#its costumey

[liorlen]

making gale a necromancer is so funny to me. become goth immediately, boy

[faunandfloraas]

getting more into nmixx means more opportunities for me to be annoyed at coloured lenses 🤞

[thelaststarfalling]

Just ordered all the pieces for an epic Halloween costume 😌

[despite-everything]

something very comical going on with my gender rn

[kanzakurawrites]

Random Thoughts I Had While Rewatching Descendants 1

So I'm guessing Auradon is the size of Eurasia? Cause Europe seems too small, and most of the stories take place in Europe.

Are there Isle guards? I'm guessing because how else do the posters of Beast get put on the Isle?

Beast's crown looks so fake

So is that Ben's dorm room? Or is that his castle room? Is he a day student? (Which, considering he's becoming High King would be smart) I'm curious now

How many outdoor string lights do people in Auradon throw out?

HOW DOES THE ISLE HAVE ELECTRICITY? Are there villains dedicated to keeping it running? Actually, that would be hilarious, especially if that means people don't mess with them. OR they do mess with them and there are just frequent power outages. More likely, now that I think about it.

CAN WE PLEASE TALK ABOUT MALEFICENT'S LETTER MAGNETS! Ha, what if Hades left them there and she just never threw them out? He seems more like the one to have letter magnets.

I don't care about the book timeline, the villains and core four all seem a lot more familiar with each other than just a few weeks or days or whatever. I'm saying its been months at least since the core four became a gang. If not a year.

I know its a Dcom, but I kinda wish that the villains weren't treated as comedy relief. Like, its implied that the kids aren't loved, that they are scared of their parents, but the way the parents are written... excluding the end with Maleficent, they don't seem that scary and all.

Seriously, there must be royal guards, right?

Really wish we had gotten to see the limo driver again.

Have to admit, I really like Ben's darker suit jacket. But why, why the yellow pants.

Ugh, I love Mal's D1 hair.

So... where are the magical people. "Most of us are ordinary royals." Yes, but, but, there is a lot of magic is Disney movies. Where have the magical people GONE. This is concerning.

Auradon Prep is FILLED with royal children, including the soon-to-be High King. The museum is filled with priceless magical artifacts. WHERE IS THE SECURITY. WHERE ARE THE GUARDS.

The beginning of Evil Like Me makes me want to hug Mal.

Are there NO SECURITY CAMERAS?? No other alarms??

WHY ARE THEY HAVING REMEDIAL GOODNESS OUT IN THE OPEN. That should be a PRIVATE class.

Ben, how did you not notice Carlos screaming?

How I wish they would have kept Evie's wavy/curly hair

I really wish there had been more Mal-Jay moments

They were in a public area. How did no one notice what was going on with Ben? DOUG WAS RIGHT BEHIND THEM

You know, none of Ben's classmates seem surprised by his love declaration. Or surprised by the "break up" with Audrey. Hmmm.

You cannot convince me that Ben didn't purposefully tell his parents about Mal right then JUST so he could have a picture of their reaction.

Baby Bal is so cute DX

Honestly, the Family Day fiasco was Audrey and Chad's fault KING BEAST

"No son, its yours." EXCUSE ME SIR

I wonder how much magical strength one must have in order to wield Fairy Godmother's wand. And I feel bad that Jane couldn't.

"I want to go to school. And be with Ben. Because Ben makes me really happy." Don't mind me just crying.

This whole scene makes me cry DX

"Gaston should be jealous." Ew. No. Stop. Creepy.

So whatever happened with the Jay/Audrey thing? I CANNOT be the only one who remembers the shipping days for them.

Other thoughts:

Nostalgia hits hard every time

I miss the D1 clothes! D2 and D3 felt more "costumey" if that makes sense. D1 feels more like... teenagers. And, at least for the Isle outfits, more thrown together. Not as polished, in a way.

I have to admit, kinda wish there was more Aladdin related stuff in the movie. You have Audrey and Mal, Evie and Doug, and Carlos and Dude, but no Aladdin-related characters for Jay? Sure, Aziz is mentioned in the books, and Jordan is in Wicked World, but still. Oh well.

