FOUNDATIONS REVEALED COMPETITION ENTRY
Beauty before the Beast
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Other Credits
Redthreaded Georgian Stays pattern
Outline the story …
I honestly had a hard time deciding who or what I would create when I seen the email for the 2021 competition. I knew I wanted to create as much of a whole outfit as I could and then it hit me! I would create my favorite princess, Belle from Beauty and the Beast would be perfect!! From there I went to my new copy of the fairytale by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot De Villeneuve; specifically, to page 16 in reference to the type of clothing worn prior to the rose picking and going to the castle of the Beast.
In the story by Ms. De Villeneuve the dresses worn by Beauty and her sisters is described as "Like the poor peasant girls, they found themselves obliged to employ their delicate hands in all the labors of a rural life. Wearing nothing but woolen dresses..." With this text in mind I decided to take three different aspects into consideration when creating this costume; the story with the fabric detail and description of the life Beauty and her family is living after their financial fallings, my own personal love for the story and the movies with the color aspects, and finally a historically accurate depiction of a working-class woman of the mid-18th century curtesy of 'The Chocolate Girl' painting by Jean-Etienne Liotard. From there I got to work, with some extra creative input from my own 9 year old princess in waiting to create the costume I have submitted to you.
Outline the construction…
I wanted to use as much of the more traditional type of fabric as I could to make the ensemble. I picked linen for the shift, under petticoat and apron; unfortunately I couldn't afford the 100% wool fabric but I found two separate blue colors in a wool blends for the jacket and the outer skirt. The pocket I made with white muslin and ribbon I had in my stash. The stays are a pattern from Redthreaded that I purchased and used linen and coutil as suggested and silver grommets. I watched a lot of YouTube for ideas from CrowsEyeProductions getting dressed in time to get into the right mindset of costume I had forming in my head, I also searched through pictures of period pieces on Metmuseum.org.
For the petticoats I French seamed the sides and double rolled hemmed the top and bottom hems then attached twill tape for closing purposes. For the jacket I took ideas from both my inspiration and my image binge on period jackets and then decided the best way to go about creating this I would use a draping method and make a jacket from that, which proved difficult and tried two different fits and designs before making the one finally worn. I made a linen lining and stitch in the ditch the lining at the separating body to bottom section, there are hook and eye closures since I really didn't want to poke myself with pin. I also draped the shift on mannequin.
All your research paid off and your finished costume looks really authentic. I love the way the two shades of blue work so well with the beautiful colour of the apron.
Beautiful work.
A lot of layers! And they fit you so well, great job♡
I love this take on Belle’s more practical clothing. The color choices are lovely as is the fit you achieved.
I love the nod to the Beast’s red rose in red and blue colour palette, perfect for Belle! I can really imagine her wearing this outfit in her rural village life. Well done for all your hard work, everything looks beautifully finished and goes together so nicely!
Those stays are fabulous! I love the color combinations of it all. Well done <3