Your Fantasy Costume

Liselotte  Eriksson is a swedish artist and  photographer who also dares to design an enjoyable collection of items and fashion accessories that goes  from horns to hats and even wings and hairpins, with the design of the artist self to enhance its uniqueness  that would delight any fairy or faun.  Recently launched it promises to increase the catalog of her delicious fairy store THE CHANGELLING CLOSET.

Her goal  is to supply not only costume items, but also every day wear inspired by nature, Faerie, folklore and myth.  Recycling materials and Usthrifted materials and found objects when possible, thus keeping the prices down while also being friendlier to the environment yet still with a great flavour of one-of-a-kind  that on her words think it “adds a certain quirky charm to the pieces”,  but at extremely affordable prices.

Up: horns and elf ears

I find the hats so adorable…  just judge yourself, they’re absolutely original! and certainly gives me so many ideas!! I had the chance to meet Liselotte in person when I performed in the Fairy Ball (UK) last year, she was indeed one of the most original atendees with a garment made of all sort of recycled materials… it really catched my eye… and now it makes all sense to see this lovely store launched…!!

You’ll find a collection of several horns and pointed ears,  headpieces,  hand-painted bags… and even some lovely pendants made out of natural acorns… Just dive in!!

Enchanted costumes is an american company that is well known for making the finest fairy wings.

They have a great selection of  fairy wings on their  web. Each one is meticulously hand crafted for your special event, whether it be your wedding, photography studio, or a costume ball.

• Made with beautifully sheer iridescent and crystal organza in a wide variety of colors.
• Ribbon covered wire frame, that can be easily adjusted for different looks.
• Satin stitched veins to match or contrast in the highest quality industrial embroidery thread available.

Fully customizable in organza colours, we’re talking about durable wings. They’re not particularly cheap, but they worth every cent. You’ll be able to fold them up for travel, have your wings intact even after the crowdiest party…. show them off! they’re safe and well made, and you won’t regret to have a pair! (or two, or three). Enchanted costumes offer cheaper wings made of cellophane, that we previously talked about in another  previous article….But let’s face it, the expensive brand, made of organza and with embroidered veins are simply the most outstanding and lovely fairy wings you can find out there.

I am a professional performer and also visual artist and designer and I chose Enchanted costumes to manufacture the custom designs that I use in my shows. In fact she sells the “Ancient Shadows model” (see below) which has actually the name of my music album “Ancient Shadows”

Below there another model of wings that were custom made as an exclusive called “ghost fairy wings” are now a really and very pivotal part of my show, and I´m so glad she made them for me, they’re simply the most amazing wings I’ve had on. If you move gently they even flap a bit in a floating mood. Simply amazing. These were made to look a bit eerie and ghostly, and sometimes I put false spider cobweb falling from it, look so spectral behind the fog….

But she has also lovely  models that you can order in big sizes.

Tammy has also made a model of fairy wings for devotes of the movie Ever After, inspired in Cinderella’s story. The movie has become a fairy tale classic in very few years and have a nice ammount of followers, so Danielle’s Ever After Gown has become well known and recognizable option in fantasy parties that we’ll cover in detail in further articles. But for now… Aren’t this a lovely imitation of the Ever After’ Wings?

Just Breath!! Below you can se original Ever after picture and the Enchanted costume replica!

“Every time a fairy is born in a tree it becomes a dryad”

Dryads and forest nymphs are one of my favourite topics overall… and they’re often portrays as part tree with leaves and branches. This is a drawing I made myslef of one dryad… of course anything with leaves, green wigs, leave pendants and other extras will help, and we’ll cover that in precision very soon… but today I wanted to share specifically these lovely wings I found and that would fit so well your forest nymph design.

Art of wings have designed a wide range of wings, of all kinds from feather to fairy but I would highlight for their uniqueness precisely some beautiful wings made of faux branches that will fit perfectly this dryad mood. You can find them with or without flowers, and also with ice white crystal that will do perfectly for a snow queen or winter mood. Meghan, the crafter, has really made them affordable and quite stunning… These are some examples. I’d love to have the white ice and the simple mossy green one.

Isis is a Goddess of Ancient Egyptian mythology  and  often is  represented with this wings… thus the name of “isis wings” commonly used in bellydance. But even if you’re not a dancer, this element will make your costume astounding!! A fairy, a goddess… its movement and ethereality is amazing.

In one of my performance I shared the stage with my friends the Karinae Tribal troupe and as I use an opaque black isis wings they went on with organza black ones… of course they were amazing with them….! and I fell in love with these wings. In this picture you can see me performing with the Karinae wearing the isis wings.

Souldancewings isis wings gallery (based in Canada), i’m in love with the dragonfly model, they have different colours in organza, a bit pricy but looks wonderful. This is my favourite, I’d love to see them flowing on stage.

Audrena Isis Wings, she has an amazing range, shimmery and large, they’re a bit pricy (around 150 $)  but  check the pictures at her site, they’re absolutely fabulous.

Here’s another shop with affordable prices and wings in lame and organza called Bellydance with K Boutique

In ebay there are some affordable and in rather lovely colors in the store world of Bellydance. Click in the picture to visit the store. They’re about 50 $ each plus shipping.

Ebay also lists the most classic models of isis wings. Usually made of shimmering gold or silver metallic fabric. I’m really more fond of organza and opalescent less striking models though a basic if you want to go for a “egytptian goddess” look

I might be getting eventually a pair for my show in green organza, and white and black are on my wish list too (sigh). They’re just so lovely! Though I guess the best thing would be to get the great advantage of this wonderful item and try to get them move as they’re intended to… I admit I’m no good dancer… but there are dvds and youtube is plenty of tutorials.  Below I give you the link to  a DVD with tutorials.

I finish this article with one of the many videos you’ll find in youtube to show them in movement. this one in particularly is badly recorded but i thought the performance was rather ghostly and inspiring.

Example video:

If you’re good at sewing there’s a tutorial here with  instructions and pattern… I’m sorry but it’s only in spanish, still you can see and follow the diagrams.