Labyrinth Jareth Study: Part 2.5, Miscellaneous

Today’s post is fairly simple, just a look at the McFarlane Jareth figurine (link goes to Amazon’s listing).  I ordered this figuring, not expecting a lot, but was stunned to see how beautiful it is.  I like to buy figurines like this to compare them to the original things, and just because they’re fun to collect.

All photos are from McFarlane, except the one at the table by a Cornish game hen.  That’s mine.

This figurine looks so much better in person, and the photos are pretty sweet.

Right away the real difference that is apparent is that there is gold on the coat, and the it’s a lighter shade of blue.  But just look at that face, that face, that dangerous face…

I mustn’t be unwise…those lips, that nose, those eyes…could lead to my demise…. (Bonus points to those who can name the reference.)

Yes, he looks this realistic in person.

As you can see above, the black lace is blue on this figure.

His mask is amazing.  The bones on the hand at the end!!

And here is the big difference I don’t care so much for.  The three drips of lace and beading in the back or one dip.  The swirls of gold make me think of an 80’s denim jacked.  But the face…

I really don’t mean to turn this into a review, just a good view of the figurine.  I find that looking at similarities and differences between the real deal and figurines can make me notice detail in the real thing that I might otherwise miss.  (Edit to add:  In my home, Jareth held a place of honor on Christmas, and we gave thanks to our god, David Bowie 😀 )

Also, I’ve found that a new figure is coming out in June of 2019!  Dance Magic!  You bet this is pre-ordered.

Anyway, I will continue to be on the look-out for figurines, and lament the lack of anything Sarah.

Labyrinth Jareth Study: Part 2.4, Back/Lapels

This post is just a comment less photo-dump of some details from the back and lapels to give a better idea of the kinds of sequins and beads that were used.  If there are other photos you’d like to see that I may have, let me know for a future post.  Tomorrow’s is photos of a Jareth figurine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Labyrinth Jareth Study: Part 2.3, Back/Lapels

First post of two about the back and lapels!  Tomorrow’s post will be just a bunch more photos.  Remember, all photos enlarge when clicked.

This first photo shows a great selection of the types of beads and baubles.  The tiny little 16/0 beads are the only ones sewn on, and they follow a floral pattern that isn’t part of the lace.  The floral pattern exists only because of the beading.

The smooth beads that look like small glass fishbowl pieces are glass, as are the faceted rhinestones that come to a point at the top and the 9-faceted black rhinestones (the table is a facet).  The rest have the glow and roughness of plastic, which makes sense since they’re meant to be rough, and that’s a difficult look to get with glass.  Say hello to those strings of hot glue!  I will be experimenting with different options since hot glue melts in areas with hotter weather, like Arizona, or Burning Man! (I learned that one the hard way…also, m Green Fairy costume caught on fire. 😀 )  Even if not worn, traveling though hot areas could melt the glue.  So I’ll report on what I tried in post 2.5

This photo shows well the cut of the tail coat in the front.  The seaming almost gives the appearance of a separate vest, but there isn’t one.  The lace/baubled bits (I’m just going to call the decorated pieces “baubled bits”) follow the seams in the front down to about 4″-5″ below the waist, and continue up over the shoulders.

The exaggerated labels are glorious, and that wonderfully high collar are just…*sigh*  Notice also the single button on the front.  I’m going to come back to this on post 2.5.

Pay attention here to how the baubled bits on the back extend all the way to the waist, to the two buttons, before sharply curving back up, then to the waist again, like three long drips.

The lace is folded to cut over the sleeve cap, but is the same piece.  Click on this pick to make it larger, and you can see that the fold terminates about 1/4″ below a blue bead.

More photos tomorrow!  If anything isn’t clear enough, or more explanations of any sort are needed, let me know.

 

Labyrinth Jareth Study: Part 2.2, Cuffs

I can hear it already.  “But, Aria, why are there so many pictures of just cuffs?!”  Well, I can tell you with authoritative certainty that the spot that people are most likely to skimp on is the cuffs because the main focal point is the back and lapels, and this is what drags down an overall look.  If more time will be spent anywhere, it’s usually going to be where you expect the eye to go.  Yet it’s actually the secondary features that need to be more impressive than the primary.  This seems counterintuitive, but bear with me here.

