The theme for Costume College 2026’s Friday Night Social was My Villain Era Party, and it took me a while to figure out what to wear. C’mon, villains, that’s right up my alley! There were too many cool villains to choose from. Finally, I settled on Erzsébet Báthory, the so-called blood countess who bathed in the blood of virgins to make her look younger. That’s all BS, btw, she was totally framed by men who wanted her valuable lands. Still, her outfit would be fun, and I’d play into the stereotype while emphasizing what a badass independent woman she really was.
There’s a few portraits of Bathory floating around, and while none are verified from her lifetime, they all basically look like this. So I made a kirtle out of some red satin that I got from Kendra, and I used one of my standard 16th-c. bodice patterns, just enlarging the center-front opening so the lacing would show. I’d wear this with a linen camicia I already have.
Next was the ruff, which was fun! I created a wire frame first, then sewed the main body out of lace fabric backed with white cotton fabric, and trimmed that in a wide white lace. The fabric/lace was tacked onto the wire frame. Then I used wheat paste to starch the whole thing super stiff.
I also made a bunch of jewelry in pearls and silver with red glass beads — not strictly out of the portrait, but she’s a noblewoman and needs bling!
Obviously I wore my fangs with the costume at CoCo. Laina was a good victim.
Photo by Mark Edwards.
Photo by Mark Edwards.
