Cosplay Mommy: Steampunk Belle Sneaky Peaky!

As most of my readers know, I'm a bit of a nerdy mommy. My husband and I go to comic book conventions and we also dress up. I've been trying to get him to do couples cosplay for years. Initially, I wanted us to do a Doctor/Rose or Dexter/Victim set. He totally wasn't having it. While we mostly have the same taste in a lot of things, when it comes to cosplay, he prefers badass characters and to him, my ideas weren't full of enough "badassery". I had been thinking of doing a Steampunk Belle for quite some time and I finally got him to agree to a Steampunk Beast! Upon chatting with my sister-in-law about it, she decided to do a Steampunk Ariel. I'm still working on the hubby's costume, but mine is well on it's way to being complete.



Previously, I had posted about our first trip to a major, big name convention. You can read about our Wizard World Philadelphia trip HERE. This was when I did a trial run of my Steampunk Belle.

I have since add some elements to it and decided to post a little Sneak Peak for everyone!

This is my "idea board" and is the idea I had in my head for the last two years. I feel like I have basically pulled it together quite nicely! 

The skirt is from Damsel in this Dress. Most of the skirts and corsets that are Damsel made are pretty limited edition. Once they are made and sold, they are pretty hard to find unless someone is selling one used because she typically does not make too many of the same style from what I've seen. I highly suggest you visit her ETSY and FACEBOOK pages. I think you'll fall in love immediately.

The peasant shirt I purchased from YANDY and is a cropped, off the shoulder top. I had initially intended on dying the shirt because finding a gold off the shoulder top in the style and hue that I wanted was next to impossible. Unfortunately, this top, due to it's fabric, is not dye-able. Trust me, I gave it a shot, but the dye would not set. I'm still on a mission to find the perfect top though.

Here's a better picture of the corset, which I found on Amazon. I obviously love it so much that I wear it with every day clothes. No shame. I actually have not wore a corset for years so I'm still trying to get use to wearing one again. It's still new and needs to be broken in a bit so it's slightly uncomfortable to wear for long periods of time. However, it's getting better the more I wear it. 

It has a gorgeous design on the darker fabric of it and the lighter fabric is a faux leather. All the metal pieces are durable and very well made. The corset cost me about $60 which is about middle ground for most corsets. A good one will run you in the hundreds. Trust me, I've been drooling over a lot of them for some time now. This seemed reasonably priced for what I wanted it for and I was impressed with the quality. 

These boots I also purchased from Amazon and was only going to use for my cosplays, but they fit so well and were so comfortable that I've worn them many times since then with a pair of jeans. 

One thing everyone recognizes from Beauty and the Beast is the enchanted rose. I needed to find a way to Steampunk an enchanted rose, so this was it. the bird cage is actually a cork holder which I found on Amazon and the giant rose I purchased at Walmart. The best part about this bird cage is that my kitchen and dining room is wine and grape themed so once i'm not longer using this for my cosplay, I can use this as decor for either room. 

The enchanted mirror that the beast gives Belle is another prop that most Disney fans would recognize. I already had a princess mirror floating around our house from when my daughter was younger so my husband was kind enough to paint it up all nice and give it an old "antiqued" look. this is the same thing I will be doing to a tiny plastic tea cup we have to make a Steampunk Chip to hang off of my belt (which I also have yet to buy).

This is one of my newer pieces. I purchased this off a seller on eBay using the $25 gift card i got from Influenster! It's plastic and seems like it might be a little uncomfortable to wear which is no surprise because it was rather cheap. However, for all the longer and often I will be using it, that doesn't bother me. I can always purchase rubber to line them with to make them more comfortable when they are sitting on my head. 

The last element was also purchased from eBay using what was left of my gift card and that's my plush Beast. It was being sold by a private seller, but is from the Disney Store so it's authentic and was perfect as my companion until I get the hubby's cosplay finished. I'm thinking about giving him a more steampunk look as well (mini goggles or a mini gun maybe?) but I haven't decided yet. 

There's still a few more things I need or want to get for this. Like the belt that I had previously mentioned as well as gold lace gloves (which I have picked out from Etsy) and skirt hikes to lift the front of my skirt enough to see my mirror tattoos on my thighs. I have black lace rose thigh highs to wear as well, but I found in Philadelphia that when you are walking around a lot, they tend to not want to stay up. Therefore, I am thinking about purchasing a garter to hold them up. I also made my own jewelry, but I have my eye on a few accessories I discovered on Etsy (that site takes all my money!) that will probably be purchased eventually as well. 

If you want to see the finished product, watch for my post on highlights from The Pittsburgh Comic Con in September!