Let us call them Yummy, Chair-dude, Beach Bros, and Street Man.  Let us define primary clothing as that which you would wear to say you’re wearing something.  If you’re wearing a suit, that means the coat and slacks.  If you’re in casual stuff, it’s the stuff won’t take off if you’ve got friends visiting.  So, your top and pants (or skirts, but I’m using the example of men since women are too often used to make positive and negative points).  Everything else are accessories, the things you can change easily and still be dressed.

A suit is typically considered dressy.  Jeans and slacks without blazers are considered casual.  Well, Yummy and Beach Bros are wearing primary clothing that is considered dressy.  But Yummy’s casual undershirt and un-shellacked ponytail and the Beach Bros’ bare feet make them look like they’re dressed down.  They have a casual, laid-back vibe to them.  But Chair-dude and Street Man are wearing primary things considered to be casual, yet are wearing shined shoes, dress socks, a hella nice outer coat and scarf, with nary a hair out of place, and come across as dressed up.  If you have a business meeting, you’d be better off wearing Chair-dude’s or Street Man’s technically casual ensembles than to go in how Yummy or Beach Bros are dressed, even though they’re wearing blazers, and one of the thing making Yummy look casual–the t-shirt–is also on Street Man.

What’s so different here?  Well, the secondary things, also known as accessories, even when necessary (e.g. a shirt under the blazer), are the finishing touches, and those can make or break a look.  A couple common phrases are “the shoes make the man” and “the accessories make the outfit” (I don’t know of any equivalents that are about women in particular, though Coco Chanel is known to have been very much into accessories how how they can make or break the ensemble, regardless of formality).

What all of this means is that the thing you expect to be the main focal point isn’t the thing that will form your opinion on something.  Cuffs that don’t get much time because they aren’t the main focal point will pull down Jareth’s ensemble, but better cuffs with lapels, collar, and upper back that didn’t get as much time will come across as more put together.  The state of what we consciously think of as lesser important affect our subconscious view more than we realize.  Take my word on this–after doing this stuff for almost 20 years now, and fairly consistently being considered among the best, I’ve learned a thing or two, and if you critique my work hard enough, you’ll come to see that that thing you can’t quite put your finger on that makes my work so jaw-dropping (and that makes me cringe and think much of my stuff is so flawed, ironically) is the secondary details that don’t seem to matter, things like the lapels, or the stripes lining up even in the arm pits, even if that are small flaws in the primary parts of something.  If there’s anything to let go of, it’s perfection in the part people already expect see as perfect, and if there’s anything to make sure is perfectly right, it’s the part where people expect to find the flaws.  Since we tend to look for problems where we expect to find them, and don’t bother looking for problems where we don’t expect to find any, when those problems aren’t there, and we aren’t looking for them elsewhere, we see perfection.

It’s psychology, and that’s why cuffs aren’t just cuffs, and now you know my secret to everything.  And now I’m screwed since y’all will be looking for flaws in the primary things. 😀

So there is your answer.  There are so many photos of cuffs because they are more important than the lapels.  They are more important than the collar.  They are more important than the upper back.  This is the detail that will make or break your recreation.

So, to the cuffs.  Scroll four photos down.  Click on it.  Notice how there is a section there that isn’t decorated.  The rest is black lace with a bunch of stuff on it.  That stuff includes plastic green/blue plastic faceted iridescent buttons.

 

It also includes a bunch of stringy hot glue…

…with chunky glitter and beads tossed on top…

And some teeny tiny black seed beeds, the 16/0 annoying kind, and they’re the only beads that are definitely sewn.  Because of course.  Glue the beads with the big holes, but sew on the painfully tiny things.  What were you thinking, Brian Froud?  Giving the baby beads the power, were you?

