks vaguely Regency and that the mantle makes him think of a particularly odd fichu that a particularly eccentric lady could be wearing. 

I have to stress, of course, that this doesn't rival the beautiful feather cloaks of the early Hawaiians or the Kahu Huruhuru of the Maori. In construction, this one is really very simple: amounting to stitching row upon row of feather trim onto a very short cape which is fastened with a hook and eye. However, I do think it's very effective.

Loretta was overall rather displeased with my inability to keep a straight face. In my defense, she was telling me to "Look into the distance... no, I mean the tennis courts" and that we needed an Elder Carrie with a hairdryer to use as a makeshift wind machine like they have on real photoshoots.

Depending on feedback, Feathered Mantles may be going into production in the coming months and will cost somewhere around £60. Should you desire to commission one in other colours (like black, dark green or dark red), it should cost a similar amount. Longer cloaks are also possible, just email in and ask.

Update: The Feathered Mantle is now available at Character Kit for £60.

Prototype: Buckled Gambeson

The Buckled Gambeson prototype was previously glimpsed in a blurry photograph from the really early days of this blog. Now, it appears again, worn by an axe-wielding hero.

The Buckled Gambeson is made in a brown-green faux suede and padded with two layers of cotton. It's lined in a thick black linen, which also trims the edges of it. It has a very slight standing collar and a row of buckles down the front. The straps of the buckles are made of real leather.

The fantastical sleeve-caps are actually have some grounding in historical costume and were inspired by the decorative "wings" of an Elizabethan padded jerkin. These wings were used to obscure the join between detachable sleeve and the garment. This purpose is somewhat lost in this incarnation since there are no sleeves to attach and the Mercenary is still rather of the opinion that they do look like they belong more between the pages of a Dungeons and Dragons book than in serious history.

Due to it being padded with cotton, it is very warm and is also fully machine washable.

Again, we seem to have the lone hero fending off the demonic tree (it appears to be something of a running theme during this photoshoot).

The Buckled Gambeson is available in medium from Character Kit £75. The live roleplay weaponry can also be found there at very reasonable prices.

It has been suggested that there is a certain cyberpunk potential to the Buckled Gambeson (mostly due to its wonderfully ridiculous sleeves) and the Designer and myself have started to toss around ideas. Any ideas on how kit seen on these pages can recombine (Transformers-eque) into a cyberpunk outfit?

The caped cloak seen worn in the photos is made of a thick black wool-linen. It's lined in a dark blue fake silk, which picks out the dark blue of the swirly trim. It's buckled over the chest with a floral brass buckle. It will soon be availiable for £85 from Character Kit (the saga of website updating continues, not problematic, merely lengthy).

In other News: the Costume Mercenary has finally gotten around to rejuggling her sidebar. The sidebar editor in blogger is painfully user-unfriendly when it gets beyond about five items in length, which seems rather strange since it offers something in the region of a zillion gadgets and widgets. I currently hate the whole system with a rather searing passion.

More photos under the cut.

The Adventurer's Cloak

This cloak has been known as many things and as previously lamented about the writing of product descriptions, the Costume Mercenary is not really that good at thinking up snazzy names for what she sells. (This is where I beg the good readers for their wit and patience.)

Way back when the trim was first found languishing on the shelves of the Way of Flying Dragon (a manufacturer of jacquard trim, velvet ribbon and assorted other haberdasheries - not, as the name might suggest, a secret martial arts sect), the cloak was conceived and jokingly called the "Bling" cloak, due to the excessively wide and opulent-seeming nature of the trim. The Designer and myself were assured that it makes very fine curtains, handbags and cushion borders (c.f. rule #3: All good kit is made of curtains).

(Incidentally, the above photo has had a bollard photoshopped out of it. After a period of protracted agonizing over the issue, the Mercenary finally caved and removed the offending reminder of modernity from the picture.)

The Regal Cloak (its other name) is made of a thick black wool-linen blend and is lined in a polyester brocade. As evidenced in the photos, there are two variants: one lined in dark red ("wine") and the other in a light yellow ("gold").

There was an excessive amount of debate over the lining and in the end the Designer and the Mercenary compromised with having three in the yellow and two in the red. Both are pictured here in the following rather excessive array of photos.

