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Kushiel’s Servant
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Outline the story …
This dress is make to be worn by Phèdre nò Delaunay (from the Kushiel’s Legacy Saga by Jacqueline Carey), when she attends the yearly Midwinter Masque. She is a courtesan and an anguisette (someone bound by Kushiel – God’s Punisher – to experience pain and pleasure as one). In a previous masked ball, she dresses as Mara, the first anguisette, in a red dress so fitted that it had to be sewn onto her.
Highly intelligent, with a deep knowledge of politics and aristocracy, Phèdre is the only courtesan to ever become pear of the kingdom. Her status is therefore ambiguous and she loves playing on it.
The saga is deeply engrained in European’s geography and history. Phèdre wears a lot of different dress styles, historically inspired or not. I couldn't find any mention of corset or stays and the only undergarment ever described is a wool petticoat when she’s in a very cold climate. I decided to followed the example of Phèdre’s seamstress, Favrielle : long refined lines. I came up with a long, close-to-the-body, sleeveless bodice, with a flaring skirt. As it was meant to be worn during a masked ball, extravagance was allowed, so I added chains and a dried-blood dye effect on the red fabric, to make a Kushiel’s Servant costume. It’s not subtle, but I can picture Phèdre reminding to the Court her status of a courtesan marked by Kushiel with such an obvious statement.
Outline the construction…
First time I draped a fitted bodice pattern on my dressform ! (It took a few mockups.)
This costume is made of red cotton satin that I tie-and-dyed with purple dye, The skirt is a full circle skirt, closed with hooks and eyes on the left side. It was made before dyeing, to avoid unmatching patterns at the sides. The front piece of the bodice is lined with a sturdy linen/cotton blend. I stitched the pieces together by machine, and bias-made boning channels on the inside, both by machine and by hand I improvised boning by cutting an old rubber hosepipe in stripes. It makes a very flexible boning that curves along the seams and provides enough strength to support the chains. Then I embroidered meters of large bias for the trim that I hand stitched on, using slip-stitches. For the embroideries, I used thin red crochet cotton. The edges and armholes were bias bound using slip-stitches. The back closure is made of seventeen embroidered hooks and eyes and three press studs to keep the placket in place. The placket is backed with fake leather to provide support for the chain. The cuffs are made of embroidered bias closed with hooks and eyes. The most difficult part was embroidering the chains onto the bodice Those are hardware store chains, very heavy (the bodice weight 4,5 kilos) I had to stitch through the boning so it had enough support and wouldn’t cause the fabric to stretch (the advantage of rubber).
Wow! I’m so impressed that you chose this series (I loved the books) and you look phenomenal.
Thanks ! I loved those books too, and, when I saw the contest theme, and I knew I wanted something masquerade-ish, I thought of Phèdre pretty fast. (I admit I was a bit nervous about what people would think of it, so your comment really made my day !)
I did Kushiel’s Legacy, too! (Melisande) I love the creativity of the chains so much!
This is awesome, the juxtaposition of the chains and fabric is stunning
So cool to see this live!
Amazing!
Really effective and well executed. I like the punky vibe!
This is so cool, really evokes the character (as someone who’s read the book). I love the material juxtaposition with the chain-embroidery construction. This piece has emotional impact for me