Black Swan Cosplay Costume
Jerri as Black Swan for DragonCon 2011
I first thought about doing the Black Swan costume back during Fanaticon, a small convention in Asheville, NC. I started organizing the idea and thought it would make a great project for the upcoming DragonCon–seeing I missed doing it for Fanaticon. I started this blog post and by doing so met my partner in crime, Lori Bair. She encouraged me to come to DragonCon as Black Swan. In the end we decided that our costumes should look as similiar as possible because we decided to come as Sarah Lane/Natalie Portman.
This costume re-construction and design material selection I did. I purchased and selected all the costumes design materials except for the base. Ironically, Lori and I had purchased the same base–a professionally made rehearsal tutu and Mondor bodice from tutu.com. Some of these materials were very hard to find. The tiaras and buntoppers were all handmade by me. Lori and I met one weekend where I detailed out the construction plans and did as much sewing as we could. We embellished and sewed each of our tutus separately using the materials I sourced. Over the next two months, it was a flurry of emails, text messages and phone calls to finalize our costumes. The end results are pretty spectacular, at least, in my opinion.
If you are trying to go as movie accurate as possible, I would like to warn you. This project is very time consuming and costly. Furthermore, strutting around in a tutu for nine hours is not an easy task. My costume suffered a lot of damage at DragonCon, which will have to be repaired before the next Con. I was planning on entering this costume in the Costuming contest (not the Masquerade); however, we arrived at the con to late on Friday to do so. Lori, however, was able to enter DragonCon’s 2011 Masquerade contest and win Best Movie Costume and the Fuze award for her comical skit of classical ballet mix with popular dance.
Materials
- Pointe Shoes: $0.00 / I already own several pairs (for others reference $60.00-$90.00) Or you could go for the fake pointe shoe look (as Portman did numerous times in the movie) by purchasing a demi-pointe shoe ($50.00) or a satin ballet slipper $16.00 and sewing ribbons to it. $3.00. Don’t forget to learn how to sew the ribbons on correct, and tie the shoe properly. I DO NOT RECOMMEND someone with no pointe experience going out and buying pointe shoes for your costume. You can really HURT yourself; plus, the shoes ARE NOT comfortable to walk around in. Be smart and do the satin ballet slippers. You can always find pink satin ballet slippers. Try Freed of London’s opera slippers.
- Pink Tights: $0.00 / I already own several pairs (for others’ reference $16.00)
- Tutu: $108.00 / $58.00 Tutu Skirt (Bloch Pull-on Rehearsal Tutu) / $50.00 Tutu Bodice (Mondor Bodice)
- Tutu Embellishments: ~$150.00 / I bought some really nice fabric for the bodice, black shimmer organza, and some standard black net for the rhinestone appliques and feather embellishment. I advise getting more feathers than you need. I purchased 2 yards of string black hackle and 12 black hackle pads; I think I am going to have just enough to finish the tutu. The rhinestones are expensive if you are going with Swarvoski, which I did. I would say for the
- Veiling: ~$25.00 / You will want to get around 4 yards of veiling which will work for both the tutu and the face. You tutu width will determine the width of the veiling you will need to buy. My tutu width is 14′; thus, I had to choose the 18′ width veiling.
- Crown: ~$150.00 After purchasing clay, glue, wire, rhinestones, spray paint, gloss, and acrylic paints I would estimate spending around this amount. Just for reference it takes about two weeks to make the crown. You have to do this in stages because the clay has to dry, the glue has to set, and each coat of paint must dry.
- Bun Topper: Included in price above.
- Make-up: $100.00 I went all out and bought Ben Nye stage make-up. Because I wasn’t sure of my exact skin tone and other needs, I went ahead and bought a student kit, along with a couple brushes, metallic creme make-up, and of course some final set for the make-up so it doesn’t go melting off my face throughout the day.
- Hair Supplies: $20.00 / Hair Spray, Rubber Bands, Hair Net (goes around the bun), Hair pins/Bobby Pins, fake bun supplies.
