Have you seen the Showtime series “The Borgias”?
(I know it’s a few years old but I don’t care)
It’s a wonderful series About the 15th century pop Alexander VI and it’s full of betrails, sex, murder but most of all gorgeous costumes.
As far as history is concerned the show does lack a bit (inspired by the life of Alexander, would be a more accurate description), but costume wise they pretty much nailed it. And it looks beautiful.
Some real inspiration:
The left one is one of my favorite dresses and totally on my “to-do” list.
And some of my favorites from the show:
Pretty, Yes?
And before you have to ask, of course I wanted to make my own Italian dress.
After some thinking I narrowed it down to two main inspiration dresses from the series
Dress nr 1 
I know he is gorgeous but lets try to focus on the dress…
Lovely light blue and gold coloring. I also love the lacing on the bodice and the sheerness of the chemise.
pretty profile
Dress nr 2;
Perfection
While studying the pics I noticed that they actually reused the dress above in season 2 with a few alterations (new sleeves).
I actually think it is pretty great that they re-used the dress. No one, no mater how rich you where, could afford a new dress every day and to newer up-cycle your old favorite styles to the current fashion.
I also got tipped of that Showtime was offering this exact dress up for sale on their website.
Caption:
“Lucrezia Borgia, played by Holliday Grainger wears a sky blue embroidered gown in Season 2 of The Borgias during the baptism of her son, Giovanni. Includes the sleeves later added to the gown.
The gown is impeccably tailored with a full lining. The details are never ending, with each little turn revealing another pristine element. The piece was designed and constructed by expert period costume designer Gabriella Pescucci and worn by Holliday Grainger on set. The dress corset-laces up the back with the outer layer fastening by hook and eye.”
Did I mention these dresses are BEAUTIFUL… 😉
As soon as the last piece was finished, I took my new “Outlander” costume out for some photos.
My fiance helped me, and I must say he did a splendid job both photographing and keeping up the good cheer.
I’m wearing: My new 18th century woolen jacket & skirt over stays, petticoats, bumpad and chemise. And a modern knitted shawl, linen cap, knitted mittens (which where gifted to me by the lovely Helena – Thanks again, I love them) and a basket for accessorizes.
After studying the various looks of the character Clare in the series “Outlander”, comparing them to the fabrics from my stash I decided to go for the simple laced up jacket and skirt that’s became symbolic with the series.
I started by making a skirt out of some plaid wool I found in my stash (which I’ve bought on sale about a year ago).
The construction is really simple, since it’s basically two widths of the fabric sewn together and gathered to a waistband.
I used some linen scraps for he hem facing and hooks and bars to close the waistband.
The finished skirt: 
Then I started on the bodice.
Using the pattern from the yellow caraco jacket, only changing the front to accommodate a stomacher instead of button closer, and adding a peplum at the bottom edge.
I used some leftover beige wool for the jacket, interlining it with some linen scraps and dark green wool for the stomacher – all made to match the plaid of the skirt.
It went together pretty fast even though I made it completely by hand.
The peplum being attached.
Trying the jacket on my dressform.
I attached the lining made from two different pieces f left over cotton sheets. 
Then it was time for the eyelets to be made, using a separate fabric strip attached hidden under the boned front edge.
The finial thing to make was to ad channels and boning to the stomacher.
The skirt and jacket ready to be packed for the photoshoot. 
The finished outfit/jacket:
Just the facts:
What: A 18th century jacket and skirt.
Pattern: The jacket is my own draft (yellow Caraco jacket), and the skirt is just two rectangles stitched together.
Fabric & Notions: Skirt – 2,2 m plaid wool, thread and hook & bar.
The bodice: 1 m beige(left over) wool, 1,5 m white cotton for lining and interning, m cotton cord, thread, buttonhole thread, 60 cm plastic boning.
Cost: Everything came from stash but 300 sek would be a fair calculation.
Time: Pretty fast for a complete hand made costume – about 20-25 hours for the whole outfit.
Final thoughts: I really like this outfit. It’s warm and cosy and I really enjoyed wearing it for the photoshoot.
The “Outlander” outfit:
This past year I’ve followed the fenomen of “Outlander” with interest.
I’ve watched the series, read the analysis and discussions about the costumes, and smiled at the world wide drooling over Sam Heughan.
And of course admired all the fabulous recreations of the clothing’s from the show.