It has been remarked upon that in order to show continuously show off the lining of the cloak, one would have to constantly be gesticulating wildly with one's arms (preferably pointing dramatically).

Like all the other cloaks, the Noble's Cloak (it's other other name) is fitted to the shoulders and designed to not choke the wearer with its weight (a full one-and-a-half kilos - this is not a flimsy cloak). It features a swirly, ornate buckle and a tight-fitting hood.

The cloak of many silly names is available at Character Kit for £95.00, lined both in red and gold.

More photos under the cut.

Prototype: Necromancers and Roses

I really didn't to want to call this the "Necromancer's Cloak", but there's really quite hard not to, given the only photos of it in existence at the moment are slightly blurry and show this rather dodgy looking man standing by some gravestones on a rather dark, misty day. It is hard not to leap to the conclusion that this man is summoning the dead for nefarious purposes of some sort.

The cloak is made of a black, thick wool-linen blend. It has some rose-shaped metal buttons down the front. It's lined with a silver paisley-patterned brocade (see earlier confession on the subject). The cloak also has two armholes, which makes it able to act as a sort of primitive robe.

It's quite a tight cloak, not nearly as voluminous as other available through the Mercenary and thus is more suitable for those with narrower shoulders (or not wearing huge shoulder armour).

This is also a cloak with pockets. There are two and whilst not huge, they are structured like hidden pockets on coats. Surely a cloak with the capacity of further concealment has to be up to something.

What do you think? What could a man dressed like this be doing in a graveyard at dusk?

A few more photos under the cut.

Within a Different Forest: The Elven Range

The Elven Coat show its incredibly manly side. For all the frolicking in banyan trees, they've only been worn by a female model (well, erm, me) and I've always felt that the argument of asking a man to buy clothes only pictured on a woman is a rather unconvincing one, as feminine and poncy as elves allegedly are.

Here follows a collection of photos showing the Elven Range in all its dubious glory.

The yellow (or gold, if we're feeling pretentious) version of the robe was meant to reflect a sort of High Elf aesthetic, who dwell in elegant stone cities instead of the wilderness (ala wood elves) and use a more white-and-gold palette when it comes to colour. Though it may have its merits (the cream-and-yellow ivy trim is really quite nice and mirrors the trim that edges the Forest Cloak) the yellow robe is rather inferior to the green. Both are constructed from fake suede, but the yellow is made from a stiffer sort, thus making the sleeves slightly more of an irritation to handle. In the green, the sleeves will fall pleasingly whereas in the yellow, the stiffness translates to a constant need to rearrange your sleeves in a photoshoot.

The elven garments are sized rather larger than normal, so those interested in buying are warned to read the measurements carefully.

These photos are taken in merry old England and as said in the behind-the-scenes post, the day was really very counterproductively overcast. The colours on the other photos are far more vivid not because the ensemble instantly becomes so when worn by someone in the possession of ovaries, but rather due to the location and timing of the photoshoot.

More photos under the cut.

Update: The Forest Cloak and the Elven Coat (in both Gold and Green) are now available from Character Kit.

A Simple Purple Cloak

The Purple Cloak (also known as the "Drow" or "Black Rose" cloak) was designed, much like the other cloaks the Costume Mercenary peddles, with the anti-choke feature: the cloak is fitted to the shoulders and therefore allowing it to not be pulled backwards my its own weight or when snared on stray brambles. It sits securly on the shoulders and will fit over armour.

This hooded cloak is made of a thick black wool-linen blend and it is lined in purple stretch silk. It is trimmed in black jacquard trim, very subtly patterned with rose. It is fastened with a gunmetal grey buckle.

The whole thing should be machine washable.

The cloak is seen here worn by an adventurer in a black frilly shirt. It's also seen worn by a lady over a dark grey Victorian-esque dress (more photos of it and the cloak here).

This cloak is available at Character Kit for £75.00 as the Black Rose Cloak.

More photos of it under the cut.

The Firebird Cloak

This red cloak, named rather pretentiously the "Firebird," is one of the many prototype cloaks. In design, it is much like the many anti-choke equipped cloaks and will sit open on the wearer.