[nitewrighter]

I've been wading through Alan Moore's writing for several months now, and I think what's really striking me about it is, like, it's had this reputation for like... bringing grimdarkness to comics between Swamp Thing and The Killing Joke, but--and this may just be an overexposure to Moore talking--while a lot of the storytelling events and elements are dark, I don't think Moore is writing from a place of contempt for humanity, or even a place from darkness itself, really. That is to say, he's not in the Snyder "You're stupid if you think Batman doesn't kill people" boat.

The theme that comes up for me again and again across all of Moore's work for DC is this theme of human frailty. Like, it's not even from this angle of "this is how this would go realistically" which a lot of edgy comic fanboys claim, it's more of an awareness of human pain and vulnerability and stupidity and selfishness even within the framework of costumey comic book logic. I do think he was able to take that to its own distinctive level in Watchmen, because he was able to create this self-contained story that still covered a pretty expansive timeline of multiple generations of superheroes, and in doing so, was able to tell a superhero story where we actually see characters age--but in terms of the work he was putting out with DC, you do have this definite horror at what humans are capable of, and wrenching discomfort at seeing beloved characters at their lowest points... but the narrative angle itself isn't actually that cynical. You know what I mean?

[spandexual]

Shippy ask: who are your greatest hero/villain rivals to ever do it in a sentai

Insane (eh, only mildly) question: what's your most common "you sort of put my kink in this show but you did it WRONG so I'm just annoyed you came so close now"

Clothing advice: any advice for coordinating stuff in the bodysuit region to look like streetwear because I've seen a few people on the wild in them looking great lately and I would enjoy secretly feeling like a starship captain

I mean have you seen Gekiranger. Have You Guys Seen Gekiranger. I know you specifically have but You, Reading This, Have You Seen Gekiranger? Tiger vs. Lion, literally feral untamed wild child raised by pandas in the forest vs elegant arrogant ambitious little princeling with a simpering girlknight at his side, purity and fury vs corruption and bitterness... You Guys... Jan and Leo (and I'm not calling him fucking Rio he's a LION the same way no one calls Mele the CHAMELEON "Mere" despite that being what dumbshit John Toei wrote in the mook) are the absolute peak of sentai hero/villain ships. Actually I would say the peak of toku hero/villain ships entirely. gaijug is just below and then like thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis far underneath those two is like, uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh actually idk, whatever KR hero/villain ship ppl have convinced themselves is peak ig. KR doesn't do very good hero/villain come to think of it. I guess it's because of all the main/secondary like how every sentai has its red/sixth (and usually red/blue too but I feel like that's not actually as common as ppl make it out to be, I think a lot of it is people just wanting an episode 1 ship)

Honestly, if my kinks show up in shows at all, they're often done perfectly bc people don't think they're sexual so don't have to pretend they're not (eg. The Stig being essentially a moto-drone like WOW) or the entire premise of the show is based around it (... like Super Sentai and Kamen Rider, even though the suits have not been as sexy as I'd like lately) lmao. I did get a bit annoyed at The Orville for giving Isaac (very sexy faceless kind of evil robot) a human appearance and emotions at first but the whole arc was his sexy milf doctor girlfriend going "ehhh actually I like you more when you're a sexy faceless kind of evil robot" which is incredibly based (as is the fact his sexy milf doctor girlfriend is The Sexy Outfit Wearer of the show a la Deanna Troi despite being a canon mother of a teenage boy and visibly middle-aged). ummm but I think all shows should have more crossdressing that isn't for jokes and more femdom or at least FLRs that aren't "bitch wife controls wimp man" coz like ew

Bodysuits are pretty easy to style casually! If you're talking more leotard style that are like a top with a crotch and no legs then a really sexy thing to do is wear low waisted bottoms so the skin on your hips is showing. Kind of like an advanced whaletail lol. Looks best if the bottoms are big baggy jeans/trackies or really slutty tiny pleated/otherwise voluminous miniskirts, I'd stay away from anything tight, small top big bottom energy yk. If you're talking about the full-body tight catsuit type, I think they're always gonna look a bit costumey, but you can still style them. Wearing a cropped/waist-length non-tight jacket over the top always looks super cool, look at 80s Rogue from X-Men! A floor-length coat would look cool too, rather than balancing the silhouette like with the baggy jeans or puffy jacket, it reduces the sex-costumey look by de-dramatising the silhouette by giving it a solid background. There's a lot of ways to play around! Bodysuits are essentially an inner layer the way tshirts and leggings used to be lol so you can honestly do whatever but I think if you want to be stylish you can't go wrong with the balancing act.

