The Queen's "Un-dress"

So that I wasn't standing around in my underwear in front of an audience while they got settled, I created an "un-dress" set of clothes: a dressing gown and coif with forehead cloth to cover my severely pinned up hair.

"Un-dress" Standing

Sorry the feet are cut off, I'll try to chnage this one out later when we get better finished pics.

Coif & Forehead Cloth

Here's a closeup of the fit of my coif and forehead cloth. It clamps like a clamshell around my head, and doesn't require a chin-tie. In my headgear parlance, I could do the can-can in this one (or the galliard!) and it wouldn't budge.

Coif & Collar Back

I'm still not satisfied with the lie of this collar, but SG likes it like this. You can see the little ribbon loops on the coif here.

Coif Folded Back

We took this so you could see how tiny the forehead cloth really is under there. From the artwork, it's proportionally correct, but it's surprising how small it ended up.

Full Ensemble Front

So here you can see the accessories on the full gown ensemble. Makeup, ruff and cuffs were not yet finalized. I'll be adding pics from the performance for that, and try to show features of the jewels and such.

Full Ensemble Three-Quarter

Kind of a cool profile shot. After some practice, I actually find it more comfortable to sort of let my arms hang over the outside edge of the farthingale. What's the word? Sartorial?

Full Ensemble Back

Whille I'm wearing this get-up, I actually have no sense at all of how huge I am from teh back, because everything balances so perfectly on the bumpad and bumroll. Quite the vision from this angle, huh?

The Queen's Headshot

Here's a headshot from the opening performance. Clearly, I still need to master the makeup!

Seated Performance Pic

Here's a seated shot from the show. This doesn't show the gown to full advantage, but you can see the accessories pretty well.

Carcanet & Billiment Detail

This and the rest of the detail shots are taken from the displays we put together for the library after the show opening. Sorry about the weird neckline, the armature is trying to escape from the dress form.

Girdle Detail

I'm really pleased with how the girdle drapes over the pleats. I think we made the right gem color choices.

Sweet Bag Detail

During the performance, I had a beautiful stumpworked loaner sweet bag by Deb Wantland, one of our dressing assistants. It went into a needlework show case after the presentation, so I threw this one together for the gown display from scraps of leftover stomacher fabric.

Wig Case Display

Here are the wig, shoes and coif with forehead cloth in their display case, in front of one of the cool show posters.

Wig Detail

Here's a detail shot of the wig...

Coif & Forehead Cloth Detail

...and the coif...

Shoes Detail

...and the shoes. Sorry about the flash!

Fan & Cuff Case

Here's the fan and the cuff we didn't lose in their display case, with some of the pearls.

Fan Detail

Here's a detail shot of the fan, from the Dudley portrait side.

Dressing Gown Display

I managed to get the dressing gown to sit up next to the underpinnings display. Looking very prim here!

Gown Display Poster

This is a labeled photo we gave to the library for use with the display. They blew it up and posted it next to the forms, with some fabric sample rings we provided, so that people would know what was what.

Underpinnings Display Poster

And here's the labeled shot of the underpinnings. Too much fun!