Cleopatra Costume.. little help please!?

Tiriel

Hey..

Well the dilemma really is that I'm in the middle of trying to figure out the logistics of a Cleopatra costume.. I've decided on doing some mad eye-makeup and some body art of Egyptian symbols. Next problem is that I'd like to try and use some gold filigree stuff in the body art.. maybe do a headdress by hand.. if you get me? so it wouldn't actually be a headdress.. just painted across my forehead..

any idea where I would get this kind of gold "stuff"!? And .. any ideas on how to pull off the rest of the outfit.. making as much as possible myself. No shop bought stuff.. if I can avoid it.. besides of course the eyeliner etc!!!

Thanks!!

snorlax

that's funny because i'm going to a halloween party tomorrow night as cleopatra too.

i'm using a really nice orange shawl wrapped around a brown skirt with a gold buckle for bottom half and a string top with an eclipse-like disc made from stiff fabric and with gold and green glitter on it (friend made it for me). i'm aslo a bit stuck as to what i'm wearing for a head dress but i was thinking of just using a very fine strand of gold tinsel (xmas decorations) and securing it with hair clips. im also going to borrow my mom's gold sandels.

Cork girl have you tried using face paint for your head dress? maybe a brown eyeliner might work if you smudged the lines slightly with an makeup brush and use some damp cotton wool if it goes wrong? even if you are using gold facepaint it could look very pale on white skin so use a darker colour to give it so shadow (eg brown).

you could try pound city for cheap gold things or even the remlents( bits of spare material) that are often up for sale in hickeys for a euro or two. a charity shop may be able to help you out too for cheap items or even a hardware store.

Larianne

Black Wig styled with beads like Elizabeth Taylor.
I'd say try to have a bit of a tan on ya. Use Rimmel's Sun Shimmer as its wash-off. Any gold you will be wearing will stand out better with a tan.
You can get faint paints in The Art and Hobby shops.
You could just use cardboard and paint it gold for a headdress.
The majority of the costume should be gold - accessories etc. ya can get cheaply in Penneys or second hand shops or Pound Shops. Either bought gold or sprayed with gold paint. You could use thick gold ribbon as cuffs or a belt.

I'd go with gold sandals or flip flops and wear a loose fitting dress/toga and pull in the waist using a big gold belt.

Loadsa black eyeliner and strong eyebrows.

snorlax

that gives me an idea! i could use a really beady neclace secured with hair clips for my head dress, thanks Larianne!:)

im not really a big fan of fake tan but i'm going to use gold shimmer dust and put it all over my skin.
maybe some fabric over the cardboard disk,as painted cardboard can look really tacky, maybe using acyrlics and you can paint over plastic with them?

scarves can be good to wrap around your waist just above you skirt/ dress, and a rippled string top can look good under the disk.

Tiriel

thanks a million!! that sounds good! it's on tomorrow nite so I really need to get myself moving. college all week and until 1 tomorrow.. so it'll be a mad dash into the city at lunch time!! Fingers crossed I'll be able to pull it off!

snorlax

it's not on in Bad Bobs is it? that's where i'm heading!

tip: find someone who's good at sewing and getting a costume isn't a problem!:)

Tiriel

no not Bad Bobs.. though not really sure where I'm going yet!! thanks for all your help and ideas!! Enjoy your nite as Cleopatra.. I intend to!!

snorlax

no problem !

jimmidy_cricket

I dressed up as cleopatra bout 4 years ago. Heres how:

Black shoulder length wig with straight fringe (everyone thought it was my natural hair even though I'm blonde!)

White satin nightie and gold strappy sandals..

...and now for the accessories... Went to hickeys and got heaps of gold material, gold rope and gold stick on sequins. I also bought sticky backed velcro that just sticks to material and then to the other piece of velcro.

For the head piece i wrapped some of the gold rope over a hair band that I wore across my fore head. I twisted the rope in the centre and with a little bit of wire fashioned a cobra head, it wasn't bang on but everyone got the gist.

I took 2 strips of gold material and made 2 'Panels' about 4 inches wide and 25-30 inches long that i secured with more of the rope around my waist, leaving the rope long and hanging to one side.

Next I cut out a large circle with a whole in the centre (for my head) out of the material and stuck on the sequins around the circumference and around the hole. This sat around my neck and on my shoulders like a golden torc I suppose.

With the left over material and sticky back velcro I made wrist bands and upper arm bands.

I hope this can be of some help, although I think I might be a bit late but how and ever.

Yhis year I'm going as wonder woman, I've blue hotpants but have to put stars on them (any Ideas) and a red bodice that needs gold detailing on it (bit stuck on that too) and the trickest part is the boots. I bought red pvc with the intention of covering a pair pf boots I have but I don't know how to go about it...any advice?

snorlax

i'd imagine you'd have to get the pattern of the boot (maybe use soft paper like sugar paper or anything thats easy to move) your going to need a seam too to attach the edges together (at the back so you can;t see it) and possibly tucked under the sole. pvc is quite hard to work with as its quite stiff so if you have to you might need more then one joint, just make the folds look natural if it dosn't fold nicely.
for attaching the edges maybe a staple gun or something relatively strong, even if you we're to sew them together? contact glue or a glue gun maybe? (making sure not to get it on the original boot), im sure someone in art shop might be able to help you better then me.

jimmidy_cricket

Cheers Snorlax and i just read your post that you've been wonder woman before, did it go down well?

snorlax

emm well people we're a little confused as to who i was, i think some people thought i was Xena for some reason. it was quite funny as a costume though and it got people laughing !

Tiriel

well.. just as a follow up.. had a brilliant nite, Cleopatra was great fun! There's an Egyptian shop upstairs in St. Stephen's Green Shopping Centre, useful for little things like the snake arm bracelet etc.

Happy Hallowe'en!!