[mousemilf]

i feel like very girly fashion needs to have some underlying incongruous element to be successful. like it needs to feel costumey. if its too seamless it becomes deeply uninteresting. this is where coquette fails.

[play-on-skinners-box]

SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER FIVE OF RAINCODE(And a LARGE amount of text)

I wanted to do more Raincode furries cause they're honestly so fun and are really good practice because I'm kinda rusty in general. I only did Yuma and Makoto this time just cause it's a more manageable workload and they are some of the last ones I'm especially passionate about.

OKAY, BUCKLE UP BABY, THESE CHOICES HAVE LAYERS TO THEM. L A Y E R S

OKAY SO, at some point scrolling on tumblr I saw this post by Nadox showcasing a piece of Yuma's concept art, and in the art he was depicted with long hair. They theorized that this was what Number One originally looked like and he sheared his hair into that wimpy fresh almost bowl cut so he could pass as a trainee, AND I L O V E THAT. I herby declare it as correct on the grounds of I said so.

Going along with this idea, Yuma is a young wolf that has a lame haircut so everyone THINKS he's just a dog. I know a wolf in real life would be a lot harder to reasonably pass as a dog, so this requires a bit of anime logic tomfuckery, but I'm fine with that because Raincode already deals in its fair share of logic jank. I am simply being true to game in that regard! The way I drew him already isn't super wolf-like cause I made him all squishy looking like human Yuma, and made the veerrryyyy tips of the ears flop over because the pointy ones just didn't feel quite right. I know real wolf ears are only ever depicted as pointy but it was for the VIBE. Yeaahhh in hindsight I might have taken a few too many liberties. I suppose to make it a little more sensible you could say he's a wolfdog and not full wolf or something. Other than the logic I really like this choice because everyone would naturally assume Yuma's just a pathetic little puppy dog when his real identity is hiding in plain sight!

I went back and forth on alot of the fur aspects. How smooth is too smooth? How much of it should just look like blunt cuts? Should I even give him his human hair? Usually I don't like giving my furries human hair in general because I want them looking a lot more like animals rather than people, but for Yuma his hair is such an important part of his design that I ultimately decided to keep it on both him and Makoto.

MAKOTO IS A WOLF IN SHEEPS CLOTHING AND THAT IS SO FUN, SO SILLY, SO GOOFY, HOOOORAY(Specifically a dall sheep cause they have those big curly horns). In theory, the hardest part of choosing an animal for Yuma is that whatever his animal is needs to tie into Makoto, and also be able to be implemented in a way where their connection isn't obvious. Makoto having a mask helps of course, but if you pick a really distinctive animal for Yuma you'll have to come up with better ways to hide it. Others have gotten a lot more creative with how Makoto hides his species, but I didn't do that and went in the full direction of just giving him a disguise. Its a littlllleeeeee lazy but I'm too smitten with the idea to care. I was a little confused on what to do with the tail. I considered just chopping off the majority of it to make it look like a short little sheep tail and put the justification for it in his suuuuppper tragic past(Though I honestly don't know if homunculi can regenerate like lizards). Luckily, the pose makes it so you can't see it anyway so I don't have to grapple with the responsibly of weather or not I need to brutally amputate one of Makoto's body parts. I consider this a win.

Disregarding his actual animal, I think the sheep is also weirdly fitting because of some of their associations. When I met Makoto I wasn't sure what to make of him besides being cautiously optimistic about him not letting Yuma die(What a fool I was), and sheep/lambs/rams and animals in that ballpark can vary wildly in their depictions from literaly the devil to good little fluffy guys!