I love the lace.  It’s such a lovely lace.  If it didn’t look so pretty with glue and glitter (we’re all familiar with my loathing of the glitter glue on the live action Belle yellow gown, right?), I might want to rip my hair out for it being used on such beautiful lace.  At least there are some teensy short glass tube beads mixed in.  But this is an ensemble where these measures not only make sense considering the quality of film at that time, but it makes sense for the character.

The beads used on the cuffs are the same as on the lapel, collar, and upper back.  Those posts will show a lot more detail about those beads.

Why yes, that is Ludo in the background, next to a Firey.

Glitter.  And beads.  On glue.  Over black tulle.

Now there’s been a question about hot glue and the heat….  Stay tuned for post 2.5, Friday for my public posts, Thursday for the day-early-Patreoners.  I’ve got some ‘sperimentin’ to do.

Labyrinth Jareth Study: Part 2.1, Lining

The least exciting part first, shall we? 😀 Cherie Lovell, a follower of my page, confirmed that the serging is a 3-thread for both layers.  🙂 So if you want the same serging, that’s the method to use.

This photo shows well the fading.  It’s definitely not intentional.  This side, the right side, has a good deal of fading.  The left side doesn’t.

Here is the left side, and the fading is very little.

Another of the left showing how little fading there is compared to the right side.

Labyrinth Jareth Study: Part 2.0

(Please let me know if you don’t see 11 photos.)
This post has given me grey hairs. The first time I posted this one, it disappeared. I spent scads of time on it, then…POOF. Finding the time again has been very difficult. Then, when I finished it a second time, it wouldn’t work either. Thank goodness the text was saved! This time, I found out that the problem is too many photos that are too big. We had to increase storage capacity and a few other things, including having to resize some photos. So, at full size, some photos make be smaller than they otherwise would be. I also rearranged photos, and will have fewer n this post than I was otherwise going to have, and the rest will be posted every day or two (the posts are already set to auto-post, so expect a new post on Monday at 1pm PST, Tuesday at the same time, etc.) in smaller posts that will hopefully not have any issue posting.

Monday: Lining
Tuesday: Cuffs
Wednesday and Thursday: Back and lapel details
Friday: Miscellaneous

Those are all already done and scheduled, and I’ll be biting my nails waiting to make sure they post without issue.

Expect this post to be something of an overview with more photos for each part in the coming days.   One day will be more photos of the lining, another will be cuffs, another of buttons, etc., which will also make it easier to find the specific part you’re looking for.

I was also planning to make this coat as part of making this post, but then had the brilliant idea (well, “brilliant”) to have it be a make-along.  I’m likely heading back to Paris at the end of this year, and, if I do, I plan to try tracking down more of the metallic velvet I got before.  If anyone is interested in that, it was €75 per meter, and sold in 3-meter lengths, and I charged the actual cost converted to US-dollars.  It’s not cheap, but it’s perfect.  I got some for myself as well as for one of my followers.  Once tickets are booked, for those who are interested, I would ask for a refundable-if-not-found deposit, and fabric would be distributed on a first-signed-up order.  I’m regretting not choking down the cost of a few more lengths, but I was already over my baggage weight limit.  Having me get the fabric wouldn’t be required to participate in this make-along.

So let’s start with the lining and the hem.  The lining is a simple silver lamé, and it’s serged with cream.  I’ll be honest–I don’t serge enough to know if that’s a 3-thread or 4-thread, though it looks like a 3-thread.  (I serge so rarely that I got a Baby Lock Imagine since it adjusts all the tensions automatically, and I suuuuuuuck at that part.). Click on any photos for larger versions.

The bottom of the coat looks like it’s been light-damaged.  Yes, light causes damage.  This is why flash-photography isn’t allowed.  The flash from one camera seems like it wouldn’t do anything, but over time, all those flashes add up.  But it does make the hem of the velvet easier to see as well, and it’s also serged, but with navy.  You can see in these photos that the backing is woven, not knit and the metallic fibers are also easier to see.  In Monday’s post, you will see some tulle that I suspect was used for display purposes.

