Belle's Gold Ballgown
Inspired by Disney's Beauty and the Beast
We all have that one dress we always wanted to get our hands on. For me, one dress was Belle's Ballgown. Once it was within my means to make the dress, I had to sit back and really decide on how I wanted it to look. Usually, there's a set amount of elements you need involved to make the cosplay recognizable. Sometimes, that involves directly copying the original design.
I decided to put my own spin on the dress. I drew inspirations from Civil War era gowns and the design from the Broadway production.
Additional photos of the finished Belle dress can be viewed here.
That's not necessarily the case with Disney cosplays. Between the original designs, the redesigns, the park designs, the park redesigns, and the numerous parade costumes, there is so much to draw inspiration from.
Disney cosplays are very popular and usually instantly recognizable. For Belle, all you really needed was a yellow ballgown and brown hair and people would instantly know who you were. It gives you a lot of creative license so, in the end, you can really just make the dress however you want.
I ended up choosing a gold palette as opposed to a yellow one. I chose a darker gold taffeta for contrast. I also chose to use a darker lace front wig to suit my skin tone. I used a hoopskirt I had made from a Truly Victorian pattern (TV141).
First thing's first! The petticoat! To get the right sihouette, you need to start from the inside and work your way out. Whenever you're making a costume with a support system underneath, it's essential that you wear the proper undergarments. I wore two petticoats to try to give myself the right sihouette.
Plus. it was pretty :)
The Skirt
I didn't work with a pattern for the skirt. I split it into eight panels and drafted each other separately.
Each panel was made up three parts: Top, Constrast (attached only at the top), and Bottom.
Each panel was gathered by hand, each gather was tacked down, and the the panels were machine stitched together.
The Bodice
I used 1860s Ballgown Bodice from Truly Victorian (TV422)
I decided add piping to the seams for support...plus it looked nice. I cut strips of the bodice fabric on the bias and used a zipper foot to encase the piping.
Like I said, it looked nice :)
I added little puff sleeves and decided how I wanted the bertha to be shaped.
I made the bertha using this tutorial and trimed it with the same lace I used on the skirt.
I trimmed the bodice with gold roses and removed the gold applique from the bottom of the bodice. That's one of the good things of doing your own take on a dress. You can figure out what works and what doesn't as you go along.
The dress went through two stages. After working on it for two weeks, I wore it to Zenkaikon. I fix up the wig and my friend and I added additional lace trim to get the constrast on the skirt to pop.
The dress went through one more transformation when I used it for a production of Beauty and the Beast I costumed, but that's for another post.