Sakizo Mermaid Costume

I gave myself this challenge after falling in love with the artworks of Japanese illustrator, Sakizo, especially her mermaid piece.

As a lover of fantasy and fairytales, I always wanted to transform myself into a mermaid so I was beyond excited to create this.

Everything on this costume is 100% handmade, and many long nights went into its construction (especially the tail). It is made of leftover vinyl scraps, seashells, beads, old jewelry pieces, lace trim, craft foam, acrylic jewels, sheer fabric and lots of purple and metallic gold acrylic paint. I didn’t have much money and I love to recycle so for this project I worked on budget using things I already had on hand.

I started off with the bra. Lucky for me I already had some simple white plastic seashells from the dollar store.To make them fancy, I added some lace trim, and beads and painted everything gold, then sewed them to a bra.

I also had several small seashells that had been given to me by a friend so I painted those and incorporated them into my headpiece, which is also made of the same plastic shells used on my bra. (I just cut, painted and layered them and attached to a headband). Again I added beads (all hand painted gold) and put them on wire so they would stand out on the headpiece.

The neckpiece, which looks much like a fishing net, is actually an old shirt that I stiffened, cut into shape and painted. I then added the jewels and decorations and attached it to the choker part which is made of vinyl that I painted purple.

The tail was the most tedious part and many long hours went into its construction. I hand cut over 200 pieces of vinyl scales, hand painting each one and then sewed them to a tight fitting skirt, leaving a slight split up the back so I was able to walk. The fins were also made of the same vinyl and wire (so that they could stick out and pose). They were then attached to a vinyl belt that I made.

The decoration on the middle of the belt is made of craft foam that was layered, sealed, painted and then decorated with more lace, and an old piece of jewelry. For the end of the skirt I just used a beautiful complimentary gold sheer fabric which I layered to give a nice flow.

I also made her trident, with the help of my boyfriend. It is made of wood which we carefully cut, then attached to a wooden dowel, finished with pretty paint and more shiny jewels!