Glamor shots of a costume...

Photo by Alec Eagon

A few years ago, before I started blogging, I made this costume for a musician to use in a music video.  The costume came out great!  The music video got moved to a back burner and hasn't been finished yet.  However, he recently donned the costume for a photoshoot, supplying me with some lovely close-up pics of the construction details!  So today: pretty pictures but no sewing pictures. 

INSPIRATION

For the costume, my client gave me this description: "the nineteen-eighties, super-artificial, and kind of Japanese".  I combined this with "Neelix from Star Trek Voyager" ('cause I was watching Voyager at the time) and came up with a red vinyl jacket that closed diagonally across the chest with red pleather details reminiscent of a Japanese fan.  I used Simplicity 8235 (a cosplay pattern) for the base pattern, but altered it to close with a diagonal overlap. 

He also wanted high-waisted white trousers with pleats.  I used a pair of his existing pants to get the basic pattern, slashed and spread to get deep pleats. 

MATERIALS

For the materials, we went to several fabric stores.  First to the Mill End Store in Milwaukie, where we picked up some textured vinyl that looked like a red reptile.  It was in the Home Decor section, so you can imagine how stiff it was! 

Stiff vinyl... [Photo by Alec Eagon]

... can he bend his arm? [Photo by Alec Eagon]

Then to JoAnn Fabric and Craft to get some red pleather, to use for details.  I ended up cutting it into strips and appliqueing it on the jacket, starting on the front right hip, going around the left hip to the back, then up over the right shoulder and spreading out like fingers or a fin on the front over-flap. 

Photo by Alec Eagon

Finally to Fabric Depot for the white "handbag vinyl" that the pants got made of.  Handbag vinyl was a lot softer and easier to sew than the other vinyl.

For the top, it was a good thing Simplicity 8235 was well drafted!  There's really no wiggling and fudging with the set-in sleeve when working with vinyl! 

I lined the jacket with black twill lining fabric, and closed it with a red zipper and a magnetic handbag clasp (for the top corner of the flap).  It's a little awkward to zip oneself into it, though, because we're not used to zippers at that angle! 

The pants are pretty cool in their style, though now I don't think the fit is ideal.  Still, it wasn't bad for my first try at making men's pants, and both he and I were quite satisfied with how they fit the prompt! 

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All the photos in this post are courtesy of the photographer, Alec Eagon.

Photo by Alec Eagon