But it wasn’t until recently I found myself dreaming of my very own highlander/Clare costume.
It started late august.
I was going through my fabric stash for some creative impulses, when I found a piece of lovely plaid wool, in shades of dark green and navy, that might be just enough for a full skirt.
And there, right beside, a piece of perfectly matching left over beige wool that wouldn’t be enough for anything more then a small jacket, perhaps 18th century…
Yep, you see where I’m going here.
So onto Pinterest I went:
One of few back views
Close-up showing the hooks and bars that keeps the stomacher in place.
And you got to love the cosy knitwear.
2 years ago I worked as the costume designer for the movie “Huldra – Lady of the forest”, which takes place in the deep northern forests of Sweden.
(you can red a bit more on my adventures during the shooting here: Huldra, Huldra- characters, Huldra – Working hard)
And now it is finally finished.
The trailer looks awesome:
https://vimeo.com/84141668
(Official movie website: www.huldra.org)
I’m so happy there’s now a final product for all the hard work we all put in.
On set, shooting the last couple of scenes.
And this weekend there was a big premiere/screening for everybody involved in the process of making the movie.
Which of course I had to attend.
So me and co costume designer Kristin decided to go (and to go in style – putting on that extra bling).
Bathroom selfie.
left to right: Mirja – who does incredibly nail and make-up arts – cheek her out here,
Fanny – yet another amazing make-up artist, working in both fashion and theater make-up,
Me, and in front, my companion in costuming crime: Kristin – the most fab and well dressed person I’ve ever meet, who’s strong opinions on nature and women’s rights doesn’t leave anybody unaffected (she also have a great eye for clothing and a passion for historical rural costuming).
I wore my old new years dress, paired with boots and a crazy beautiful new vintage bag
(you can glimps the golden strap in this picture).
The theater was full and all 350 seats was taken, not just with people involved in the movie, but also lots of friends, family’s and professional movie goers aswell. 
It was such a blast meting everybody again ( I can’t believe it’s almost been two years).
Kristin and Fanny nervously waiting for the movie to begin.
Afterwards the director and the producer held a short speech, asking the leading actors onto the floor for applause.
Then most of us headed to the after party.
Many, many hours later I finally got home.
Looking at the sunrise from my temporary bedroom window, realizing I’ve been partying for about 12 hours. 
Ops…
Well, it was so much fun, and totally worth the three hours of sleep I got before the bus was to take me home for real.
Since the only party pictures I got are either to dark or to blurry, I leave you with some nice and clear pics and screenshots from the movie.
Photos: Marcus Möller
What I thought of the movie?
Well, lets just say it was fun watching it all come togeter.
And that me and Kristin could feel really proud of our work – The costumes at least, looked great….
The movie ”Huldra” I’ve been working on is a thriller set in the forest in the northern parts of Sweden.
It’s about a young group of old friends who decides to go hiking in the deep forests of the north. When they arrive at the old cabin where they plan to stay for a couple of weeks they soon realizes they are not alone. The wood keeper sneaks around acting weird and a beautiful lady is lurking in the forest and in there dreams. The friendship becomes more and more strained as the days goes by, and they all decides they need to win the mysterious girl at any price…
Characters:
Nanna – A tough tomboy girl who seeks to get out of her own troubled life and perhaps get together with her childhood love Martin. 
Played by: Rebecca Labbé (Photo: Marcus Möller)
Martin – The tough ex military who wants an exuse to get into the forest and away from his wife. 
Played by: Christoffer L Johnsson
Peter – The struggling musician who loves the forest and the wildlife. 
Played by: Dave León (Photo: Marcus Möller)
Adam – The successful attorney who wants to meet up with old friends. 
Played by: Victor von Schirach
John – The playboy wannabe brat, who loves to party. 
Played by: Viktor Åkerblom (Photo: Marcus Möller)
Adrian – the millionaire nerd who loves the nature and who don’t´t mind helping the others out. 
Played by: Nikola Ruzicic (Photo: Marcus Möller)
Harald – The forest keeper who´s been living in the woods for many, many years… 
Played by: Hans Muller (Photo: Marcus Möller)
Young Harald – Harald 40 years ago. 
Played by: Fredrik Wagner
Gerda – Haralds mysterious daughter. Played by: Pernilla Eriksson
Hippies – Haralds 4 hippie friends from the 1970s. Played by: Natalie Söderqvist, Linus Nilsson, Sofia Bratwall and Joakim Thelin.
