Belle

If the Beast had killed her:

A belated Halloween post of how I created my costume.

(I didn't estimate how busy November-January would be, but it didn't help that I moved into a new house that needed fixing up, which will hopefully be done and ready for scrutiny soon)

For starters, I feel I should explain why I chose to kill Belle.  I grew up watching Disney, I have no direct problem with it. I turned out fine, but it's not hard to see the misogyny in any Disney princess movie.  However, I still argue that Belle is the exception to that. She is also my favorite.  I just took my niece to see Belle in theaters, because we both love her so much.  My decision to kill Belle was a purely creative decision.  Some co-workers and I were discussing Halloween costume ideas since we were going to be working over the weekend before (in New Orleans, it's Halloween every night of the weekend before) and we were discussing all being our favorite Disney princesses.  Then as a jab, Stefani told me I should zombify Belle.  (Previously, at my Dead Celebs birthday party, I demanded to zombify anyone that didn't come in costume.) Some lightbulb went off in my head and I decided to design my costume around the idea of what would Belle look like if the Beast had killed her.

Step 1:

I used this as an excuse to buy old fashioned pantaloons...

Then I tea-stained them to age them somewhat:

I used a mixture of green tea, peach tea, and cranberry.  I added a little coffee for good measure, as well.

Step 2:

The hair.  At the time, I had a bluish-green mohawk.  Clearly, I had to get a wig.  I went with the reasonably cheap 'Seductress' wig on ebay.  It was the correct color and it looked like it had a good bit of hair to work with.  Sometimes wigs will only have enough hair to wear it exactly as shown. Since I didn't want to spend a fortune on one, I had to just take a chance on one.  Luckily it was even thicker than I thought.

Before setting:

 

After setting:

 

With head piece:

Step 3:

The dress.  I actually had a lot of trouble with getting the right dress.  I was scouring every thrift store looking for a gold or yellow or even a white plain-ish ball gown.  I even considered buying one of the 'skanky' Belle costumes from a Halloween store, but I couldn't justify spending $60 on something that didn't look accurate and that I wanted to rip up.  I gave myself one more week to find one in a thrift store or I'd run out of time to make one.  I found the perfect gold colored one at the Salvation Army in Lafayette.

There was still plenty of alterring to do:

-taken in 6in

-remove white fabric

-build in petticoat

-rouching of skirt

-pinching the bust into a sweet heart top

-adding ribbon detail

But after all that:

I decided to take a picture of the whole thing together before distressing it. I mostly wanted my sister to show my niece the costume without it ruining her love of Belle.

Step 4:

The make up.

I bought a prepackaged zombie kit from the Halloween store. I had also been previously given a large bottle of liquid latex.  This was the first time I had ever done make up like this so I asked my friend, Brooke, for tips.  She basically laid it out for me.  Brush on a layer of latex, lay down a layer of tissue, let dry, lay down another layer of latex.  You repeat these steps wherever you want to put slashes, then cut a slit through the layers lightly and roll the sides back.  This creates the slashed look as if the Beast had clawed my face and chest.  I then put on a base of white cream makeup and brushed some grey pounder around my eyes and some crevices of my face.  The last part is dripping fake blood into all of the gashes and letting it drip down your face.

I also popped a blood capsule in my mouth for extra terror.

Step 5:

The finished product:

For all the shredding, I used a combination of box cutters, xacto knives, and fabric scissors.  I tried to keep all my slashes in triples to mimick claw marks.

All in all, probably my best Halloween costume ever.  I made some drunk girls on Frenchman St cry and ask me why I would do such a thing to Belle.  I gave them a big hug.  The only unfortunate thing is that after the shredding, the skirt would fly backwards quite a bit and I got caught on a lot of things that night.  Parts of the petticoat and skirt came unstitched, if I plan on resurrecting it next year, I'll have a good bit of fixing to do.