- Contact Lenses: $320.00 if you want to go totally crazy and have the Black Swan Eyes too.
Reference Images/Videos
- Good videos with close-ups of the costume are located here
- Reference images are located on this page
The Black Swan Tiara
You can find out more on how to make your tiara on this post: How to make a Black Swan Tiara
Black Swan Tiara Right
Black Swan Tiara Center
Black Swan Tiara Left
Tutu Creation
View step-by-step how to make your Black Swan Tutu
Black Swan Tutu Feathers Left
Black Swan Tutu Rhinestones
Black Swan Tutu Right
Bodice Creation
I am using a Mondor leotard as a base. Because the material is Lycra, which means it stretches, I have created a duct tape mummy of my torso. This allows me to put the leotard on the body form and apply all the design elements to it without worrying about having fabric and rhinestones rip off once I try to put it on my body. This is a awesome tutorial on how to create a duct tape body form.
DragonCon 2011 Black Swan Photographs
Viewed 43580 times
I would never fathom cosplaying that hehe I cant believe it was done, i guess it was bound to happen do to the shows popularity.
Your work is amazing!! I hope I can make mine as well as you! Can you please post how you made the bodice? And for the final step of the Tutu when you placed the feathers onto the Tutu, did you just glue it right on to the top layer? Thanks!
Hey!!!
Your Black Swan Cosplay Costume blog are such a fantastic. here you are mention a black costume pic are lovely. you done a very great job.
Thank You…
Hi Jerri,
Wow, love the costume – it looks EXACTLY like the one from the movie! Great job!
I was wondering how long it took you to create this entire costume.
Thank you. I would say it took two months or solid, non-stop work. Meaning I spent about 4-6 hours during the week and around 12 hours each weekend on the the costume.
I have a question about the makeup: what type of Ben Nye student kit did you use? Did it just contain black and white or other colors?
The student kit contains about four different color foundations–including white, bruise and blood kit, spirit gum and remover, several different brushes, setting powder, stuff to make your hair white, it has some black liner, brown liner, lip liner, blush. I also order a metallic kit that had both white and silver metallic colors. I used those on the eyes. Really the student kit might be over-kill; however, I found many of the items very useful. You can get the black swan look with white shiny eyeliner, black liquid liner, and some white makeup. Putting on a base layer foundation and doing the white over-top of it–which will cause a bit of blending…which makes the white look more subtle and less in your face…plus you can blend it a bit into your jaw line so it doesn’t make a nasty white line…a softer transition into the natural skin color.
Thank you very much!
Did you do a back hair piece? If so can you please post pics.. I am trying to do one and can’t find a good picture to use a reference..
I would try two sources: my the making of the Black Swan costume on Facebook or this image. I think my Facebook album will be of more help!
Can you please tell me how you did the tulle/swan fluff on your bodice?
Quite organically really. Just took ripped pieces of tulle and sewed it to the areas of the tutu I wanted. I also stretched, ripped, and pulled at it to make it look less perfect. More frayed. I really didn’t put much thought in it…I just wanted it to look not so perfect, ripped, and stressed. I added it around the bodice base, but it really depends on what you are sewing the fluff. Just concentrate more on the feel, look, or texture than the exact placement.
WOW you did an AMAZING job!… I am looking to be the Swan for Haloween this year but I did not know it required so much time!.. I have a question on the Tutu…Did you glue the rhinestones on the the Tulle?
Nope. I used a net fabric first. On this net fabric I sewed the rhinestones on—I bought the type you could sew on. Then when it was sewn on, for extra security, I glued them to the netting. Then I sewed the net to the tutu/tulle (I didn’t use tulle…but if that is what you are using…)
If you didn’t use tulle, what type of material did you use?
The tutu base is made from 40-denier nylon net. The top layer, which is a tutu overlay an is tacked to the top of the tutu, has three layers: a 40-denier nylon layer (not ruffled and not pleated), black organza fabric (I think the movie version of the costume probably used some type of silk), and bird cage veiling on the very top layer. If you look at the movie costume, the top layer of the tutu isn’t very transparent. It does not look like tulle.
