October 31st, 2011

Tricks, Treats, and a Rendition With Reverence

I watched Dangerous Beauty for the first time last November. As the end credits began, I knew I wanted to be Veronica Franco for Halloween the following year.

Eleven months later, that desire had not abated an iota—and it was time to bring it to fruition. Rick Write and I hosted a Halloween party this year on Saturday (October 29). With a number of other things going on, including readying the house for a party a couple months after my having moved in, I felt I was leaving preparing my costume somewhat until the last minute. But when I began to focus on it, beginning mostly with a trip to my favorite fabric store (after revisiting the movie with the specific aim of studying the dress I had chosen to pattern my costume after), its conception seemed to come together smoothly. I won’t say I didn’t find it time-consuming and at times challenging, but it came together in a way I enjoyed and much appreciate.

Before I give the wrong impression, I do not know much about sewing! I did not “make” my costume. I do not own a sewing machine or any such thing—the last time I used one was when I was in 4-H, probably in my pre-teens. But I knew I really wanted to do justice to representing Veronica Franco, and to me that meant customizing something that really seemed to reflect what I had seen her represented as wearing. In this case, it was quite helpful that there was a movie based on parts of her life so that I got to pattern my costume after something her character wore in it. There is an actual portrait that was done of Veronica that is replicated on the cover of the book on which the movie is based (The Honest Courtesan by Margaret Rosenthal), but it’s only from the shoulders up, and I found it hard to tell what the outfit she’s wearing in it really looked like. So I went by what I saw in the movie.

I found that I had missed quite a bit of detail in what I remembered of the outfit I wanted to imitate when I went back to the scenes in which it is displayed. After studying Veronica’s attire and physical appearance in these scenes several times, pausing and making notes (yes, really :)), the vision of how I wanted to put together the costume formed in my consciousness. I wasn’t sure exactly what materials I would use or what I would find in a search for them, but I went off to the fabric store to see if what I wanted presented itself or perhaps the store held some surprises.

It did indeed. When I first walked by and spotted the fabric I ended up using to make the sleeves of the outfit I wore, it truly almost took my breath away. Though it didn’t really display colors I would usually find so appealing (the shade of green was darker and more muted than that to which I’ve usually found myself attracted), for whatever reason the fabric struck me when I saw it as possibly the most beautiful I’d ever seen. I knew I wanted to use it, though I also knew it was a bit of a stretch since the lace for sleeves displayed in the movie usually appeared plain white or beige and not necessarily the focal point of the outfit. However, the straps and border of the top of the dress in question worn by Veronica’s character in the movie were very intricate and elaborate, and I knew the corset I planned to use for the top was not decorated so much as such, so it vaguely occurred to me to take the liberty of switching it around a little and allowing the sleeves a focal extravagance since my corset was a little plainer.

I did, however, plan to somehow make the straps highly decorated as they are in the movie. So with a combination of a border I bought at the fabric store, four costume “diamond necklaces” from the Halloween store, and my (what seem to me) pretty limited sewing skills, I did my best to fulfill this. I did buy the incredible fabric for the sleeves, and in addition to using it as such I ran a band of it along the top of my corset to imitate the lushness of the top of the dress she wears in the move. The color and fanciness of the sleeves may still seem a bit divergent from the representation(s) in the movie, but it was a liberty I ultimately chose to take, feeling it did not detract from my aim in spirit to do the rendition of Veronica Franco justice.

The fabric store also provided the fabric I used for the skirt, and as I had forgotten to bring my corset with me to do my best to match the color, I was pleasantly impressed and astounded by just how exactly the shade of the fabric I bought for the skirt seemed to match my corset. I basically created the skirt by winding the fabric around my waist, sewing the gathering into the back, and connecting it slightly at the top in the front (in the movie, the skirt part of the dress appears open almost all the way to the top and simply drapes closed most of the time when she’s not walking).

The dress I was imitating is in the first 1:42 minutes of the clip found here of Dangerous Beauty. The hairstyle I imitated is more like the one displayed in this clip from about 8:00 to 8:35, though I did include the pearls shown in the previous one.

We did not get to take as many pictures as I would have liked given that, shockingly enough, I did not manage to be ready as far in advance of the party as I planned. So our pictures were taken after guests arrived among mingling and eating. :) I do feel the gist of the costume was captured, however, and I much appreciate Rick Write’s time, willingness, and skill in acting as my photographer!

My Halloween costume of 2011—Ms. Veronica Franco, late sixteenth century Venetian courtesan:

Happy Halloween all!

Love,
Emerald

“Come with us and you will see…this is Halloween, everybody make a scene…”
-Marilyn Manson “This Is Halloween”

4 Responses “Tricks, Treats, and a Rendition With Reverence”

  1. Wow! I think it’s awesome.

    You look downright dangerous!

  2. ste says:

    wow, you look stunning!

  3. Emerald says:

    Thank you both so very much. It was such a fun costume to compose and to wear. I appreciate both your comments (and am blushing)! Thanks much for coming by!

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  1. […] a result of procrastination, absurd scheduling, or some combination of both! Instead, as is tradition, I want to present my costume from this year and explain a bit about how it came about! (At least […]

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