It's made of a relatively cheap angora-wool blend and lined with black polyester brocade patterned with as though with peacock feathers. The angora-wool blend is comparatively long-haired, which makes it beautifully soft but it does mean one will have stroke it to make the grain looks neat.

The whole cloak came from the beautifully detailed "firebird" trim. The designer and I impulse bought the last thirty yards of it in the shop. Ideas for a flaming red firebird-themed dress to go with it is still the works, but beyond that whim, the Costume Mercenary has been wondering if the world would buy red and black Firebird Cloaks. The designer thinks that it would look much better on a black cloak with a red a lining instead. What do you think?

The cloak is worn over a green velvet dress. It has it's own post, here, where there are more photos of it and the cloak.

The Firebird Cloak is available at Character Kit for £120. If you would like to commission one like it, there is just about enough firebird trim for five cloaks and no more. Contact the Mercenary for a quote if you are inspired.

More photos of the cloak under the cut.

Preview: St Giles Church in the Cold

England. It is cold and rather dark. Both traits that make the whole photo-taking process rather difficult.

However, Durham does possess a number of extremely attractive buildings, including St Giles Church, which we stood in front of for today's photos. There isn't much more to say beyond that this doesn't really qualify as the most successful of the photoshoots to date. The cold did not improve camera-holding skills, which resulted in something of a tremulous hand.

As always, the photos will be sorted through and posted in the following days, but the curious may peer beneath the cut for the preview.

The Elven Robes Once More

Yet another airing of the elven wardrobe. This time, bow in hand, showing the slightly more martial possibilities (compared to the last, more demure photos), I suppose. In terms of garments, there's not much new on display except for the prototype elven tunic. The tone is, admittedly, quite different and hopefully shows a little bit the versatility of the garments. The lady elf pictured is wearing the prototype elven tunic, an elven robe and in some of the shots, a Forest Cloak. Better discussion of the garments are on their individual pages, so I won't speak exhaustively about them here. I suppose the question posed is: How well does it all work together?

These photos were taken just outside Ha Wong Yi Au Village in Tai Po, where there stands this rather regal banyan tree. Loretta, wonderful as always, is behind the camera and throughout these photos is her stern reminder: Stop smiling. Elves don't smile.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it's one of those remarks that triggers quite the opposite.


As said in the preview, the bow held is one I bought in a streetside costume stall several years ago (on Hong Kong's famous "Steps" Street - or by its proper name, Pottinger Street). Due to it not being designed to be pulled back, it's really rather heavy. Or perhaps I'm just that wussy.

What do you think? Does it all work together as an outfit? Are the colours toning? Ranger, elf or silly oriental bint in an green cloak?

More photos of it all under the cut.

The Forest Cloak is availiable at Character Kit for £75. The Elven Robes are available in two colours, gold and green, also at Character Kit for £75. The Mercenary is also happy to take on orders for variations on such themes on similar prices. Do email her with your suggestions and requests.

In other news: I'm back in cold, cold England now, with a suitcase full of kit so hopefully in the next week or so, Character Kit should be seeing an update and the kit will finally be seen resting on manly shoulders (as per original intentions and less seeming narcissism). We have a number of exciting new things to show (as well as peddle in due course) as well as a handful of prototypes (including a padded arming jacket in purple).

The Costume Mercenary will be dragging part of her wares to the Unconventional Market. Her exciting adventure of frame-construction, train-catching and luggage-hauling may well be chronicled here.

Link I envy: Far far more beautiful photography and costumes than myself.

A Dress Salvaged

This did not start out as one of the most promising of the gowns. The lace currently visible was originally bright white in colour. It did not in any way work with the dark grey stretch wilk and equally dark grey brocade.

Many things conspired against this dress, as well as this photoshoot. For a start, these were some of the last photos we took that day and the sky was threatening to rain (it had been overcast for most of the day, leading to some splendidly bad photos). The dress was newly washed and dyed at time of photography. There wasn't time to iron it and it was still slightly damp (meaning the collar couldn't be arranged properly).

