Robin talked me into going to a Lord of the Rings dance in costume. I spent a lot of time looking at Elf dresses and Rohirrim dresses. At pretty dresses on willowy girls. I just couldn't do it. I'm a bit more hobbit shaped, but I'm awful tall for a hobbit.The one thing that DID appeal to me was being a bad guy again. And female baddies don't exist in the films so I had a free hand to create something thematically similar without losing touch with my source material.
I decided to make a corset vest that looked like armor. The undervest would be attached but like it's separate. Then I would have the bedraggled shirt and trousers with front and back skirting.
The brown leather on the vest is a faux distressed leather remnant. The metallic designs are painted bits of maroon faux leather. I used paper brads (scrapbooking materials) to look like rivets. Once I have this under control I'll be making shoulder and arm armor. Maybe a stomacher... And, of course, a turban and veil. I have some fun plastic swords to use too. I also get to distress the fabric. Which I'm looking forward to. Here are a couple of the pictures I used for inspiration.
