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The Woman in the Wallpaper
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Outline the story …
My costume is based on "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Specifically, it is the woman in the wallpaper. Set in the 1890's, the story centers around a woman confined to a room for her health. The confinement causes her to slowly lose her sanity and she begins to hallucinate a woman inside the garish yellow wallpaper adorning the room. The wallpaper is described as dirty, torn, and faded with a mark running around the room near the floor and the appearance of eyes staring out of the design. I've used all the descriptions of the wallpaper as well as the hallucination to create the outfit. The neck piece is a modified neck corset, to evoke the confinement of the story. The paper elements are torn and worn looking and feature a rounded design to give the impression of eyes. The simple black cord as a belt is inspired by the mark running around the room. The mask is there to hide the woman's face, as the narrator in the story never fully sees the face of her hallucination. The shape of the costume is meant to evoke Gibson Girl styles, as that was the time period the story took place.
Outline the construction…
I used three patterns with this costume; Aranea Black's neck corset, the Truly Victorian TVE21 1903 Trumpet Skirt, and the Folkwear Gibson Girl blouse. The blouse was the first time I bound button holes by hand, which I found quite fun! The pattern on the outer fabric as well as the paper is an actual pattern from the victorian era. That was cut out with a die cutter on card stock. I then used that pattern to paint on the fabric with fabric paint and on the paper with turmeric mixed with water. The collar and the large paper bow are held on with magnets, both for ease of movement and for theater/circus purposes in the future (hopefully!). The blouse is cotton lawn, the under gold skirt is poly satin, and the outer fabric is organza. The petticoat and combinations are cotton lawn and from a friend's pattern. I found the placket on the skirt to be particularly challenging but I figured it out in the end.
STUNNING. This short story has haunted me since the first time I read it! You did a really fabulous job of bringing it to life!! Very elegant, but I still wouldn’t want to run into you in a dark alley 😛
I like the lovely line of the skirt. It fits you well
Beautiful how blouse and skirt fit you.
The story elements come through in your costume wonderfully!
Not only is your blouse and skirt lovely, but you are so crafty as well. I love that you created your own patterned fabric and paper.
This is my favourite short story ever, and you have brought it to life beautifully!
Oh my goodness! This is so creepy and elegant……it’s perfect.
You definitely captured a creepy sense of dread in this outfit! Very spooky, that mask would give me nightmares if I saw it in my house! Well done!
This is so cool!
That sounds like a creepy story and the outfit certainly measure up. Extra points for creating the pattern on your fabric too! I particularly like the understory – Edwardian – and then the overstory – so much more fragmented.