Phantom of the Opera & Christine Daaé Costume

I am wearing the costume with my gorgeous girlfriend Aiden. She is an extremely gifted singer and The Phantom of the Opera has been her favorite since she was a kid. We had both wanted to do this costume in the years past but were too busy for it, but this year we were able to start months early. Around May we really decided we were going to do it, we were finally going to make our dream a reality by becoming The Phantom and Christine. Well first off I decided I needed to grow my hair out, so I could slick it back and really pull off the Phantom look, lucky for me I have dark hair. She is naturally a dirty blonde though so we knew we would have to dye her hair once it was closer to Halloween. Now to begin our outfits, we went to our local Fabric store and were able to pick up some patterns for a suit and a dress. We had to find right materials which I knew 0 about, so our moms came in handy here. It was unbelievably difficult for us to make our suit and dress but with our parents help I like to think we are pretty decent tailors now. We obviously did as much as we could but both our moms had to step in and correct things here and there, making sure everything fit properly. She also had to add the lace to her dress and I know that was pretty frustrating but I believe it really sells the dress. I did not need to make pants because I already had a pair of black that looked good. We were not able to find a good shirt pattern so we decided to try to find one. We hit up at least a dozen thrift stores trying to find the perfect shirt for me. Alas, a women's Medium sized blouse for my 6'4 body, it was AMAZING. I had to find some boot spats as well because I didn't want to drop $200 on some boots. I really love the skull that the Phantom has on his sword so we found a cheap little plastic skull which I then sawed in half and was able to get onto the sword and then remelt the edges so it didn't look too weird. I already had a sword so that was convenient as well. She ended up dyeing her hair at the beginning of October to just the right shade and buying a small curling iron to achieve the tight curls. All that was left was the mask so after many youtube tutorials, we plastic wrapped my hair back and lubed up my face. Plaster wrapping my head we got a very rough looking mask, I cut to the proper shape and layered it with wall putty which would let me sand some texture into the mask. After I finished sanding it and everything I painted some gesso onto it to make it look white, and sprayed it with a matte finish. Overall cost came to about $140 for everything. I spend a lot more on the mask then I should have but I am also a painter so the leftovers will be put to good use.