Movin’ on up, we get to some buttons.  There appear to be already-made buttons, nothing custom, and that makes sense.  Unlike the broach, this isn’t a detail that will get much notice.  There are two in the back, and one in the front.  more on that in a bit.  In place of a coat vent, there are three pleats under each button, and this piece is cut separately.  In the first button photo, the seam is clearly visible.

Next up: Cuffs.  I really want to show more of these in this post, but am not wanting to come up against whatever limit on files there is.  So more photos will have to wait for the cuff page scheduled for Monday.  The bottom of the cuffs are gathered tulle with a gorgeous soft black lace.  It looks like silk, but no silk was used.  This Is probably rayon.  It’s too soft to be nylon.  All over this, following various parts of the design, is glued-on chunky black glitter and small black short bugle beads.  The beads are glued as well, but mixed in with the glitter and sprinkled on the glue.

The top of the cuffs are cut pieces of lace that wrap around, but don’t go around the back.  The method used on this lace will be shared in the section below about the back and lapels since it’s the same method.  Simple plastic buttons in shiny peacock colors are used.  The faceted mold is meant to look like crystal.

The third button is on the front.  Look below the cravat (as pointed out, it’s technically a jabot).  The coat covers left over right and closes at that button.  I’m going to speculate that the button is decorative and that it likely covers with concealed hooks and eyes.

The collar is a standing collar with a fold.

Now to the big part.  This is going to be a very quick overview since there are so many photos of this that I’d definitely hit the file cap.  On Wednesday and Thursday, these dozens of posts will be metered out.  Notice, at least quickly for now, that the sleeves are gathered in the caps, not tremendously so, but enough to help pad out the lace that falls over it.

The trick here is that hot glue is drizzled all over lace (it’ll stick better to the netting of lace than to velvet) with chunky black flutter, small sequins, small black faceted beads, opalescent round and oval beads, deep green and blue leads that look like broken pieces of glass (definitely aren’t, though!), 4mm faceted black beads, and shards of plastic beads that look like shattered mirror pieces scattered all over it.  Just go full ham on this.  You can’t overdo it.  No, the beads aren’t sewn.  Look at the shattered-mirror piece in this first photo.  You can see the hole, and there is nothing through it.   About halfway down, about two-thirds of the way to the right, is a black bead with a hole, and you can, again, see that there is no thread.  While the method is just about as cheap and quick as possible, it manages to work without looking cheap.  It’s perfectly Jareth, and reflects the concept of being shattered and broken, a sense of vulnerableness crossed with rocker glam.  To me, it feels like tis goblin king living a simple, yet complex existence, dug up whatever he could pull up in an attempt to seduce this young lady he’s fallen for.

Keep a watch here this next week for the rest of the posts.  As said, they are ready and waiting to auto-post.  I have the text all saved.  If there are any snafus, I’m ready to tackle them.

Jareth Ball ensemble: A costume study, pt. 1.5

Well!  I spent many, many hours searching for something: video showing Jareth without his ball coat on.  After I posted the costume study part 1, TWO people commented with it!  Like the Sarah study 2.5, this one isn’t a full study in its own, but rather an addition that is substantial enough to be a new post, but not enough to be a full part.

Angela is to thank for the gif to the right, and Glass Spider found the video below, which shows the gif starting a few seconds before it and going to a few seconds afterward.

So the cummerbund-vest thing is a cummerbund that closes in the back with suspenders.  The second photo shows that the front is a good few inches higher than the back.

These vides and photos confirm that the shirt closes in the front.  They also show some sleeve detail, such as the very narrow cuff at his wrist, and slight gathering at the top of the sleeve.  This next photo shows the top the best.  They stumbled down some stairs, and were laughing.

Thank you to Angela and Glass Spider!

Laura brought up a bit she found in a book that I actually have ordered, but is back-ordered until next week.  Since I had more time than anticipated after an appointment today, I managed to get to a bookstore in Portland that has it.  (On the best of days, it can take 20 minutes to find parking, but then add in a bunch of construction…yet I managed to find immediate parking and got around the construction.).  That book is called David Bowie: A Life, and it’s a book made up almost entirely of what those who have worked with him or who knew him had to say, as well as passages from David himself.