The salvaged dress was made some time ago and for that reason, it also doesn't fit as well as other gowns more recently made. Even when laced as tight as possible, it is still loose on me.

The salvaging involved redying the entire gown black (well, the intention was for the black to only partially take, thus resulting in a dark grey). I used Dylon's cold water dye and it worked surprisingly well (except that my fingers are still dyed an interesting shade of blue). Because the stretch silk and the brocade are mostly made of synthetic fibres, they did not take the dyes as well as the lace, resulting in interesting colour variation. At least in colour, the gown is now coherent.

The back of the dress was then drawn up rather hurriedly into a cloth bustle and it's slightly off centre and a bit loose. It will need to be done again at some point.

The dress should really be worn over a corset and proper ass-padding, but considering how I had started with a dress I was about write off as scrap fabric, it's not doing too badly.

The whole dress takes on a much more gothic and Victorian cast than the others. I wouldn't even pretend it's anything other than an accident of a number of unfortunate design decisions and only partially successful salvaging efforts. Though strangely enough, it now bears a passing ( and largely unintentional) resemblance to Mrs Lovett's Silver/Black dress in the film Sweeney Todd.

The purple-lined cloak worn worn with this dress will be availiable at Character Kit at the end of January.

More photos of the dress under the cut.

A Purple Polonaise

This gown is made of a dark purple coarse silk that's pattered with flowers. Partly inspired by this blue gown in the film The Duchess, the skirt is lined in a very dark green (a slight patriotic nod to a fictitious nation in the Maelstrom world setting, Flambard, which has the national colours of purple and green). The gown also bears a resemblance to this yellow walking gown in Marie Antoinette (I can't say as historian I am at all keen on the film itself and its portrayal of the young queen, but the costumes are beautiful). It has a front closure (with hooks and eyes) and is laced at the back (done up in a rather unbecoming bit of green string in these photos, also needing to be replaced). The gown is also lightly boned, but not sufficiently so for tightlacing.

This fast becoming one of my favourite dresses and I don't say that lightly. However, it does suffer from various imperfections. I am thinking of sewing some freshwater seed pearls (storm coloured or white) along the black lace design down the front of the skirts. I'd like to match it to a lighter coloured underskirt, as whilst the black lace is lovely, it also darkens the dress considerably.

Among the many inadequacies, peeking from under the skirts is a salmon pink underskirt for a very different dress, purloined for this photoshoot to give the skirts some volume. The dress should ideally be worn over a corset and a much more voluminous underskirt, but the constraints of our schedule and various other coincidences conspired against the Costume Mercenary, but perhaps next time, when the pearls are sewn on.

The cloak with the dark red brocade lining seen in some of following pictures (under the cut) is now available at Character Kit for £95.00. The Costume Mercenary does take commissions for dresses like this one, so please email me for a quote. A dress similar to this one in construction (boned bodice, coarse real silk, lacing at the back, lace underskirt), it would cost in the region of £130-40.

These photos were taken at the Hong Kong Jockey Club, sadly no horses were available for this particular set.

Many more photos under the cut.

One Photo with a Horse and Five without

This is one of the two photographs that has a horse in it from today's photoshoot. It seems appropriate to start with this one as we were by the Old Club House of the Hong Kong Jockey Club (Bees River, Hong Kong). Due to a series of not very interesting but complicated coincidences, the photos ended up being done there.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, for all the suggestions in that directions, we were unable to get any shots of me on a horse sidesaddle, skirts spread out and all. However, we did manage to nip one next to this horse. Unfortunately, no more horses will be appearing in the following photos.

The horses at the riding school are all retired racehorses (presumably the less insane ones) and have fetching names like "Colourful Era" and "Try Your Best." There was one named "Master of Shavers" which we couldn't make much sense of, but perhaps he once raced for someone who in the shaving equipment manufacture industry.

The day was overcast, to say the least and the light left a lot to be desired. The flash was the only resort a some points.

Two and a half hundred photographs were taken, which as always, need to be sorted through and will make it onto the web over the course of the next week or so.

The Big Red Bag which has served me well for the past few photoshoots decided to break (the plastic zip just gave up working). It has served faithfully, but not well.

The full preview (read: more photos) under the cut...

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