Mother Nature Appears at Otakon!

Diana had a fabulous time in Baltimore today at Otakon. She needn't have worried about not having her picture taken; a few minutes after I dropped her and a friend off at the entrance to the convention center (at the ghastly hour of 7:15 a.m.), she texted me that she had already been asked half a dozen times to pose for a photograph.

She joined me for lunch (I spent the day at the Inner Harbor, taking pictures), and afterward we had our own private photo session.

So here is the costume, fully embellished:

Each one of the leaves and flowers were attached to the chemise and sleeve ribbons with my trusty tag gun. The leaves flutter beautifully when she walks, which was precisely the effect she was looking for.
She is wearing a leather pouch and belt I made for her; the flap of the pouch is a piece of hair-on deer hide I bought at Global Leathers in New York a few years ago, and the rest of the bag and belt are from a full calf hide I bought at the same time.

Here is a closer view of the corset:

We were both concerned that the leather laces wouldn't be strong enough for the job of keeping the corset tight, but they worked out just fine. Still, she carried a spare lace in her little bag, just in case.

Diana made the headpiece all by herself, after a LOT of discussion over what it should look like. We entertained many options: a halo of very thin wire with flowers attached to it with hot glue; a garland of silk ivy gathered up to form a wreath. Finally she settled on a pre-made plain grapevine wreath, which she embellished with silk ivy sprays, flowers and other things to form a "wheel of the year" headpiece.

She is going back tomorrow for one more day, wearing the same costume. I'm glad she got a lot of compliments on it!