For his actual look I wanted the sheep parts to look costumey sort of. I was going for a similar effect as the blood in chapter 0, where it's very noticeable but you write off the weird things about it because it's not immediately relevant. So, the mask has fake horns attached. The hand hooves are just little caps over the paw fingers, and there are two gold and silver caps to mimic his rings and point to their artificiality. The feet are also fake and are suppose to look a little clunky like Makoto's actual shoes. His hair is also much more full looking, a little less limp; because his actual ears need some place to get tucked away. I think the main problem with this design is it'd make for a really awkward reveal, cause when he dramatically gets the mask taken off then he'd just be a canine with hooves.

For both of them I think wolf works very well in terms of their characters and their shared forte. Yuma spends most of the game struggling with needing to rely on others, and Makoto has been carrying the weight of Kanai Wards secret on his shoulders alone for like three years. They also both have the Coalescence forte, which by it's very nature requires the help of other people, and at the end of the day being with others and working together is what brings them farther then they could do alone(even if some of the themes get muddled at the end and arn't really as clear as I'd personally like I find that Kodaka's games can have some not so rock solid theming with shakey conclusions but this is what I chose to take away from it)

These aspects of their characters fit perfectly with the stereotypical idea of a strong and stoic lone wolf in contrast to real wolves being pack animals that work together to survive!

I thought I'd like Yuma's design more by a landside cause I've grown really fond of his human design, but I actually really love this version of Makoto. I guess any designs with horns or hooves just appeals to me in a way that paws don't. Still really happy with these two. They could most certainly be worse! I think they're both cute little guys though and I learned a lot about how to like, render from this so that's a bonus!

[notetaeker]

Sewing Debacle:

I sewed my first (and only) dress out of some cheap fabric back in 2021 and it had a lot of issues but I did wear it a few times (problems and all)... should I take it apart and fix it up? Things to know: - fabric isn't the most comfortable / is costumey - the seams dont look the best because i used the wrong tension -The pleats make the waist super bulky... but i could either cut off the bulk to fix it on the surface level... or I could take it apart and re-sew - seam ripping and trying to fix it would mean re-doing the section i spent a LONG time on and partly the reason I gave up on the dress (the skirt pleats) - i found this pretty applique that I want to put on it...am i wasting my time D

[vintagecontinuum]

Clothing and Shoes (Repro)

True vintage from the 1930s and 40s is often fragile, damaged, and expensive. Here are my favorite modern brands selling vintage or vintage-inspired designs:

Price key:

$: $50-150 (basic pieces, simpler designs)

$$: $151-300 (well-crafted garments, premium fabrics)

$$$: >$300 (luxurious, exact reproductions)

Other notes:

📏: offers custom sizing

👥: employs height-inclusive models (5'5 / 168cm or shorter)

🗺️: country of origin

All the Vintage Lovers ($) 📏 🇷🇴

A vintage Etsy shop offering made-to-order classic designs. While not explicitly repro, the variety of wide-legged pants suits the 30s on.

Allure Originals ($-$$) 📏 🇺🇸

Androgynous, classic designs in the 1930s and 40s style. Most pieces are one-offs.

American Duchess ($$-$$$) 🇺🇸

Repro footwear for more formal and costumey ensembles.

Bellaha ($-$$) 📏 👥 🇻🇳

Quality linen timeless garments. While not explicitly repro, the shop's classic undertones read as 1930s forward.

One of the models is 5'1 / 155cm.

Emmy Design ($-$$$) 🇸🇪

Well-fitted, high-quality repros befitting of many ages.

Epicoene ($-$$) 🇺🇸

A gender-inclusive microlabel offering 1940s and 50s-inspired garments.

FineThee ($-$$$) 📏 👥 🇷🇴

Curated vintage and handmade pieces from fine fabrics. Repro pieces range from 1930s-adjacent to modern.

The model is 5'5 / 168cm.

House of Kitchstitch ($) 🇬🇧

Handsewn 1940s and 50s pants, specializing in denim but also offering swing trousers and shorts.

Kinzzza ($$-$$$) 🇺🇦

Handmade, antique-styled linen basics. Perfect for almost any decade.

