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fibula-rasa · 30 days ago

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Cosplaying Salomé (1922): A How-to

Seeing as my cosplay of Nazimova as Salomé is one of the more ambitious projects I’ve done for the blog, it seems fitting to give you all a little BTS and how-to. Because I didn’t fully document my process, this isn’t necessarily as full a tutorial as my Century of Glamour Ghouls series, but you could definitely recreate this yourself (and learn from my mistakes) as this would make a great Halloween costume!

a full-length shot of my cosplay of Nazimova as Salomé

Part one of “CtC: Nazimova as Salomé” goes into more detail on Nazimova & Rambova’s creative choices for the character and her design, but to be brief about it:

Nazimova’s Salomé is heavily informed by young women and girls of the early 1920s, so there is a dynamic conflict created between the baby-fication of young women and pop-culture sexualization of the same group. So, this first look from the film communicates unsophisticated youth with an impetuous edge. The pearled wig is not only a dazzling visual, but also emphasizes Nazimova’s brazen pantomime—amplifying every flitting gesture. It also gives the character a more childlike silhouette, which Nazimova pairs with an immature, sometimes bratty body language.

my gif of Nazimova in Salomé

The rest of the costume is quite simple: a shimmery/sparkly sleeveless, belted tunic and flat shoes. (Contrasted with Rose Dione’s costuming as Heriodas, flowing and heavily adorned.)

Get the Look!

(below the jump!)

What’s below covers the materials and methods I used, but improvements could definitely be made. I would love to see others take this on!

The Wig

My recreation of the wig in natural light

my gif of a closeup of Nazimova in the wig & gif of my cosplay wig in motion

Materials:

Black wig cap

Black yarn

Springs (I used the plastic ones sold as cat toys)

Black thread

Curved sewing needle

Rug Hook (This is a tool I already had on hand. If you have a small enough crochet hook, that might also work!)

Baubles (maybe: pearlescent paint for the baubles)

Craft glue (I don’t own a hot glue gun, but that would have been better!)

Optional: black bangs/fringe track

The Process

Note: my finished product is scaled up a bit from the wig used in the film largely because I was also working with a mix of items gifted to me from my wishlist and things I already had around the house. The springs were 1 inch in diameter as were the baubles. If you are buying everything new, you might want to try and track down .5-.75 inch materials!

Thankfully, about 10 years ago, the original wig was recovered in a trunk in Georgia, so I had a modern photo to reference for how the wig was constructed. [You can see it here!]

Some of the materials I used to create the wig

I started by wrapping the black yarn around the springs, which I had stretched out slightly. Once a spring was fully covered, I cut the yarn with roughly 3 inches extra length to fasten the spring to the wig cap.

After I had a significant amount of covered springs—I did it in waves of ~20—I used the rug hook to pull the extra yarn through the mesh of the wig cap. Then, I knotted the yarn tightly and pulled the extra yarn back to the topside of the cap using the rug hook, crossed it over the opposite side of the spring and back through the cap to knot it again on the underside of the cap. This way the spring is fastened at two opposite points of its circumference.

Once a wave of springs were loosely attached to the cap, I went in with a curved needle and black thread to sew the springs more tightly in place. This also gave the whole headpiece more stability. (This is important because the baubles will weigh the springs down a little!) I repeated this process in waves until I ran out of materials (and thankfully the cap was covered).

detail shot of the springs, the arrow is indicating the support stitching I added to the backside of each spring

At this point, my springs were a little droopy, so I reinforced them with a little bit of thread from the base to the end. This also allowed me to fine tune where each spring would sit in relation to its surrounding springs to get an even spread.

All the loose yarn inside the wig cap I roughly french braided together so it would sit flat and also add a little extra stability. It’s not a pretty sight, but it’s surprisingly comfortable!

The glass baubles I had on hand were not pearlescent, but multi-colored, so I had to paint them before gluing them to the springs. If you’re buying new, you can try and pick out the finish, size, and material you want.

That’s basically that. I adjusted two of the springs so that their baubles wouldn’t clatter into one another too much, but the wig is finished!

unfiltered cameraphone photo of the cosplay & final edit of the cosplay

I’m fairly certain that in the film Nazimova is wearing fake bangs under the pearl wig, but I just cut my own bangs bluntly and ran some gel mixed with black eyeshadow through them with a spoolie. (I don’t have any special feelings for my hair, so I tend to just cut/trim it whenever I cosplay. I understand this is unusual! You all don’t need to remind me! Thanks!)

my gif of a closeup of Nazimova as Salomé

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The Tunic

my gif of Nazimova as Salomé & my cosplay recreating the moment above

For the tunic, I chose red sequined velvet. I don’t know what the screen-used fabric was though it certainly wasn’t this! I chose this fabric as it was affordable and I thought it might give off a similar effect in the finished photos. In a happy accident, I think the sequins give off a scaled-up look that matches the wig.

I don’t think the screen costume was black, but something that photographs dark on 1920s black-and-white film stock. That’s why I chose red, though I think a deep purple would also have worked.