On my costume there are a few places I did use tulle: the double pleats on the front bodice and to make what I called swan fluff…all of these items are on the tutu bodice, not on the tutu skirt. I’m still working on my tutu construction page, but you should check it out anyways. The materials I used are listed there.
I have a question please. What do you mean exactly on the duct tape molding for the leotard – did you wear this under the leotard? Also, do you know where I can find the large fake rhinestones?
The duct tape part is a body form that you dress like a mannequin. It will stretch out your fabric so you can sew or glue on it without worrying about things popping off when you actually put it on your body. Check out my Facebook album; it has some pictures of my duct tape body form dressed with my leotard. You do not wear this at all. It is only used while you are creating your costume.
By fake rhinestones, I am assuming that you mean acrylic, or plastic. Any glass type rhinestones are still rather expensive whether they are Swarvoski or not. I would try Michaels. I know I saw some sew-on ones at Hancock Fabric too. You will definitely notice a difference in sheen/shine when moving from glass based rhinestones to plastic. Aside from the sew-on types, I think you will run into issues on how to apply these to your costume. Glue is not the most secure thing in the world, and its hard to apply–especially considering the quantity of stones applied to the bodice.
[...] I at DragonCon 2011 as “double” Black Swan. We met online while conceptualizing our Black Swan cosplay costumes. You can read all about the making of the Black Swan Costume on my Black Swan Cosplay post. I [...]
Hi there,
You’ve done a great job with this costume. I wanted to ask, did you sew the hackle pads and trim through some of the layers of the tutu or only to the top fabric layers? Thank you for your time and thank you for sharing your knowlegde.
I will be posting more details on this when I update my blog this weekend. The feathers are attached only to the tutu net plate–the very first image on the tutu shows the undecorated tutu with a net plate safety pinned to it. The feathers however have their own base (netting and black felt) before getting sewn to the tutu overlay. The same applies for all the other trims. They are only sewn to the net plate, the black overlay material (organza), and/or the birdcage veiling. The entire overlay, which includes the net plate, black organza, birdcage veiling, rhinestones, and feathers will be one solid piece, so to speak. That decorated overlay then is stitched to the waist band. The outer edge of the tutu gets tacked in place to the top couple layers in few spots….so when you flip your tutu upside down, the overlay stays attached to your tutu base.
Check back for more updates as I continue to write about this. I will be providing some photographs too, which you may find helpful.
Thank you! I am looking forword to seeing more images of the process of this cosplay.
Make sure you are checking this post regularly: Making Your Black Swan Tutu
I love your costume. It’s the best one I’ve seen so far. I was planning on being Nina turned Black Swan for Halloween for the longest time, but I probably won’t get the chance to do it this year since it will be costly at this time. I would really like to take the time to follow your steps and do it right with the help of a friend. I cannot wait for your future updates. Thanks for sharing the details.
[...] These are the reference images with which I created my Black Swan cosplay costume. [...]
Hi Jerri Lynn,
Love what you did with your costume and for all the ideas! Thanks so much for posting
I am still updating this blog. I still have to finish my post on Making Your Black Swan Tutu and start the Making your Black Swan Bodice….not to mention a post on the makeup. So check back…you might get some more ideas! Glad you like everything so far!
[...] made two tiaras for a Black Swan Cosplay Costume for DragonCon 2011. Below you will find out how I did it. The Black Swan photo to the left was taken [...]
What was the length of your tutu? 15″?
I am doing this for Halloween, but am hesitant to go full on platter tutu since I will likely be in crowds.
You looked fabulous by the way! I had a friend who went and I told him to look for you.
14″ tutu platter. It looks rather large on me, I think, because the hips are about two inches to large. DragonCon was full of crowds; you learn how to maneuver them after a period of time.
[...] experience I decided to go all out and do Black Swan. I met another girl, Lori Bair, through my blog post about my Black Swan cosplay costume in process, and we began working together on a “double” Black Swan to present at Dragon*Con 2011. [...]