Let's Backtrack ($-$$) 📏 🇺🇸

Feminine, cotton dresses inspired by the 1930s to 50s.

Memery ($$) 🇩🇰

Repro footwear and knits more suited for everyday wear.

Oldfield Outfitters ($$-$$$) 👥 🇬🇧

Vintage-inspired British countryside gear channeling the 1920s, 30s, and 40s.

Two of the models are 5'2 / 157cm and 5'3 / 160cm.

Roksolana Knits ($$-$$$) 📏 🇺🇦

Bespoke repro knitwear and vintage-inspired pieces. The shop offers a wide selection of patterns and colors, albeit with a long waitlist.

Sunny Side Couture ($-$$$) 🇧🇪

Vintage sportswear and suiting in the 1930s and 40s style.

The Seamstress of Bloomsbury ($-$$) 🇬🇧

Late 1930s, 40s, and early 50s British aristocratic fashions harkening the wartime spirit.

Vecona Vintage ($$-$$$) 🇩🇪

Classy 1920s to 40s suiting and dress. Most notable for its three-piece ensembles in both men's and women's sizing.

Woolwhite ($$-$$$) 🇩🇪

Timeless knitwear and overcoats. While not specifically repro, many designs are vintage inspired and range the late 1920s on.

[descendantofthesparrow]

What is it you don’t like about the motor spot outfits? For it, it seems like it lost the Aesthetic and style the last 2 movies had, like Mal’s ripped D2 jacket or Carlos two-toned pattern in the first. And who do you think looked the best

the outfits are clunky as shit and there's no REASON for them to be motor sport!!! there's nothing about the movie at all that gives reason for them to have outfits like that!!! like they use the bikes for five minutes(NOT EVEN THAT) and then the outfits are officially useless. biker punk would've made so much more sense and blended well with their previous outfits, the only one that vaguely looks good is mals BEFORE the hades power up-after that-they all look so bad and useless and Mal's outfit just turns so-dull and yucky looking-you legit cannot tell where it begins and where it ends. i hate that they got rid of Evie's blue to make Mal blue AND THEY DIDNT EVEN MAKE MAL BLUE-SHES JUST DARK PURPLE WITH BLUE TONES. i hate jay and carlos' shoes and if they were going to go for motorsport FULL SEND IT

NO SKIRTS OR OPEN SKIN(MAL.) AND FULL BODY PROTECTION WITH PROPER PADDING AND HELMETS

and they dont look like clothes-its clear by D3 they stopped making outfits and started making costumes for dolls. D1-outfits with one costume outfit for dolls(isle wear in the beginning), d2-a bit more costumey but still believable and fashionable(again, the isle gear-everything else is very real) d3; just straight up doll oufits-it all looks bad. the most obvious being Audrey-trying to copy isle style and failing. shes all one tone and its ill fitting and its not a good outfit.

im getting off track. the motor sport was not a good idea and they didn't go deep enough into it to make it look good.

[maretriarch]

okay WIPS of overambitious sketches doodles and + babbling about them under the cut. if people are interested in more breakdown behind the scene posts like these lmk bcs i have so many. LOL.

starting with these rose drawings starting from the left i really wish she could have maybe had a more of a striderian dealing with her alt selves sort of thing esp as a seer of light and her whole psychiatrist shtiqué.....i also like it when the walksprite is like homosuck style conscious and sort of a creature of id which i guess thats what jasprose is. moving onto the right pic obviously medieval type fashion, jasprosesprite as an overwhelming overtly bad historical drama tv show style of elizabethen costumey fake style style, with princess cone hat style cat ears. exactly the type of outfit that would piss rose off

as compared to rose which would be in like a (???) 1300-1400 era type of royal garb where it was mostly focused on overall pretty subtle and underrated extremely high quality linens and like worldclass fabric art work. the type of clothes that actually survive to this day with yonow entire wikipedia articles dedicated to how it took 300 ships and 800 women 500 hours to craft each petal on the 6 foot sleeve. or whatever. so actually just as flashy and self important and involved as jasproses outfit but in a different Intellectual way (think aesthetically maybe like brave?? specifically the mom from brave??? at least her vibe)

joey claire extraordinare....very shoujo anime inspired..i really hope she has a big dance/combat scene/outfit at LEAST in the finale........her sprite work of her dance fighting is the cutest thing ever and i keep feeling edged by a big flashy homestuck style showdown with it. hopefully its a minigame. even though i hate minigames. i just know its the right choice to make.