Said Brian Henson, son of the esteemed Jim Henson:

My dad was a little worried about the sexual connotations of the relationship between Jareth and Jennifer Connelly, but then that’s what the movie’s really about. I do know that David’s codpiece had to be reduced as it was far too large originally. The whole movie is about the aggressive phallus, as Jareth represents male sexuality.

Despite not being the review I read, this confirms the slight enhancement.

The next passage was by Steve Whitmire, a puppeteer on the film.

…I know there is some kind of online cult surrounding his “package,” and my understanding is that David as not altogether happy with his costume choice.  Regardless of whether or not he wanted to play a seductive character, I don’t think he was crazy about his leotard.  There are a couple of shots in the film that really focus on his groin, but they’re actually focusing on characters next to him, and it just looks that way.  They just happen to be only waist tall.

And, though this isn’t related to costuming, I thought it was interesting anyway.  It is all by Whitmire.

I know that his son, Duncan, wore in the creature department on that film, as a puppet builder.  He was there for a few years.

I had no idea that David Bowie’s son was into puppetry!  Toby Froud, son of costume designer Brian Froud and Toby, as in the babe whose got the power, is into puppetry and special effects, and is actually local to me now.  He works as LAIKA, which has produced films such as Coraline.  I don’t know about the rest of you, but Labyrinth makes me want to go into puppetry. My daughter and I having puppets who ensemble muppets doesn’t help matters. 🙂

Would anyone be interested in a pattern to make Ludo?  The original Ludo toy was at the exhibit, and I’ve been toying with the idea of making that as a pattern.

So long until next time!  I’ve got my work cut out for me in trying to convince my husband to let me make him into a Jareth model.

Jareth Ball ensemble: A costume study, pt. 1

So I had this done and posted once before, and then it disappeared.  Due to the time it takes to go though more photos than I care to think about, to find the best ones, and then to try to analyze it all, and how busy my schedule has been, I haven’t had the time to redo it.  But now?  Well.  I have a bit of time before me, and so here I am!  Skip the next section to get right to the study.

First, though, I had people on my Facebook page encourage me to start a Patreon page.  I hesitated a lot, and sought advice from several people.  See, to me, if feels like begging.  I can see now why some of my favorite YouTubers and bloggers hesitated so much, and mentioned it like they were pups with their tails between their legs.  (Awwwww, look at the cute Bowie doggy!)  I always thought it was completely fair that they start them.  They were spending their time and money creating stuff to give away for free.  But I’m a hypocrite since, when it comes to me, I’m not taking the advice I’d post to them to just do it.  But the reality is these studies cost a good deal of money.  I’m about $1,000 in for just these two Labyrinth ensembles, not including the time, and, rather than keeping this info to myself to try to lure in commissions, and giving it away which can actually cost me commissions on top of the money I’ve spent.  I took a daytrip to London (literally arrived in the morning from out of the country, left that evening back out of the country–border patrol was very curious about why an American was making such a fast trip to England) literally just because I found out a museum had a couple popular regency ensembles on display, and I thought those would make excellent studies.  Well, a Patreon really could help offset the costs, both cash out of pocket as well as the time these take, and enable me to do more of them and faster.  So I did it.  I started one.  Aria Couture is on Patreon.  There are different levels, including access to far more photos than make the cut for these studies, not only for these Labyrinth studies, but for all of them that I do.

This next part will only matter to those who are claiming my photos as their own: Stop trying to claim the rights to my photos.  I traveled a few hours away multiple times to get these photos, paid the cost of parking in downtown Seattle, and a hotel, because driving that round trip in a day is just exhausting.  So getting these photos wasn’t at all inexpensive.  I’ve spent a tremendous amount of time analyzing the construction the best I can, figuring out the ways that disclosed supplies were used (hot glue…?), and anything else I can about them.  Prior to my photos, there were no clear photos of either of these ensembles online, at all, and only one known full photo of the Sarah gown, which was a small, blurry photo in Labyrinth: The Photo Album.  Thus far, all I’ve asked in return is that I receive the credit for these photos I’ve taken.  So please, PLEASE work with me on this.  There’s absolutely nothing to be gained by trying to claim my photos as your own.  But there is a lot for all of us to lose.

