Wearables Victorian Vampires in Mourning

I finally achieved my dream of getting my Dream of Doll Kalix and Delphine, two grey vampire dolls. I'm not typically a "vampire person" per se, but something about them has always struck my fancy. I love that they are grey, and I really want to play into their black and white color scheme.

These are the first dolls I'm creating characters of sorts for; normally I just pop my dolls into something pretty, slap a wig on them, and call it a day without much thought. For these two, however, I'm imagining them as either a brother and sister pair or lovers (really need to decide ), who have been together for centuries. They left Romania and are now wandering around England, mourning the loss of their human selves, as if they are sad about what they have become.

So I latched on to the idea of Victorian mourning wear because it's opulent, decadent, and monochromatic. I love velvet too, so this gives me a great excuse to live my velvet fantasy!

For Milena (the Delphine), I want poofy sleeves, velvet, beads, ribbons, and a crazy hat. Maybe a cape if I'm feeling crazy. Inspiration:







For Mihai (the Kalix), the construction of the outfit itself will probably be less extravagant, so I really want to highlight texture with beads and trim. I took a look at some antique clothing pieces to get an idea of what I want:



Men seemed to have it a little easier in terms of what they would wear for mourning clothing. I will be taking some historical liberties and flexing a little bit with a cape for sure!





My timeline will be as follows:

[x] Gather fabrics
[ ] Draft patterns
[ ] Sew mock pieces for complex pattern parts
[ ] Complete Delphine's dress
[ ] Complete Kalix's outfit
[ ] Debate about capes
[ ] Inevitably sew capes, because capes are cool
[ ] Complete hats/hair accessories

Follow along if you like! Suggestions are welcome too, I don't want to make too big of a fashion faux pas!

 

Thank you all for your comments and following!

Step 1 complete, I checked my fabric stash and have quite a bit of stuff I think will work as a starting point. Lots of velvet (I'm especially fond of the pleated one), ribbons, antique trim, lace, and more! It will be a challenge to get all of the different shades of black to complement one another, however.