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Photographer:
Design by Sakizo:
Sakizo! How amazingly gorgeous is her artwork! The details, the romantic nature, the pure fantasy of the looks she creates~I’m absolutely inspired! I adore her artwork and am absolutely excited that I finally had the chance to bring one of her iconic drawings to life.
From the top down: So. Many. ROSES! Thankfully I bought all of those gorgeous roses at Hobby Lobby during their Floral 50% off sale. The rose hat was a baseball cap I took apart, hemmed and handstitched on all the roses, trying to keep from putting two similar colored roses too close together. Once I had them where I wanted, I added in large medallion Venetian lace between the roses and along the brim of the hat. Glass pearls (A canabalized Charming Charlie’s necklace) were mounted onto jewelry wire, shaped into spirals and handstitched within the roses. More glass pears were draped on jewelry string and stitched in a draped fashion along the sides of the hat. A Charming Charlie’s earring was sacrificed to create the gem on the forehead, along with a drop pearl. The wig is from Gothic and Lolita wigs and is AMAZING! It’s so thick and soft….I was so hurt and jealous that my natural hair did not look like that.
The corset was made using McCalls pattern M5321 ( s.ecrater.com/stores/54781/4b1… ). The fabric on the shell of the corset is matted bridal satin in cream (although it photographs more pink) and lavender. I chose the cream color to stay close to Sakizo’s source art, and chose lavender because I really like purples. 
For the underbust part, I had to use the solder tool to shape some of the lavender fabrics so that it complemented the curve shown on Sakizo’s artwork. The fabric on the bust was soldered to prevent fraying and pleated by hand. Once the bust and underbust parts were sewn together, I handstitched on all the lace, pearl trim and ruffles. The lace was handpainted pink to complement the gorgeous sequin fabric I used as a trim. I glued on Swarovski gems to the pink flowered lace for a bit more pop and added on white buttons to the front. The lining is cotton and boned with spiral steel boning. Since the corset zips on the left side, the waist trim on the left side actually has snaps sewn into them. (I zip up, snap the trim on and it looks symmetrical to the right side waist trim). The chest brooch was a purchase from Charming Charlie’s a LONG time ago, adorned with leftover lace/trim that I soldered to prevent fraying. The large gold and pink pin on the bottom of the corset was purchased off of eBay and is so very gorgeous!
I was so inspired by the whisks created by PlatinumEgoist and Yaya Han and wanted to create something in that vein. 9 gauge steel wire was shaped into a frame, wrapped in felt and had tulle stretched across it. The frame slides into two tracts sewn into the back of the corset so I don’t have over the shoulder straps. I spent HOURS creating a Spanish Flounce. (It’s actually the same flounce I made for my Gone With the Wind Rarity cosplay). Countless circles in purple, yellow, white, pink and cream were cut out of mirrored organza, soldered around the edges to prevent fraying. Using the solder tool, I soldered a line from the center of the circle to the edge and pulled the fabric open, so that I had a Pac Man looking piece of fabric. I would solder three like colored circles together from the center lines, so that I had a flouncy, flowy piece of fabric. My *intent* was to have those fabric pieces stretched across the frame creating a miniature rainbow….but the fabric was far too light and would flop over. I had to hand gather them instead and hand tack them to the frame. I love the look of it, but do sometimes wish that my original idea would have worked.
The shoulder puffs are matte lavender fabric. Inside the puffs, I made form fitting cuffs that slide onto my arms. The puff themselves are gathered and pleated fabric sewn onto the cuffs, with the edges soldered to prevent fraying.
The gloves are an Icing by Claires purchase. I hand tacked on the lace/ruffles/pearl trim and added on the tiny pink flowers (at your local JoAnn Fabrics! ♥)
The skirt was drafted using the Green Pepper Crystal Lake Skating Outfit pattern (butterick.mccall.com/filebin/i… ). I patterned it so that the front and back panels were in lavender, and the side panels in cream. I added on the front a back bibs to give it a bit more pop (plus, in one of Sakizo’s drawings, it looks like the skirt has some ruffled details (www.zerochan.net/85034#full I spent a lot of time creepily peering at that skirt trying to figure out what that ruffle detail could look like and ended up doing my own interpretation). Different types of lace/ruffles/pearl trim was hand applied to the edges. Every rose on that skirt has snaps affixed to the back so that I can pop the roses off and wash the skirt. The hoop skirt was an old flimsy floor length hoopskirt that I trimmed to size and reinforced the hoops with more 9 gauge steel wire. The tights are two different colors from welovecolors.com.
The train was a tulle and sequin piece of fabric bought off of eBay on a whim. The darker, more vibrant pink is why I tried to incorporate pinker roses, painted lace and jewelry into my costume. The train also snaps to the underside of the skirt so I can attach/detatch it as needed. (Allowing me to wash it if I need to). The edges are rolled for a clean look and the gorgeous design of the sequinning at the bottom gives the fabric a sweep and drape that’s to die for! ♥
The boots were originally over the knee boots bought off of eBay. I trimmed off the excess, scalloped the tops and after soldering the pink and gold fabric edges, hand stitched on all the diamonds to the front of the boots. I then handstitched on all the gold trim.
Final thoughts: Truthfully, I’ve never played Excel Saga, and I didn’t know that this drawing was of a video game character. Princess White Rose was a design that excited and intimidated me, and for years I wouldn’t even consider attempting to create it as I felt my talents were lacking. Plus: the design of Princess White Rose changed from Sakizo drawing to drawing:
e-shuushuu.net/images/2010-05-…
static.zerochan.net/Princess.W…
Since the designs varied, it allowed me to cherry pick elements from each drawing and create a look that complements the artist’s work, but allows me to have elements of my own in it. I’m glad I finally tacked the design that I slightly feared and that it turned out so beautifully! I truly hope that all Sakizo fans enjoy the costume I’ve created, and because of this dress I’m excited to try new and more challenging designs!
