Costumes, specialsed: Agent Costume, Bondi, Sydney

Social Diary Christmas party 2012.
The Theme was “Wedding of the year”

Half and Half costume worn under the full cake and marzipan dolls.

There were several layers to this outfit.

There was the half bride / half groom hotpants and skirt. Luckily I found Bondi’s best specialty leather expert to spray one shoe black! or was it one shoe white?

The full effect, cake and marzipan dolls!

This costume was a real challenge on so many levels.

How long does a costume like this take to make?

Thankfully the client got the process rolling months in advance. This enabled us to perfect the design. There was probably a couple of days drawing and designing, material researching, sourcing and redesigning based on materials.
The over all concept was very clear from the beginning. Over lunch we discussed and sketched ideas, and then the final outcome was reached.
It was then my job to work out how to get it there.

There was a harness for the mannequins and costumes for them also, and as for the cake, well, we had to make it and ice it too!
I drew up the cake pattern on computer, drawing out each piece, and had it machine cut using one of our set builder contacts, and glued the pieces together like a puzzle. Then we covered it and iced carefully.
There were several different foams and plastics and glues used in the construction, definitely my most challenging costume to date.

I considered building the cake out of wood and putting it on wheels before arriving at the final design.
What material is strong enough to hold it’s shape and light enough to carry around? and what does it take to hold it together, through squishy crowds and potential careless treatment?

How comfortable is this costume to wear?

Comfort is extremely important.
Once you’re dressed and partying, you forget what you look like. If you’re not comfortable, then you start to think about leaving, rather than hanging around to have fun.
After the main events, as the evening carried on into the night, the host was able to remove the mannequins and party on in the cake skirt. She said the skirt was remarkably comfortable to wear, light and surprisingly easy to get around a party in.
The manequins consisted of a vest with shoulder harness to which the heads were hand sewn to.
over the top of this harness and velcroed vest were the little bodies with their little wedding dresses, half bride half groom, and groom suit which were then padded to give them body. Very warm as you can imagine. Good for winter maybe.

cake costumeGroom side

The costume was a hit, and made it into The Herald Sun Party of the week.
Of course, Heralding in as the first Christmas party of the year, Let the Christmas celebrations roll on!