– – – – – – –

Now, this is a study best broken down into at least four posts, one on the boots, trousers, shirt, and under-waistcoat, one on their recreation, one or two on the jacket, and one on the hair and makeup to complete the look.

Let us start with the easiest part: The boots.

The are patent poly vinyl, a very inexpensive material in the early 1980’s, and still inexpensive now.  Folks, the supplies used really were considered cheap at the time, and most are still fairly cheap now (hot glue…).  So, of course, this means that finding some of the supplies (Sarah’s ball gown fabric) is very difficult and costly.  Because of course it does.  For reasons.  That’s why.

(Really, it’s due to fabric stores collapsing into fewer, which means that they don’t need to compete with each other by having different fabrics at lower prices.  For instance, when Hancock’s closed, and left JoAnn Fabrics as the only dog in town in nearly every market they were both in, JoAnn Fabrics really don’t need to have a large variety or low prices to get local business.  Where else are shoppers going to go?  So this means that they’re going to carry less variety at some shockingly high prices that are still ridiculously high after coupons.  A lot of websites are also starting to stock the exact same fabrics because that’s what the mills are making.  As cheap fabrics rise in price due to the lack of competition, the nicer fabrics are bumped up as well.)

So back to the boots.  They could hardly be simpler, which…say it with me…of course means finding anything like them is difficult.  It doesn’t help that most boots now have zippers on the inside because consumers don’t like to use the energy to pull on fitter boots, or to actually have to tie them (and consumers write negative reviews about the rare pairs that don’t have zippers).  These are about as basic of a style as can be, just a cuffed pirate-style or Robin Hood-style boot.  Even then, a lot of those are more detailed.  These are the closest I’ve found, and even then, all of them would need some modifying.  Click on the pics to be taken to their listings:

    

The first pair, which is the most expensive and made of leather, doesn’t have a zipper.  Both of the other pairs do.  The second pair would need the cuff piece cut to be straight, and all of them need to be polished to a shine with a patent polish.  If the last pair was stiffer instead of slouching, and had no zipper, those would be the closest.  They have the same tongue detail in the front and everything.  The second would also be close, if they didn’t have the longer zipper and pointed cuff.  The first is nearly perfect, except that that pair lacks the tongue detail.

On to the trousers.  Let’s just get the giggling out of the way.  I try to keep this blog family friendly, but there is no getting around that crotch.  How many of us got our first inkings while watching this movie, and we didn’t understand it?  How many of us now still…oh, never mind.  *giggles*  Anyway, that’s not on accident.  Jareth’s mindless toying with some balls…  No, not at all on accident.  This movie overtly deals with sexual awakening.  Part of that is drawing attention to sexuality, and what better way than to highlight the genitalia of a major rock star?

There’s no way to avoid the subject.  Jareth’s pants are undeniably tight, undeniably revealing, and, at first glance, almost over the line for the garb of an adult male character in a film with a young teenaged heroine.  “We got in a bit of trouble about ow tight his pant were,” [Brian] Proud admits, “but the choice was deliberate.”

Within the contest of the film, Fraud explains, those pants are representative of that young innocent girls’s imagination.  “We’re not looking at reality.  We’re inside this girl’s head.  Jareth has the tight pants because he is many, many things that a teenaged girl related to.  He is a rock star.”

So, yes.  There’s just no way to be professional when talking about it.  I’m sorry, folks, I’m one of those who crushed on Bowie and couldn’t explain it at the time, and now my 8-year-old has a major crush on him and believes he is literally a god.

