The Wishing Well

Every girl deserves to be treated like a princess. I derive so much joy from turning my friends into these mythical characters for a day, dressing them in beautiful gowns and placing them in an environment to match. I asked photographer Indigo if he would photograph Vani [link] & Adella [link] for the final set of faeries to conclude the Masquerade Fairies Collection. This is a project Indigo [link] and I started two years ago.

The collection is made up of four fairies, Brittany [link] as the Blue Masquerade Fairy, Vani [link] as the Indigo Masquerade Fairy, Adella [link] as the Lavender Masquerade Fairy, and myself as the Pink Masquerade Fairy.

Each gown was designed to be something that encompasses my vision of what fairies would wear to a Masquerade Ball. Both the Indigo and Lavender faeries are designed to contrast with each other, like light and dark, the Indigo Fairy being a richer color pallet of plum, royal blue, emerald green, and black v.s. the Lavender Fairy of periwinkle, purple, and white.

- The Indigo Masquerade Fairy -
The fabric that makes up the center front of the skirt and corset was the inspiration fabric for the entire gown. I wanted something dramatic without coming across as “sinister”. I designed her headdress after the paintings of Alfons Mucha. The round medallions mimic the aplicay that is on her corset. Her spindly wings match the shape of the top of her sleeves. I made a small train at the back of the skirt, and I love the way it billows while she's seated.


- The Lavender Masquerade Fairy -
This dress I found in a thrift store. It was hanging above the racks in a corner of the store. I asked the the woman who worked there if she would show it to me. She said she had worked at that store for four years and had never realized that it was even there! Once she showed me the train, I instantly imagined turning this wedding dress into a fairy gown.
I dyed the gown and stitched on little flowers through out. I also made larger organza flowers to place through out the bottom of the skirt. It looks at though she was wading through a lily pond and when we walked out the flowers stuck to her train. The lace on the sleeves might be one of my favorite parts, it reminds me of the way wisteria drapes from lattice archways.
For her hair I curled it and piled half of it in a bun. I made a flower hair band styled like ones you see in Grecian art. Her wings are a very sweet and classic butterfly shape with large silver dewdrops. This is first time I have not made an entire fairy costume from scratch, I'm very pleased with the over all feel of this costume. It's very sweet & angelic.

To read more about the creation of these costumes read my DA blog [link]