DARK LILY

LEGEND | COSPLAY

Dark-Lily-Costume-Back

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DARK LILY

LEGEND | COSPLAY

The 1986 movie ‘Legend‘ by Ridley Scott, was such an overwhelmingly visual film. My 15 year old mind was very influenced by that experience. I still am.

The Dark Lily dress, designed by Charles Knode, was like nothing my young self I had ever seen. To say I wanted this dress was an understatement. It wasn’t until 2003 that I got the chance to make it.

The biggest challenge with the dress is the collar. Satin and sheer fabrics aren’t exactly rigid, even with a starch. To keep the collar stiff yet flexible would take some thinking. I ended up welding a cage of very thin spring steel, which I found in a drain auger, held between two layers of fabric.

To get the detail lines straight, each one had to be hand sewn on. I hand stitched several miles for this dress. It was very tedious, but well worth it! The sash included more miles of different sized hand strung beads. All curled and wrapped on to a leather strap. 

The crown was the easiest part, I used ventilation wrap. Being a mesh it was like it had a built in comb. Once cut, shaped and coated with layers of brush on Plasti-Dip, it just stayed in place.

I still have this dress and if the collar was not a driving hazard I would wear it out and about.

  • Fabric: Satin and sheer
  • Embellishments: Hand beaded
  • Crown: Ventilation wrap
  • Support: Spring steel
  • Makeup: Light foundation, shadows, lip and eye liners