These high-waisted trousers, but really, we can call them leggings, are make of velour with some stretch to them.  That plays up The Bulge better than a woven-backed velvet.  As you can see, there isn’t a center seam.  Those are so uncomfortable and can create camel-toe.  Not so comfortable.  Or attractive.  The seams instead are from the waist, starting perhaps 12″ across, then heading down and following the groin.  This solid piece in the front both I framed by those seams and will smooth and mold better to highlight what’s underneath.  (No one knows how hard it is to write this post without laughing.)  I shall presume that the back has the standard single seam.  Though Bowie was said to be naturally endowed and in need of no help in that area (warning: those links should only be clicked by those who are okay with frank discussions of adult matters), some way was used of “enhancing” what what there.  I doubt this was built-in padding in the trousers, but more likely a dance belt with some sort of padding in that.  Since I can’t find what I think would be an acceptable image to post, you can see what a dance belt is on this page from Discount Dance.  If there was nudity, then that page wouldn’t show it.

I have spent an absurd number of hours trying to track down a video someone told me about that shows Jareth with his ball coat off, showing it to be a vest that is low cut in the front.

A leafy gold metallic brocade was used.  I thought it looked like a cummerbund because there is no closure in the front.  now, it’s possible that it’s got a full back that closes in the back, or my source may have been mistaken.  At this point, the construction would speculation since, in a good 20 hours of searching and watching videos and pouring through photos and stills, I haven’t been able to find anything to hint at either direction.  What’s for sure is that there is no front closure that would indicate a vest, though a vest cut still makes more sense than a cummerbund.

Now on to the shirt.  Once more, we are left to speculate on the closure.  It could be buttons or hooks under the ruffle, or closing somehow in the back.  The ruffle is full enough that it would easily close in the front, likely with hooks and eyes.  Much easier than dealing with buttons.  What we can see is the neck and those ruffles.

The fabric is silk.  The texture in the photo below looks like sueded/sanded silk charmeuse.  This is a glorious fabric.  Some sort of interlining is definitely used in the neck to be able to support that brooch.   The light dove silk, called silver in the Labyrinth: The Ultimate Visual History, is roll-hemmed with a medium grey thread.  The ruffle is made from a curved piece of fabric, not a single piece gathered down the middle.  The clue on this is how the ruffles lay in those folds.  The way that those wedge-shaped folds happen is for there to be more length at the edges than in the middle.  A standard gather would have as much fabric in the middle, which would impede the ability for the folds to lay forward.  The Sarah gown doesn’t use any unusual methods.  But this one?  Creative uses ahoy!  I don’t know if there’s really a name for the method of making this sort of ruffle.   This is something I will demonstrate in part 2 of this study.  That’s why I want to make this one along with just talking about it and showing photos.

The final piece of his ensemble, aside from his coat, is that brooch.  Unless polished regularly, I doubt it’s sterling silver.  It’s possible that it was polished before display, but that would be such a pain that I doubt it was done.  Just look at the lack of tarnish even inside the loops of chain.  The way the metal has aged looks like that nickel-free metal used in a lot of inexpensive jewelry findings.  Considering the complete lack of materials and supplies that would have had to be custom-made with special equipment rather than things that could possibly be found on the stash of typical seamstresses/tailors and jewelry-crafters, this was probably fabricated using whatever mass-produced jewelry findings could be found.  The dangles to the sides are on pieces of craft chain with black teardrops, possibly plastic, and the piece down the center is similar to vintage pieces of costume jewelry that I’ve seen, but broken in half, with black cabochons glued on.  The top part of the pendant has lost a couple of them.  The glue has even yellowed over time.  A cabochon on each side is missing.  There should be four, as show in the gif below.  The faceted jewel in the center is almost certainly plastic.  There’s a larger one farther down.  The facets are quite large and too perfect to be cheap glass, which are almost always irregularly cut, but don’t have enough shine to them to be glass or crystal.  Glass is cut, with lower quality being done too quickly to be perfect, but plastic is molded.

That’s something I love about these ensembles.  Cellophane, hot glue, chunky glitter…these beautiful creations were made out of standard craft supplies, and that’s so freaking cool and creative and inspiring and shows that the humblest, most-accessible things can be used to make things that people will still be drooling over over three decades later.

If there’s anything here that isn’t too clear, please comment below to let me know, and I’ll make sure to cover that in part 2 of this study.

Sarah Study Pt. 1
Sarah Study Pt. 2
Sarah Study Pt. 2.5