For several years, I’d planned to recreate a costume like those worn in the Chinese TV drama The Empresses in the Palace (2015), aka The Legend of Zhen Huan (2011). I reviewed the shortened Netflix version of the series for Frock Flicks and was in love with the costumes, of course.
Based a smidge of research, it appears that the TV show mixed the early 18th-century Qing Dynasty fashions with much later 19th-century styles. But hey, I’m no purist, I really just wanted the crazy hair and fancy silks! The former of which I found on AliExpress, along with the flower-pot shoes, and the silk I found on eBay. In fact, it’s a real silk with a bat medallion design, so subtly in my gothic style too.
I’d started the gown back in 2017 but had some hang-up about it and shoved the whole thing away. A month before Costume College 2019, I stumbled across the coat and saw that all it needed was hemming at the bottom, the cuffs, and along the front opening and neckline (OK, that part did need a facing as well), plus all the frog closures. So I machine-sewed as much as I could to finish it up and wore it!
The Dowager Empress of Fuck You!