Red - Transistor - WIP
Red's gown has been my white whale project for ten years. I have always been drawn to this structured, slinky gilded ballgown paired with a glowing, talking sword. Unlike the large ballgowns of other builds, this gown is clingy and does not have room for error. While experimenting with corsets to ensure that the gown will always fit correctly, I discovered a need to hide or pad out the corset lines. At the moment, Red remains a pile of fabric, necessitating the use of official artwork for her thumbnail. However, with the foundation of the gown becoming more stable, the project is primed to progress.
Red is the heroine of Transistor, an indie video game by Supergiant Games with an award-winning soundtrack. Its setting crosses a cyberpunk dystopia with the glamour of the Roaring Twenties. This sets the inspiration for her gown firmly in the Art Deco/Art Nouveau era. Hilariously, most of the glamour of the era was actually added in around the 1950's as current fashions of curve, structure, and flamboyance began to romanticize the original roaring 20's, which is characterized by short hair, exposed knees, and straightening of natural cuves. This phenomenon happened again in the early 2000's, romanticizing the 50's romanticization of the 20's into the tasseled flapper Halloween costumes we see today. With three different ideas of "the twenties" to choose from and my own curves to work with, I intend to choose the "fifties' twenties" style.
The plan is to create the following:
- a short torn gown
- a long tearaway skirt
- a leather corset belt
- a feather headdress
- false knee high boots
- bodyguard's jacket, not pictured
- then, the Transistor:
- Cut acrylic sheets
- Strip LED lights
- A speaker/listener
- An arduino to to sync sound and light
While Red's slinky evening gown pales in comparison to the size of Portia's Masquerade gown, I expect the cutting and wiring of the Transistor to expand the timeline of the project significantly. I hope to complete it within the year.
An estimation on cost, exluding sword and value of labor, should be about $200; this is slightly lower than usual because it may be the first project to use my real hair instead of investing in a wig.