Cosplay: Listen Very Carefully, I Shall Say This Only Once - Michelle Dubois Cosplay

A friend of me was celebrating his last day of work with a house party. Not just any party - a themed party!

The theme was French. To be taken as seriously as we wanted. So naturally, me being me, I needed a costume. I agonised for quite a while trying to decide how to dress, and brifiely toyed with the idea of making a rat costume so that I could be Remy from Ratatouille but that went out of the window once I realised I didn't have a lot of time.

What I did decide was to go with the slightly vintage theme and find a way to utilise my new haircut. I dressed as Michelle Dubois from 'Allo 'Allo!. 'Allo 'Allo! is a terribly awesome TV show from the 1980s about a cafe owner in Nazi occupied France, it's filled with innuendo and I have no idea how it became regular viewing for a 5-year-old on a Saturday evening, but regular viewing it was.

Michelle is famous for her line 'Listen very carefully, I shall say this only once...' and for her classic trench coat and beret.

I curled my hair in rolls the day before the party so that I could brush it out into those classic waves before the party and attempted a sort of classic 1940s make up look. I simply pinned the beret in place, at a jaunty angle as her look requires.

I looked through charity shops to try and find the perfect coat in the end I found a classic 80s trench from a charity shop in town, it was originally from House of Fraser, and cost £6.99.

Of course what Michelle wore under the coat was up for debate.

I didn't go that far but I made a pencil skirt and wore a simple black jumper underneath so I didn't take pictures of that.

At the party I did meet someone dressed as René which was petty cool!!

Anywho that's it for now!

Vintage Outfits: The 1980s Ball

Hi!

I’m back from my break and kicking off 2012 with a bit of a retro dresscapade today.

Way back when (approximately December 2009) I shared a house with two law students who asked my friend Sadie (of The Vanity Case) and I to do a Lindy routine at their Christmas Law Ball.

In exchange for a free meal (and lets just say that most dancers are easily bought with a free dinner…) we agreed to do a small performance before they opened the dance floor to the Lawyers.

I’m not going to lie… the performance was dreadful! We were so nervous we forgot a large portion of the routine and I’m sure the look of horror wasn’t disguised too well.

But that’s not important!

What does matter is that the Ball was 1980s themed! Which meant dressing in a suitably bright way with big hair and bright makeup.

I tried to take a bit of inspiration from the Human League for the make up, and Alex from Ashes to Ashes for the hair.

80s makeup inspiration

Make up wise wasn't about being subtle for me, I rarely stray away from that classic black eyeliner look so I think I went a little bit over board with the blue. The high cheekbone blusher is ESSENTIAL for that 80s look and rounded off with a bright pink lipstick.

Now I'm no D.I. Drake, but clearly we both have impeccable choice of colours

The hair was quite short at this point so I rolled it during the day to add some curl and volume and sprayed it to make it as big as possible- with a big bow to make it a bit more girly.

For the outfit itself I had a shiny electric blue swing dress with cut batwing sleeves and an inbuilt petticoat that I purchased from a vintage seller from eBay for around £5. I added a classic 80s style patent waist belt and some gloves- it was a ball after all!

I couldn't resist a bit of lomography for that 80s feel :D

Sadly, I was wearing my dance shoes in the photo so you can’t get a sense of footware… nevermind. Pixy boots would be the perfect way to finish this look I think.

So that's it for now!

Just one side note, I had my tickets for London Super Comic con confirmed so I'm currently working on a costume for that- as what you ask? I'm not telling... yet... but watch this space!

Until then- Happy Dresscapades!

Cosplay Cosume: Trailer Trash - Sci-Fi and Rachel form 'Blade Runner'

On the 23rd of April 2011 many Brightonians shunned their St. George's day pride and dressed as their favourite Sci-Fi characters at cult movie themed club night 'Trailer Trash'

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Trailer-Trash/276064050718

It has been a over a year since the last trailer trash so there was a lot of excitement around what to wear. In the end my decision for a costume choice was inspired by the list of movies on the poster, in particular, Blade Runner.

Now Blade Runner is a film I have fallen asleep through once and watched twice and i still managed to block out most of the actual plot except for the flying overhead city shots, the music and the character Rachael... So naturaly a dark haired vintage inspired vintage noir lady felt like a natural choice for a costume.

Rachael's key looks are the shoulder pads, the 40s inspired doo, the fitted coat and the wiggle dress underneath, of course all in black



Here is my attempt:

The dress was from the Collectif sale online or in Camden Market London:
http://www.collectif.co.uk/
and was £25

Shoes were my own from Clarks
The jacket was £3.50 from eBay
and the scarf was borrowed from a friend

Total Cost:
£28.50
(Although I had the dress anyway so I'm not sure that counts)






I'd like to give a special mention to Sadie who dressed as Barbarella for doing my hair!

 

Hair itself was limited as I have quite a layered cut which meant it was very dificult to put in.

However much fun was had with 80s make up! (Especially the blusher!)







On a side note, one of the burlesque acts chose a the same costume and character to base her act on and this is not the first time this has happened to me! I later saw a photographer who said 'You were just on stage?' to which I laughed and said 'That was another Rachel, it would be pretty impressive if I had managed to put my clothes back on that fast...'

Of course one of the interesting things about trailer trash is the costume contest, and with regards to this i have only one thing to say...

 

AT-ST!!!!

I  think it goes without saying that no one minded losing to this guy!

Anywho, thats it for now!
The next theme is David Lynch and I have no idea what to do for that...