Honey.

Character: Honey
Source: ~sakizo's La Perfume Artbook
Seamstress/Model: Tess [~cupcake-rufflebutt]
Photography: Sam Lau
Location: Katsucon 2013

Construction Notes:
Wow, it's been a long while since I posted to DeviantART! I have a TON of new images to share, so hopefully I'll keep on the ball. I'm excited to share my latest costumes with ya'll! :3

Honey was one of several projects I made for Katsucon 2013. The costume is based on an illustration from the artbook "La Perfume" by Japanese artist ~sakizo. (If you're not familiar with this lady's work, please go enlighten yourself! The level of detail in her artwork is absolutely staggering, and I can't NOT look through her artbooks and feel inspired in my costuming.) Having just slaved over one of Sakizou's Terra designs this past summer, I figured I hadn't tortured my wallet enough and dove right into buying ALL THE THINGS to make Honey. I particularly loved this design's stark contrasts between whites/creams, blacks, and golds, as well as the "beehive" hairdo and adorable honey stick prop. The steel-boned bodice was created using the same pattern that I used for Sakizou Terra, although with quite a few alterations due to differing seams, off-the-shoulder sleeves, etc. "Blinging up" the bodice proved to be just as time-consuming a project as with Terra, what with the lace overlay, ribbon detailing, gazillion yards of trim and ruffles, and crystals handstitched throughout. I worked on the shoes simultaneously, since they have a lot of the same detailing as the bodice. The skirt is actually several layers: 2 double circle skirts, each hemmed with horsehair to maintain DEM RUFFLES, as well as a shorter "apron" layer that was padded for shape. The striped shorts were altered from a pair of leggings I picked up on eBay, along with the kid leather gloves and petticoat. The honey stick was made from a dowel and craft foam -- nothing high-tech here, but I am stupidly proud of how it turned out since I'm usually rubbish with props. I bought two wigs in the same cut and colour as my Persephone wig (which I ADORE) to combine into Honey, one of which I cut apart into wefts to make the "beehive." Nothing innovative, just wefts glued around a foam ball and hot-glued to the base wig. (I didn't plan to resort to hot glue, but all of my other attempts at attaching the "hive" to a headband or sewing it directly into the wig failed miserably. So it got the "never gonna budge" treatment: hot glue.) That leaves me with the most time-consuming portion of the costume: BOWS AND BOWS AND BOWS AND BOWS AND BOWS. I definitely could never have fathomed the amount of time that I would eventually invest into making those silly bows, all of which were sewn from scratch -- no generic spools of ribbon were sacrificed in the making of them! The large gold/pearl pendants were cobbled together from a number of sources, and are pretty much my favourite part of any Sakizou costume. LOVE THAT BLING, even if it does get expensive!

All in all, I'm pleased with the final product. I do have a few minor tweaks I'd like to make before A-Kon (taking a few inches off the length of the striped shorts, since their current length doesn't do much for my short little legs, and adding some body to the wig) and then I'd like to get started on another Sakizou project this summer. Haven't made up my mind what it will be, but I'm excited regardless!


Special Request:
Please no critiques; I'd like to keep this gallery happy! <3