twilight as a college aged magical girl whos both grown out of the uniform and charm of beating and being beat by magical friendship eating monsters kind of going for a pen15 vibe maybe i also had wanted to draw like huge star sparkle blasts and her getting all fucked up lol something something unicorn sparkle vomit i dont knowww anime anime anime if you recognize the colored twilight pony youd know how old this actually is im struggling to remember the finer details of this pisce buts part of a larger au under the working title of " Princess Celestias Magical Wizard Girl Ballet Princess School Princess Pony also Trixie "

[mikuyuuss]

My first artist alley. I'm so glad I was able to do this because this has been one of my bucket list as an artist. I'm also super thankful because my friends visited me and showed me lots of support.

I spent a lot of time planning out the design of my stall, and tbh as a first timer, I'm actually really happy with how this turned out.

I'm still pining over my Hong Kong trip so I displayed a lot of my souvenirs, such as the little brown haired elf figure, the little vulpix and the mitsuri nezuku mousepad under the plastic containers (its not very visible but its also from hongkong) I also included the rest of my old kny figures.

Even most of my outfit are from hongkong: The vest and the flowery shoes. The whole event itself is HUGE. There was even a seperate cosplay subevent. Tbh I wish I could have cosplayed and hosted a booth at the same time but I know that's impossible and the booth alone is taxing already, so Instead, I reused the mitsuri socks to match my vest so at least I can have a casual yet costumey look.

Speaking of the booth itself. It's outdoors and covered by a huge tent so we're partially exposed to the elements and ohmygosssh THE WEATHER WAS SO MEAN TO US DX It kept fluctuating from super hot to super rainy in a span of a few minutes!! Some of the rain even seeped into my stickers but thankfully I was able to salvage it and I feel even more bad for the cosplayers.

But I saw lots of cool cosplayers. I saw a cool Giyuu Cosplayer, Resident Evil too Claire, Ada And Leon. I wish I took pictures of them but I was too tired lol, but at least I was able to take some with Kamisato Ayaka and Ayase Momo.

Anyways I'm still extremely exhausted but I'm still very glad I was able to experience it.

[thewarmestplacetohide]

Dread by the Decade: The Mummy

👻 You can support me on Ko-fi ❤️

★★½

Plot: British archeologists accidentally resurrect an ancient Egyptian prince.

Review: With a dull story, no scares, and severe racism, this monster movie pales next to its contemporaries.

Year: 1932 Genre: Supernatural Horror Country: United States Language: English Runtime: 1 hour 13 minutes

Director: Karl Freund Writer: John L. Balderston Cinematographer: Charles J. Stumar Editor: Milton Carruth Composer: James Dietrich Cast: Boris Karloff, Zita Johann, David Manners, Arthur Byron, Edward Van Sloan

------

Story: 1.5/5 - Shallow characters, a limp plot, and overt racism. The English archeologists are heroes, while an Egyptian who wants his country's artifacts to remain is the monster.

Performances: 3/5 - Almost everyone is competent. Manners and Zohann had chemistry, but Karloff is just an Ominous Foreigner with a terrible accent.

Cinematography: 4/5 - Great lighting and camera movement.

Editing: 2/5 - Scenes often follow one another with little flow.

Music: 3.5/5

Effects: 3.5/5 - A pretty good transformation effect and some solid props.

Sets: 2.5/5 - Okay. Either don't feel like they're in Egypt or border on cartoony.

Costumes, Hair & Make-Up: 3/5 - The modern day outfits are good and Karloff's make-up is neat when he's in Mummy form, but the Egyptian attire is costumey and the black- and brownface is horrid.

