Victorian Inspired Ariel Cosplay

In my world I get commission requests for so many variations on Disney princesses. Some people want to throw down a grand…some want to keep it under $30. Well,I have a game I play against myself,a challenge if you will,to see what I can accomplish (for myself) for  under $20.00

I’m lucky,I know,bc I do have lots of material to pull from. Most everything for this costume came directly from my supplies. The only items purchased specifically for this look are the wig and an XL green dress by Kathie Lee from Goodwill. I also picked up some white fabric needed for various costumes and brown spray paint for the shoe fins. So MY total for this costume was right at $18.96 ( I will break this down later in the blog).

 And here is the final result :

And here is the breakdown for me with photos:

• The first item I found that made me want to make this costume is this bright green (photo doesn’t do it justice color-wise) Kathie Lee dress obviously 90’s style I was drawn to this bc it’s an XL so it has loads of great fabric for use. Also…the details are amazing. I immediately knew that I could make some killer spats from this sucker. I found it at Goodwill for $5.00

• I knew I wanted “shoe fins”. I wasn’t too sure how I wanted to make a first version of these …but as I was cruising Walmart I walked by the paint aisle and saw paint stirrers. Magical. The perfect thing. Since they go with paint…Walmart can’t charge you for these. I tried to pay for them,I asked two different people…but NO. So yay! FREE. I picked up Brown paint on sale for $2.99 and a lot more white fabric than I would need for this haha. I had other projects to do So the cost for that was $2.97

 It’s probably obvious how I made these once you look at them again….haha…. Paint stirrers painted brown,hot glued to fabric. This is also a shot of the spats I made from the dress. Literally just cut the pieces off and tied them around the shoes. The good thing is…with spats you don’t have to use Victorian boots (I am though) you can use any boot and make it look snazzy with this extra fabric piece.

So my total for this cosplay is $18.96

• Green dress for materials: $5.00 Goodwill
• Shoe fin materials: $5.96
• Red wig: $8 from Ebay

Paul Cory Photography

Other items used in this are:

• Black gloves I sewed some of the green material from the dress onto as well as little white buttons. These are not necessary but if you wanted to go that route you can pick these up for as little as $3-$10
• The corset purchased previously for $9.99 on Ebay
• Ruffled purple shirt from Goodwill $3.75
• White ruffled bought at a thrift store for .25
• Striped thigh highs purchased on clearance at Spirit Halloween $1.99
• Victorian Boots: Ebay $9.99
• Black top hat from Party City $9.99 which I glued every random piece of crap lying around on my coffee table. I mean that literally. My boyfriend chews on things so there were bottle tops and weird pieces of plastic hanging out. They are forever on this hat now. I also glued seas shells, empty thread spools,some netting and a fork (dinglehopper) on top
• The green overskirt was made from the green dress materials.
• I’m wearing a black skirt I already had under the green one for aesthetic.
• Fluffy petticoats bought through various trips to Carolina thrift for .99 each
• The parasol was borrowed.

Paul Cory Photography

So total in purchasing everything would be roughly around $60.00 To cut corners thrift stores and your closet are great! Like I said…most of this I had. I wear that purple shirt regularly. Just so happens it works perfect for this.

This costume was made for a group shoot I hosted at Castle McCulloch. The theme was Vistorian/Steampunk Inspired Disney. All models made/provided their characters and costuming. 

Photography by Marie Otero

Me and the bright red wig didn’t get along. I actually hated it,haha. Idk that Ariel is the character for me. But for one day,surrounded by fun people,I think I rocked it!

Behind the scenes shot from Midnight Daisy Photography of me and Paul Cory working it :)

People have asked me, “How did you keep the shoe fins on?” The answer is…I didn’t. They are....hot glued to my boots. That lasted about 30 mins into the shoot. They popped right off,glue included, so no damage to my shoes. I had brought a second costume because I knew that was going to happen. The second model of the fins uses leather straps and is more of a steampunk look. You’ll see that later though.

Photography by Marie Otero

Until next time....

"I wanna be where the people are...."

~Moonkitty