Since I’ve followed The Closet Historian’s 1920s One-Hour Dress Tutorial twice before, that method was my baseline for making the Salomé tunic.

Using my hip measurement as the primary guide and adding .5 inch of allowance, I folded the fabric in half and cut it into a long rectangle—the fold being where I would cut the neckline. After I cut the neckline in, I put it on and pinned and tucked the shoulders, bust, and bottom hem to where it would sit right. My body is not rectangular, so the bust/shoulders had to be brought in a bit. Very professional, I know.

Then I sewed the edges of the whole rectangle and the neckline. I only attached the front to the back on one side, from bottom hem to hip, as that appears to be how the tunic was sewn in the film. (When I wear this out as a costume, I will likely sew up both sides!)

my cosplay with the belt featured over my left hip

I used scrap fabric to sew together the belt and some velcro (repurposed from an old ribbon) and fastened it to a plastic ring (repurposed from the last new scarf I bought). I then hung some beaded necklaces that I already owned to finish it (tho it wouldn’t be a great expense to buy some cheap strings of faux pearls if you want it to look closer to what’s on screen).

The slippers weren’t a match for the film, but I already owned them and thought they fit the vibe. What Nazimova seems to be wearing in the film are some simple light/white satin-ish flats.

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The Makeup

unfiltered cosplay cameraphone photo & finished cosplay photo

Since this is such a high-contrast look, I personally opted not to use contouring for this cosplay. Also, I didn’t use any kind of blush because if you are photographing in black-and-white or for B&W editing, blush and warm colors register darker than they look in color.

For the base, I mixed a lighter pigment into my foundation to achieve a mask-like quality and set it with the lightest powder I own. (I think if you are “Portland Tan” like me, you could legit use white face paint for this and it would look pretty cool!)

my gif of a closeup of Nazimova as Salomé

For the brows, Nazimova’s are rounded but elongated, so I drew mine in a slightly rounder shape than they naturally grow.

For the eyeshadow, I used the old garage-door strategy with a purple-y taupe shadow from my lashline to the browbone with a small gap between the end of that shade and the brow. As it’s done in the movie, the shadow covers the inner corner all the way out to the end of the liner wing and all the way up to the browbone.

For the eyeliner, Nazimova’s eyes are fully rimmed in black, but with a flatter shape along the bottom. I drew a line straight back from the lowest point of my lower lid, drew a line down from my upper lid to that first line, then filled in the triangle made at the outer corner. I used black eyeshadow with a wet brush to both fill in my eyebrows and draw on the eyeliner. I also tightlined my eyes, though if your eyes aren’t quite as round you might want to skip the tightline! I finished it off with a plain black mascara, false lashes are not really a necessity for this look.

For the lips, I covered the outside edges of my lips with my base makeup to get Nazimova’s pout. Then I used a dark pink lipstick and a lip brush to paint on the pouty shape (that Nazimova was born with) making sure to overemphasize the top lip. (I didn’t overline my top lip, because that looks a bit extreme on my face, but it might suit you really well!) I then went in with a slightly darker shade of lipstick at the center of my lips to further emphasize the pout.

Here are some photos from my Irena Dubrovna/Cat People cosplay tutorial that illustrate the difference tightlining makes and what lip re-shaping looks like before blending and adding lipstick:

Irena process photo showing the effect of tightlining & unblended lip re-shaping

If you’re only accustomed to 2020s makeup, keep in mind that this is a 1920s makeup look. If it looks too blended, too sharp, too smooth, it’s just not going to look authentic. (Which is perfectly fine if you’re not going for authenticity but rather a 2020s reimagining!)

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Bonus: The “Backdrop”

This isn’t necessarily useful for putting together a Halloween costume, but I thought it might be a fun curiosity to share how I made my “backdrops.” Basically, I wanted a black background as the film’s terrace set has a void-like quality, so I roughly brushed black paint over black 12x9in construction paper.

natural light photos of my drawings of the gate, the moon, and the black backdrop

Using the same size construction paper, I drew the decorative metal fencing from the film with colored pencils on yellow paper and used a black felt tip marker to fill in the gaps. Likewise, I drew out the clouds and moon on construction paper in yellow, blue, and purple—as I knew how those colors would register in B&W—and cut them out. I then attached them to clear plastic to photograph them with directional lighting similar to what I used for the cosplays.

I cleaned up the drawings digitally and then composited the elements with my cosplay photos.

cosplay photos composited with the moon, the gate, and the black "backdrop"

Conclusion

Thank you all for reading, following along, and supporting my work! If you decide to use this guide or any of my previous how-tos this Halloween, please share. I’ve loved seeing your Asta Nielsen Hamlets over the past few years!

Stay Tuned for Postscript to Cosplay the Classics: Salomé and Orientalism! For now, check out Part One: The Importance of Being Peter and Part Two: Artists United?

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Other Costume/Cosplay How-Tos:

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