Black Swan and White Swan Costumes

I did not see any black swan costumes last Halloween which really surprised me due to the popularity of the movie. I (Stephani) love Halloween and I especially love to get creative and matchy-matchy with my best friend (Niki), so I was intrigued by the originality and challenge this costume presented. I knew it would be perfect!
It was important to us to be as true to the costumes in the movie as possible while also including personalized flares to reflect our individual and unique personalities. The initial step was to order a corset and a tutu for a base. I found matching black and white corset/tutu sets on EBay. The corsets are lined on the top and bottom with ruffled lace and mini rhinestones. The material has a Chambord design which adds texture to the look. I found most of my supplies at Hobby Lobby and Wal-Mart, including alligator hair clips, feathers, boas, rhinestone gems, hot glue gun, fabric tape, tulle, felt and pantyhose. The tiara was purchased at a Halloween Store. I would estimate the cost for both costumes to be around $125.00.

The White Swan (Stephani)

I used fabric tape to tape various sizes of rhinestone gems to the side panels of the corset. I took small squares of felt and hot glued them to the top of the hair clips. I then hot glued several layers of various sized feathers to the felt to get a fanned look. To finish the look, I hot glued various sizes of silver rhinestone gems in the middle of the fan. I made 4 of the feather fans. Two were clipped onto the laces on the back of the corset to cover my exposed skin and 2 were safety pinned to the breasts. For the “wings” on the back of the corset, I began the same way as the fanned clips. Instead of making the feathers look fanned, I clued them in the same direction to mimic the head pieces from the movie. I also finished them with rhinestone gems. They were placed on the top of the back of the corset to look like wings. The hair pieces were made the same way as the “wings”.

I added 3 extra layers of tulle to the tutu using a hot glue gun. I then trimmed the layers, hung the tutu upside down, hair-sprayed it and let it set for 1 week which helped give it a stiff, full, pancaked look. To create the layered feather look seen in the movie, I cut a white feather boa to size and safety pinned it to the waste of skirt.

I wore white, opaque tights and white, lace boy-shorts. I used white face paint on the top three quarters of my face to get the pale look and I copied the eye shadow and lipstick as best as possible.

The Black Swan (NIKI)

The black swan costume didn’t require as much added detail as the white swan. Using the same technique as the white swan, we made 3 feather fans and 2 “wings”. Two of the fans and both of the wings were placed on the back of the corset in the same way as the white swan. The third feather fan was placed on the left breast.

The black tutu had the illusion of being fuller due to the color, so no extra layers were added. A black boa was cut to size and safety pinned to the waste. The remaining boa piece was cut in half and tied onto the arms to give the appearance of feathers.

The crown was the most intricate detail. We took a silver, princess tiara and burned it to give it a melted, steel-colored look. We took tin foil and twisted it to make more peaks and points and hot glued them to the crown and then spray painted it with black paint.

The eye makeup was a very tedious process. Black eyeliner and green and silver metallic eye shadows were used to create the layered effect. The lipstick was matched as closely as possible. A piece of black tulle was strung across the top of the face and bobby pinned to the hair.

Black tights and black boy shorts instead of white were worn to give a more cohesive look to the costume.

The costumes were as true to the movie as we could possibly get them, but we wanted to reflect our style and personality in a creative way. We chose to do this with the shoes. For the White Swan, I took a pair of white, platform mary jane heels and used fabric tape to add 3 layers of white feathers on the back of the heel. I also used fabric tape to add rhinestones on the toe, heel and strap. For the Black Swan, a pair of open-toed pumps were used. Three layers of feathers were also taped to the heel along with rhinestones. The shoes were our statement!

This was the most work I have ever put into a costume and I loved every minute of it. Although we were too late to be entered into the costume contest, we got many compliments throughout the night. The pictures do not do them justice, but I am very proud of our hard work!