My favorite outfit of Carnevale 2022 turned out to be this dark confection made mostly of purchased items with loads of alterations and embellishments. And that rather sums up my ideal approach to costuming! Actual sewing irritates me, but taking various things and hacking them into my vision and loading them with trim is what I enjoy.
The first part of this outfit is the black chemise gown from Armstreet, which was clearly an excellent investment. Atop this I wore a purple velvet Regency pelisse gown coat I bought from Recollections. I’d ordered it to wear at a Regency house party the previous fall, but it didn’t arrive in time. I had to shorten the coat, plus take the shoulders up and fit the waist a bit.
After I’d done that, I was looking around and thought, hey, what about adding a collar? A while back, I’d disassembled my striped redingote that no longer fit, cutting up the skirt for yardage and carefully unpicking the black velvet batwing collar and cuffs I’d made so nicely. That collar fit perfectly on this coat! The cuffs didn’t work on the coat’s three-quarter-length sleeves, but NBD.
I also added a bunch of black lace appliques and trim that I had in my stash (probably from AliExpress), and my mom helped sew some of them when I visited her for Thanksgiving. Lastly, I swapped out the buttons for vintage black glass ones.
At Carnevale, I added my favorite wig made by Kendra, a purple tatted lace mask by TotusMel, a gothic chatelaine by Queen and Cavendish, oodles of goth jewelry, and giant feathers stuck on my head.
I had intended this ensemble for a Gothic Night party, but my luggage was delayed by four days (GRRRR) and I missed that event. So I wore this to the first party I could, even though it didn’t fit the theme; nobody cared, of course, because folks were just happy I finally had my luggage 🙂 Then later in the week, we decided to see a chamber music performance, and I wore this outfit again because I loved it so much.