Trigger Warnings:

Mild violence

Racist portrayals of African and Arab people

Blackface

Brownface

Positive portrayal of British colonialism

Misogyny (uncritically portrayed)

[ellieinbg]

Making a folk skirt for my cold legs

Back in the before times—which I guess for most people means before COVID-19, but for me means before chronic illness smashed my world to bits—I used to do a lot of couture-style sewing. I have sewen entire historical ensembles. I sewed my own wedding dress. I thread traced and pad stitched and flat-lined. I was in love with the idea of fashion and wanted to engage with it on a sophisticated level. The problem was I didn't like anything I made.

Not only do I have a hard-to-fit body, but I have an electrolyte disorder that fucks up my hormones and makes my body size fluctuate like wild. When I could get things to fit well, they inevitably didn't fit well a month later. And the things I made were either too costumey for me to wear or too boring for me to enjoy. The sheer amount of money, and effort it took to create a garment I didn't like or could not wear destroyed my interest in sewing. I took a break for many years, though as sick as I was I could not have sewn even if I had wanted to. In the past few years, I have had the opportunity to live in Bulgaria for a few months at a time, here and there, slowly soaking up the culture. There I discovered my passion for Slavic folk attire. I have had the opportunity to view some amazing pieces up close at museums and festivals and to see countless up-close photos on Bulgarian buy/sell websites. Something that slowly wormed its way into my brain as I spent time appreciating these garments is how wonderfully flawed they are. I don't mean that they are not skillfully created. They, of course, vary from roughly made amateur attempts to some of the most amazing textile work I have ever seen. What they lack is the rigid rules of couture. The stuffy conventions that define high fashion are conspicuously and freeingly missing from these garments. They are not fitted but instead tied and belted into shape. Trimmings can be added ad-hoc with little coordination as old ones are replaced or new fancier ones can be obtained. Tunics, vests, skirts, and aprons are mostly stand-alone things and not part of a coordinated ensemble. Each item is beautiful and meaningful but modular. And most of all they tend to be extremely size adjustable. Not custom fit for one single body, but designed for any body that garment might be handed down to. Cue this winter, when I was once again looking with dread at the pants in my closet, knowing the things that fit were not warm enough for winter and dreading another round of buying things. There is a growing online trend for sewing historic-inspired adjustable clothing and I knew what I needed was an adjustable over skirt for going out. It needed to be long, warm, and easy to throw on over whatever I was wearing in the house. I wanted something that visually paid homage to the Slavic folk wear I love but their tie-on construction method wasn't going to work. Traditionally these skits had a long slit from the waistband down and tied shut. The ties let the skirt adjust to your size but the front would gap and was not very modest. This is why many historic European costumes include an apron. When wearing skirts of this type the apron covered this slit and provided complete modestly. Also, you have to either step into or drop these skirts over your head which wasn't what I wanted. While pondering how I wanted to make this I stumbled upon a video from "Sewing Therapy" about reversible hanbok skirt construction. The Hanbok is a traditional garment in Korea and like much traditional clothing, a very simple design made mostly of rectangles. As I understand it, and my understanding is poor, the skirt variant is a relatively modern creation. It has a waistband, two ties, and a large pleated panel. Importantly for me, the hanbok is made on the straight grain and not gored, or cut on the circle, just like Slavic folk skirts. They are very size adjustable and can be layered over any under clothes easily making them the perfect outer layer for winter.

I do not in any way claim that what I made in the end is a traditional hanbok. Pleated skirts with a waistband are a pretty pan-cultural idea and are frequently used in the construction of traditional European skirts as well, but the idea of making a pleated panel into a wrap skirt is something I first saw with this hanbok video and I wanted to make a point to give credit to Sara its creator. I hit up my local thrift store for cotton sheets for this experiment and lucked out on this burgundy and cream pair. The burgundy side I hit up with black fabric spray paint and whip-stitched a burgundy ribbon from my stash. For the cream side, I dip-dyed it with procion dyes. I added a simple pocket bag on one side and then stamped it with my possum skull block from my trash coat project. I made a point just to get this made and not to care about seams matching or thread color. I just wanted to have fun sewing again. And ya know what? It is imperfect and weird and works amazing to keep my legs warm and I LOVE IT. I wear this skirt constantly. I love it so much I have started on my second version, this time with some vintage 90s dino sheets.