1920's Costume Party

Ages ago I posted about doing research for a 1920's costume party I was going to. True to form I never got around to doing the follow up post, due to lack of pictures taken on the night. Recently I went to another 1920's party(if you follow this blog at all you'll know I'm quite the fan of fancy dress), so I actually have some photos to show you.

Above is a picture of me wearing possibly the most unflattering dress I've ever donned in my life, but I needed something that was shapeless and straight down. Having a big (and I think quite lovely) boobs and bum is not great for wearing a 1920's style outfit, but I did the best I could. I got the amazing neck trimming at the Milk Market for around a tenner, and I happened to have the black and silver trimming in my stash box. The white flower lace is actually vintage and was given to me by John's Mum. I don't have any photos of the making of the head piece, but I cut three strips of black trimming, measured them to the size of my head. Then painstakingly sewed on the flowers, and added some drop pearls to the side. To attach this delicate piece to my head I used some matching cream hair clips that I got in Pennies for a couple of euro. It took nearly as long to make this as it was to do the alterations on the dress, but it was my favourite bit of the costume.

As you can see I added some chiffon sleeves to balance out the top, and bought these crazy white gloves in Glitz and Bitz, they were pricey at €15 but they really made the outfit. I added white lace to the end of the dress, which you can't see here, and also the white satin low waisted band.

We got John's waistcoat in a liquidation sale in Blacktie for only €10, and the lovely burgundy brocade bowtie was made by Silk and Burlap(at the Milk Market every Friday and Saturday) was a steal at only €8.

The 1920's party was in celebration of Dr.John's bar being open a year, and this is the lovely Dr. himself. This place along with the Blind Pig downstairs has started to become my home away from home, a good and bad thing. They have lots of great gigs there, along with comedy, country, and cinema nights. They have a Facebook page here, if you want to go check out their latest(and mostly free) events.

Thanks go to Ken Coleman for the above photos.

Thanks for stopping by my blog! Keep up to date on all my regular posts with my RSS Feed or follow me on Facebook and Twitter

Pin It

Burlesque and Toy Soldier Costumes

I know it's a little late to be posting Halloween photos, but it's been a crazy week. This year I said I would make a lot less effort with my costume, and I did, but I didn't exactly do something simple either! I wanted to go for a burlesque steampunk look, but I wasn't dressing up as anyone in particular. A lot of people on the night were asking 'Who/what are you?' and my answer was 'Fabulous!', a bit cocky, but hey it's Halloween! 

Unlike last year I don't have any photos of the making process, sorry! I bought the hat in the joke shop on Catherine Street for about €7.50, thankfully I have a huge box of lace and ribbon, so I glued and tied on lots of frilly goodies. I also made two slits in the side and added a bow so the hat could be tied on(at Halloween there are a load of idiots who think it's funny to rip off people wigs/hats/costume-not fun!). I loosely followed this tutorial for making the bustle skirt, you can't really see in the photos but it is really full and it's much longer at the back. I also added a black tulle skirt that I owned already underneath to add even more volume. I really love the skirt and I can see myself wearing it again on a normal night out. The top was really simple, I just sewed some lace onto a waistcoat that I own, and changed the plastic buttons to lovely textured metal ones. The cuffs were an odd mish mash of off cuts from my scraps box, they are the sleeves from a jacket, with ends off pop fastener leggings with a few layers of trimming and lace. They were quite time consuming to hand stitch, but I like the end result, and the kept my arms warm too! The coat was a last minute addition as the temperatures had really dropped and I was losing a battle against a nasty cold. I had been eyeing it up at the Friday Flea Market for a few weeks, but I'm trying to be good and not buy things, so I resisted. But it seemed like a perfect match for my costume, really practical , I would wear it again, and at €15 it was a bargain.

Anyone who know me will tell you I'm a bit crap at girly girl things, I love skirts, pretty stuff and being silly, but when it comes to make-up, heels, and beauty products I'm totally clueless. I found this costume quite a challenge as it involved fake nails, hair extensions, and false lashes, and about an hour doing my make-up! I picked up the hair extensions in Pennies for €2 per set of two, it took me a half an hour and some eventual help from Youtube before I figured them out. I then backcombed the hell out of them and blended them with my hair-I love the effect, it felt very Cyndi Lauper. Hats off to women who do this on a regular basis, either they are certifiable or they are superheroes, I can't decide. 

 After seeing this picture on Pinterest John decided he was going to be a toy soldier, and my God it was a huge undertaking. He spent about a week shopping around town looking for the right guns, holster, helmet, and clothes. But John is quite obsessive about the finer details so most of these had to be altered so the seemed more authentic, he lengthened the gun, reshaped the helmet, and stitched his holster. Then he gloss and spray painted the lot of it, including half of our house(our light switch still has paint on it! Next came the ultimate sacrifice, the beard! He has been growing this ginger beauty for ages, go see it here, but the costume wouldn't have been right with a beard, so it had to go(sniff sniff!)

Thanks for stopping by my blog! Keep up to date on all my regular posts with my RSS Feed or follow me on Facebook and Twitter

Pin It

Halloween (P)inspiration

Last night in the pub the discussion naturally flowed around to Halloween and we would be dressing up as, thankfully my friends are as nuts as me about making stupidly complicated costumes. You might remember from last year my epic construction of my Klingon costume, or The Queen of Hearts from the year before. I swore last year that I wouldn't do something complicated this year, that I would do something comfortable, and was easy to go to the bathroom in(a major problem with all of my previous efforts). I don't know if I can let my ego do something simple, the last thing I want to be on my favourite holiday of the year is disappointed  with myself. I know I'm up to my eyes at the moment trying to get everything organised with the shop, so I really should be sensible, but hey when is that ever fun??

