Next month I will be attending a LARP event set in a circus in 1927. I will be playing the former animal trainer. In other words: time for a completely different costume than I normally make!
During my research into circus costumes from that era, I stumbled upon Mabel Stark: the first female tiger tamer. Her story was a soap opera in itself, and I immediately picked her as the role model for my character. I found not only her biography interesting, but also her outfit. So I decided to base my costume on hers.
I would like to say that my costume is ‘inspired’ by Mabel Stark’s, but I fear that ‘shamelessly copied’ describes it better… Well, in terms of shape, that is, not color. In black-and-white photos, you cannot see what color her outfit is. I had read in a biography that her most famous outfit (she obviously had several) was made entirely of white leather. But what color were the straps, cords, and tassels…?
In any case, I didn’t want a 100% white outfit, because that doesn’t suit me. So I chose red for the jacket and kept only the white trousers. And for both, I bought woven fabric, because leather is expensive, hot, and difficult to sew. Since it wasn’t going to be an exact replica anyway, I chose gold for the decorations. In 1927, they surely didn’t have this synthetic gold stuff yet, so maybe I made my outfit look too modern because of it. But it combines fantastically with red and definitely works for show purposes!
It turned out I hadn’t made things easy for myself. ‘Gold’ is a clearly defined color, I thought. Well, turns out it’s not. Do you have any idea how many different shades of gold there are?? I do by now. And just try matching all those ribbons, cords, and decorations! It’s a nightmare, especially when you’re trying to order something online, because how do you know if the color on your screen matches the actual shade of gold?
Consequently, I didn’t manage to make all the parts match exactly, but most of it matches well enough. And it probably would have become boring if *everything* had been the same shade. While sewing, I did wonder several times whether the working title should be ’50 shades of gold’ or ‘more bling is more better’ though. 🤪
I didn’t have a pattern for this suit, so I chose a blouse with darts at the bust from Knip magazine as a base and changed it on the go. For the trousers I used a pattern I had previously made a pair of well-fitting trousers with. I didn’t have to alter that pattern, it was just a matter of stitching a band to the side seam afterwards.
That ribbon on the trousers should, of course, actually have been the same ribbon as on the hem of the jacket, but naturally I hadn’t thought of that beforehand, so I hadn’t bought enough length. I only had a few centimeters left, which I used for a small decoration on the back of the jacket. Fortunately, I found another ribbon in my stash that matched the rest somewhat. (51 Shades of gold, and counting…)
I had the most trouble finding the right buttons. I really wanted those long toggle buttons, but with a loop at the back, not the version with two big holes in them. They were nowhere to be found, not even online or in one of our country’s famously big haberdashery shop. Let alone in gold. But hurray, eventually my sewing teacher found a remnant of discontinued buttons in her personal stock!
They were made of hideously colored plastic, as you can see, so I grabbed a spray can of gold paint. Problem solved! (52 Shades of gold, still counting…)
The result after all the parts were combined on the jacket:
The jacket with pants, accessories and a wig:
Look how it resembles Mabel’s outfits!
It felt like it took quite a while before everything was finished, but when I add up all the hours, it turns out it wasn’t that bad at all. Even though I put lining in both the jacket and the top of the trousers. (Yet, it’s still see-through. Grr, why did I want white trousers again?) And even though I hand-stitched all that looped gold trim running down the front.
Time spent: 44,5 hours
Costs: €96,25 (€31,30 on fabric and lining, €64,95 on buttons, ribbon, cord, zipper, thread, and other haberdashery)