Look Development
Moth Costume
I wanted to go all out for Halloween '22, so I decided to make my own moth costume. It started with a couple sketches and a concept drawing, and from there I spent the month of August 2022 working on this project. I’d like to take you through a bit of the process and share some wonderful beauty shots taken by my friends.
Ideation
I based the design of this costume on the cecropia moth. Not only is it North America’s largest moth, it also has a pretty color palette. The look of the costume was inspired by vintage Halloween costumes from the 1920s-40s, when people tended to dress up as animals or things in nature.
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Through this ideation stage I was thinking about a few different design challenges I was going to face, including how to make the wings cape-like, how to make the patches of color, and how to provide structure to the wings. In this drawing you can see some of this thought process, like how I considered paint for the color patches, or how I thought the wing fabric should have some structure to it. I like sketching out my ideas so that I can mentally work through some of these problems before I get started. Of course, there are other problems that will come up when making it, but this way I can at least get an idea of what I want the final costume to look like.
Work In Progress
I started with the basic shape of the wing-cape. I played around a cheap cape pattern from the internet, but it wasn’t working out. What did work was going off of a pattern I had for a wrap skirt. I had made a muslin mock up while testing the pattern, and luckily it was just about the size and shape I was looking for for the wings. I drew out the wing shape I wanted on the muslin, then cut the shape out of newspaper and my final fabric. To keep the cape from falling off of me, I sewed on the top of an old black t-shirt.
At this point in the process, it became clear I needed a mannequin. Since they can be pretty expensive, and I won’t be using it that much, I decided to make my own out of duct tape. It was a pain in the ass to make, but it was an extremely helpful tool.
To make the patches of color on the wings, I started with fabric from t-shirts I bought at the thrift store. I made another newspaper pattern piece of the top and bottom wings, then drew on the shapes I wanted. After getting it how I liked, I carefully numbered and cut out the pieces. I had to cut out four of each shape, two for the outside and two for the underside of the wings. To sew each piece to the wings, I would line up an outside and underside piece with the main wing fabric in between, pin it, then use the sewing machine to sew them on. This process took the majority of my time, and not all the pieces lined up perfectly, but I am glad I did it this way rather than hand-sewing each piece to the wings.
The finishing touches to the costume included making an antenna headband, adding wire to the wings for structure, and creating a faux fur neck piece. The antennas were made from recycled cardboard and armature wire, painted black, and taped to a headband. I used more armature wire along the edge and on the tip of the top wing to provide structure. This wire along with a small fabric handle allowed me to open my wings fully without the fabric flopping over. It made the costume a little more difficult to wear, but I was still able to dance around on Halloween without a problem. For the neck piece, I came across exactly what I was looking for at a local costume store being sold as furry monster leg warmers. I only used one of the tubes of fur, and was able to sew it onto the neck of a red shirt to make the piece. The red fur got everywhere, but it came out just how I wanted it to.
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I am really proud of how this costume came out. It took a lot of work, but it was all worth it to fulfill my goal of looking cool on Halloween. Thanks for reading! Enjoy some beauty shots!
Beauty Shots