Source

Here is some inspiration I've been looking at on Pinterest.

I've never watched Doctor Who(I know it's something I'll get crazily addicted to!) but apparently this is from it. I just think it's a kickass statue costume!

Source

I'm loving the whole steampunk thing, and I'm leaning towards this direction. I saw this great skirt tutorial last year and it kind of stuck in my head. Also mix that we these amazing shoes below and I may be onto a winner!

Source

Source

Source

Apparently this is a mold not a costume, but if you divided the base then it would be possible to walk. John would love this!

Source

 I love this idea, and have total respect for someone who can stay out all night inside a box!

So what are you dressing up as this year?

Thanks for stopping by my blog! Keep up to date on all my regular posts with my RSS Feed or follow me on Facebook and Twitter

Pin It

Body and Soul Festival

Thanks Val for the photo!!

For the second part of my 30th birthday celebrations I went to the Body and Soul festival in West Meath over the weekend. There was loads of hassle in the week leading up to it with lack of lifts, selling my Friday add on ticket, and John's ticket being stolen two days before we were due to go. Eventually we got everything sorted, got lifts from lovely people, and magically got the stolen ticket back!

Body and Soul is a much smaller festival than Electric Picnic or Oxygen, it only has about 5000 tickets and is set in a forest beside a lake at Ballinlough Castle. Most of the features are handmade from wood from the forest, including the main stage. It has a very hippy-ish relaxed atmosphere, with a wide group of people from all ages, from 2 to 70 years of age. As much as I loved Electric Picnic the smallness of this festival really appealed to me as I felt the Picnic was getting too big and brash.

The forest is probably the nicest part of the festival, it gains it's own personality during the night when it is lit with beautiful coloured lights. The different areas of the festival are built around this space, with outside areas feeling like hobbit homes, filled with magical pieces of art. On the Saturday night the is a festival wide masquerade ball, as you can see form above I made a pink ad black felt mask. I didn't put the usual amount of effort into my costume as I normally do as because I was really busy with the party, but I'm glad I did something. I got the sequinned top at the barbootsale a couple of weeks before for only €6, and I wore it with my black tutu. John insisted that I bring the flamingo head from my Queen of Hearts costume because it matched so well, I lost it after about 2 hours!

There was very heavy rainfall in the week before which meant that the grounds were really muddy. It made the festival quite tough going, even getting to the bathroom was quite a chore from our tent. It felt like I had thighs of steel after all that wading through shin deep mud, funnily enough though it was easier to navigate after a few beers. But luckily enough the festival Gods shined down on us on Sunday and showered us with the most glorious sun all day.

I will definitely go again next year, but I would much prefer to go on Friday to get rid of the chores of the tent set up etc, as the weekend felt very fast. Musical highlights were Who Made Who, Django Django, and Villagers.

 image source

 image source

Image source

Did you find this post helpful or interesting? To follow my other post here is my RSS feed.


Pin It

Research for 1920's Costume Party

I'm at that age when all my friends are turning 30(and getting married and having babies!). So this weekend I have another 30th to go to, my friend Ruth is having a 1920s themed fancy dress party. So as usual I got very excited and did loads of research. I think this low waisted style is possibly the most unflattering thing I've ever worn, but in the spirit of costume I will not shy away. Later in the week I'll post about the dress I'm working on. But in the meantime check out all this beautiful pictures(click the images to go to the original sites to see more lovely things!). 

Note: during my ramblings I found this amazing pin board of about 1500 dresses through the ages, if you are into antique clothing and costume at all this is an absolute treasure trove.

Did you find this post helpful or interesting? To follow my other post here is my RSS feed.


Pin It

1980's Costume

This is the result of all my 80's research at the weekend, my friend described it as 'things people wore in the 80's, but all at the same time'. Most of it I found in my wardrobe, all I had to buy was the yellow t-shirt and some jewellery.

• Yellow neon flower hairband; Claire's Accessories €6 but part of a 3 for 2 deal.
• Geometric dangle earrings; Claires accessories €6 part of the 3 for 2 deal
• 2 beaded necklaces: Pennies €3 each
• Backless yellow t-shirt; Pennies €6
• Red long sleeved t-shirt: Dunnes €6
• Vintage A-wear jacket: I bought it a few years ago in Dublin and never wore it, but now it will be leaving my dress up box and I'll be wearing it on a regular basis, I love it. I think it was around €25 and it came with a pair of trousers.
• Red Belt: Pennies €3
• 3 Bracelets: Claire's accessories approx €5
• Blue skirt with pockets; Pennies approx. €5
• Red tights: Pennies €3
• The legwarmers are years old, I can't remember where I bought them
• I had to buy these white shoes after I damaged them in a fashion show that I had, I never wore them but I knew they would come in handy some day! €10

 Yellow and green eye-shadow; yikes!  

Sharon(on the right) had an amazing costume but I have no decent photos of her, shiny tracksuit, with a cassette walkman and a side ponytail; classy bird!  

 The birthday boy as a 'wanna be Don Johnson' with Dolly Parton

 I love this purple leopard print dress, with Curehead Paul

Dawn dressed as herself in the 80's, I was understandably obsessed with her hat!

Did you find this post helpful or interesting? To follow my other post here is my RSS feed.


Pin It