Queen of Hearts

Photography by Overcash Photography

Why I chose to make this costume:

I am very interested in creating costumes from recyclable materials, and giving them new life. It has also been a long term goal to create more of my costumes that have a more original twist on them than just recreate what has already been done. This project was so fun to create, and drives me to want to create more projects from unusual materials in the future. My friend Jenumi Cosplay invited me to do a Halloween villains photoshoot in 2019, but high fashion, so I took this opportunity to bring one of my original concepts to life.

Thoughts on this costume:

The base pieces of this costume were purchased from Amazon (bloomers, tights, corset, hoop skirt, crown). The playing cards were the “second life” part of this costume, and it is indeed held together with hot glue. The corset was covered in the cards, the collar was handmade by myself, and the rose belt was also 100% made by me from scratch. Her cage skirt was made to represent one of my favorite scenes from the movie: Painting the Roses red. The flower garlands were hand sewn to the cage, and hand painted as well. Overall, this was a very fun concept to bring to life, and I’m very satisfied with the overall result. Huge thanks to Philip for the laser cut Queen of Hearts prop!

Tutorial for making your own playing card roses here.