Thrilled yet?
No?
Parhaps you need some more pictures from the set…
(Photo: Marcus Möller)
(Photo: Marcus Möller)
(Photo: Marcus Möller)
(Photo: Marcus Möller)
(Photo: Marcus Möller)
Still no…
Then let me just tell you that the past weeks I really learnt how to clean blood of clothes…
*The word ”huldra” is one of the names used to describe the mythical creature called ”skogsrå” (forest nymph) in Sweden.
As taught in school (my remembrance): The Skogsrå was a creature of the forest who used to appear to people who was lost in the woods in the shape of an ugly old woman. If the miss-fortunate traveler showed her kindness and let her warm herself by the fire, she would shift to her beautiful shape and show them the way home. But if she was treated badly she would instead turn them her back and show the big gulping hole and long tail coiling from her spine, and then kill them instantly.
As I mentioned in my last post I’ve been really busy working as a costume designer for the upcoming Swedish movie ”Huldra”.
I originally got the job as costume assistant one week before the shooting started. So I putt all my other work and tasks aside, and traveled to Stockholm to work for a month.
But when I got there, I realized two things:
First -There was no pre-production period, and the first shots where to be taken in less than two days…
Second – The costume designer had no intention on doing any work what so ever, help us or even visit us and the production on set. So I and the other costume assistant (who had no more experiance than me) was left totally on our own.
So with two days to: read the script, brake it down to figure out what was needed for each character, do a budget and collect all the things in time – We didn’t even had the time to panic…
We arranged to meet the actors one by one in the nearest shopping mall, and managed to dress and fit them all in one hour each. And as soon as the stores closed we went back to the studio (or base-camp) and altered clothes, wrote more shopping lists, calculated budgets and tried to figure out who was to wear what when.
In those two days we bought, collected and borrowed almost all the clothing and jewelery that was needed for the whole production.
We both worked so hard, and stupidly thought that the worst was over when the shooting started. But then we learnt the hard way what it meant to work with costumes on a movie set. There was so many things we didn’t know and never would have thought about until someone asked us why we had/hadn’t done this or that.
Thank god the whole team are so wounderful, and once some of them realized we actually had no idea on what we were suposed to do, they explained everything and thereby helped us tremendously.
Stressful as it’s been I learnt so much about both the art of movie making, and about myself and what I can accomplish when I really want and need to.
Now I will stop babbling, and show you some pictures of the behind the camera work going on on set. (un-credited pictures are taken by me).
Our costume and makeup trailer.
And inside we find (from left to right) Kristin – costume, Jessica – script and Hanna – props and set designer.
Some of our costumes sorted by character.
The luxurious location and workspace in the middle of the woods.
Hanna covering the knives in pigs-blood.
Wather scenes.
On set working
Spraying some sweat on our actors.
Camera crew
And some more camera crew Sofia, Eddie and camera man Staffan.
When the camera points at you – you duck (no one even realized the trucks in the back probably destroyed the shoot even more).
Actors having a repetition of the scene while make-up, costume and sound-tech works on them. (By Marcus Möller)
The Swedish summer is not always sunny…
Dave Leon and Rebecca Labbé get directions by Ove Valeskog. (by Marcus Möller)
Viktor Åkerblom and Staffan Övegård on a hunt. (By Marcus Möller)
Ove Valeskog och Nikola Ruzicic looks like twins (not intentionly). (By Marcus Möller)
The cool gang (Kristin Sundberg, Dave León, Mirja Mira Steen, Viktor von Schirach, Christoffer l Johnsson and Viktor Åkerblom).
Next time I will tell you more about the movie and the characters.
This week I missed out on my so far perfekt score of posting something every other day. But I think I’ve got a pretty good exuse.
I’ve been working my as of as costume designer on this new movie “Huldra”, and it’s been taking every bit of my waking hours. In fact the few hours every day that I don’t work, I’m dead asleep.
It is so cool too be part of a project like this, and even though it’s really tough sometimes I love it and enjoy it soo much.
I will tell you more about the project and show some great behind the scen photos when I can get out of the woods an get too a computor. In the mean time you can google “Huldra the movie” and take a look at the trailer/pilot (which I did not have any hand in).
Fashion Through Herstory 