I made this costume in 2019. It is based off of Sakizo‘s original design Little Mermaid Party Dress. This silhouette reminded me of 16th, 17th, and 18th century design, so that’s what I decided to base my construction decisions off of.
Picking a time period
Sakizo’s works are often inspired by history but not meant to be historically accurate. I like to use history as a jumping off point, but make departures for the sake of accuracy for the drawing itself. The bodice feels like it could be interpreted somewhere in the 16th-17th century to me, due to the (kinda) conical shape, wide shoulders, and the presence of a “pouf” on the sleeves. The image to the right was a big inspiration to me. The gown overall could also be interpreted as 18th century inspired if you look at the overall silhouette, especially the shape of the skirts, which appear to have panniers. (I think when I competed and later showed this costume in a gallery, I averaged the numbers together and said “17th century” 😅)
Bodice
The bodice is boned (with the good ole’ zip-tie “hack” 😉) and designed to be worn without stays underneath (although I did use stays on my dressform to help maintain the conical shape while constructing it). It laces up in the back. I used a beautiful aqua dupioni silk from Silk Baron. Dupioni is not quite accurate for this period, but l love to use it for more artistic costumes because I think it mimics a watercolor effect in photos, and the texture is just lovely.
I created the diamond quilted look by using reverse pintucks. The pintucks I feel create more visible lines (though you could certainly do more traditional top stitch quilting with darker thread). The front appliques are little pieces I harvested from leftover pre-made lace, and hand-sewn down. I hand-sewed the little freshwater pearls and other accents. The gems are various craft gems that I painted with a glittery aqua paint. The sleeves were relatively straight-forward – two-part sleeves on the bias for more movement. I also used various laces and piping from my stash. The sleeve poufs are stuffed with polyfill to help keep their shape.
Skirt / Petticoat
The “fashion” petticoat is ivory dupioni silk. (Underneath that I wore my 18th century pocket hoops and cotton petticoat.) I created the “scales” myself: 1) machine scallop stitch manually rotated into triangles/points, stitched onto stabilized silk 2) cut out carefully by hand 3) and a layer of fray check for good measure. There are about 20 strips of the scallops total, plus one long strip all along the hem. Also just to be even more complicated, each layer is slightly less in height/size, so from bottom to top you see the scales getting smaller (as it is in the art). I added some beautiful pink diamond shaped quartz stones to each scale. Using a common historical petticoat “hack” – this panel is only as wide as it needs to be to show underneath the top skirt.
The aqua overskirt is a separate piece that is pleated at the waist to lay properly over the hips. The front closure is hidden and tucked under the front point of the bodice. It is all hemmed by hand. To represent the shimmery diamond shaped scales in the art, I chose a beading technique with little teeny iridescent seed beads.
The rest is accessories. I used the ivory silk, along with pearls, beads, etc. to accent them.
