Duchess of Blood Costume

I drew the costume design for the duchess of blood after learning of a woman named Elizabeth Batheroy who was an elizabethan duchess who actually drank virgins blood hoping to stay alive and eternally youthful. My character is based off of her.
I used a simplicity pattern as the base for the costume. I strayed far from the original pattern however which I used mostly for just the bodice and then created the rest of the costume from my head. The head piece, veil, and collar are all my design.
There are over 6000 beads on the Duchess of blood gown. I wanted the dress to sparkle red like drops of blood. I sewed the bodice of the gown and hand sewed on all the beads across the bodice which contains over 1500 beads. The rest of the dress was also beaded by hand. None of the beads are glued on to preserve authentic clothing instead of it just being a costume.
The veil for the duchess was added to make the duchess more imposing. The structure of it is steel boning as well as bbq skewers to hold the shape of the veil. It slides in behind the back panel of the dress. The veil is decorated with lace and 500 beads to make it shimmer and sparkle as well. The drape sleeves were made of velvet and patterned denim. The front underdress is also made from the patterned denim and the rest of the gown is made of an upholstery fabric which came with gathers. However at each of the gathers I have sewn 3 hematite beads and a red droplet shaped glass crystal. The beads include mostly glass beads, some metal and plastic red pearls.
I added metal pointed laces to all ribbon as was appropriate for the elizabethan time period to make it appear as if the sleeves are tied on with velvet ribbon.
The open ruff or collar is created with a wire supportase and has the lace sewn to it. It ties to the bodice with the ribbon that ends in metal points. There are hat pins to add additional beads to the collar. The feathers are the only things that are glued on to make sure that they stayed put as there was nothing to sew through on the feathers.
The addition of lace on the bodice is a nod to what people normally think of as vampire coming from the victorian period. The duchess of blood who is a vampire has been alive for a very long time and she prefers the clothing Elizabethan time period. However her preference for the time periods doesn't prevent her from including pieces of the victorian era which she also appreciates ie lace sew on her bodice and veil.
The petticoat and hoop skirt were purchased and altered to fit my needs (this is the 5% altered) the contacts and teeth and shoes were purchased (5% commissioned)