When the artwork for Princess Leia’s Wedding Dress (illustrated by Tara Phillips) from The Princess and the Scoundrel novel by Beth Revis was revealed, fans immediately became obsessed with it. My lovely and extremely talented friend Natalie was working on a cosplay of Leia's dress while I was styling a bound. She asked if I’d like to collaborate and shoot both of our looks together, and I’m so glad that she did! We're so excited to discuss these outfits with you, and to reveal the amazing photos that Jordan shot for us today, on what would've been Carrie Fisher's 66th Birthday. We will forever miss her.
Written by: Jenmarie
If you're unfamiliar with the term "bounding", it simply means styling an outfit that RESEMBLES a specific character. What I love about bounding is that there's so much room for play and various interpretations since you're never going for 100% accuracy. When I choose a character outfit I want to re-create, I always start with a list of colors and shapes I want to mimic from the outfit. I like to search specific keywords on Google for specific for clothing and accessories. I've had great luck from places like Amazon, Poshmark, Nordstrom Rack, etc. There are also great pieces to use for bounding at Galaxy's Edge!
I think that whether you're creating a bound or cosplay, the most important thing is to have fun with it! It can be challening at times, but really, it should be a fun experience where you can create freely and be yourself.
This bound was really fun because there were a lot of pieces involved. I went for more of an every day sort-of look. Choosing a dress shorter in length definitely helped to achieve that goal of mine. Plus, I wanted to show off my cute boot cuffs and boots, one of my favorite elements of Leia's wedding dress ensemble! I found a gold tassel necklace and removed the tassels to add them to the ends of a gold braided belt (which originally had pearls dangling from it). I really liked how it turned out, and it felt good customizing pieces to my liking! I found the flowers for my braided headband and bouquet at Michaels and I used superglue to attach the flowers to the headband. I also attached gold ribbon to the headband where it would sit right above my ears so that I could weave the pieces into small braids using my actual hair. I used the same ribbon to wrap around the bouquet. Overall, I am so happy with how this bound turned out. It's exactly the way that I envisioned it. Very romantic. Very Leia-ish.
You can find links to everything I wore below!
Dress: Amazon
Belt: Combined these items: here & here
Braided Headband: Amazon
Headband Ribbon: Amazon
Flowers: Michaels
Vince Camuto Boots: Nordstrom Rack
Fur Boot Cuffs: Amazon
Written by: Natalie Lucia
Over the last few years, I have worked on many costumes from the Star Wars fandom for myself. I was running errands one day when my phone pinged alerting me that I had a message. A friend had sent me two images with the words, “CAN YOU MAKE THIS?!?!?”, under them. Since I had been offline that morning, I had no idea what it was but I knew I loved it. After a bit of research, I discovered it was Princess Leia’s wedding dress. While I liked the cover artwork, the details weren’t fully shown so I hadn't considered making it for that reason alone. With both front and back views now available, my mind changed immediately and I knew it was something I wanted for myself. The drop of the artwork coincided with my upcoming Oogie Boogie Bash event so I made the rash decision then and there to make this gown to wear to it with only five days to do so. Crazy, I know, but I do this stuff all the time.
The first step for me in recreating something made by another artist is to study the available references and make a list of every possible detail so I know what I am going to need in terms of supplies etc. Making a tangible piece of clothing from artwork is always tricky as there are many times that seams and stitching details are left off and one has to guess at what should go where. The blessing(?) of the artwork is that her hair covers the upper back half so I could make that how I wanted to (invisible zipper and hook and eye closure at top) and not worry too much about it being “wrong”.
I visited the LA Fashion District the very next day and stumbled upon a beautiful green satin that looked perfect to me. The artwork shows the dress with a bit of a shine to it so I decided using satin would emulate that sheen. I am fairly tall so I regularly use around 7-8 yards of fabric for a gown with a train. I did not take into account the amount of fabric that would be eaten up by the pleating detailing so I had to make a secondary trip two days later to buy an additional 5 yards to fix that miscalculation. The finished gown contains 13 yards of satin.
In studying the artwork, I noticed there was gold piping detail on the edges of the sleeves and down the front of the skirt panels. I also took into account all the ribbons. She wears a belt made of ribbon that hangs down to about knee level that ends in two gold tassels. A matching ribbon is braided through her hair as well as wrapped around her bouquet and even laces up her boots. The flowers she holds also match the flowers in her hair. She wears boots with fur on the top edge that lace up and there is gold trim detailing all around the bottom of the skirt and sleeves and inside the sleeves as well. Believe it or not, this trim detailing was the most difficult part.
I knew I wanted to use my Cricut and make the trim with HTV but how do you create trim that isn’t super clear? You do the best you can. I searched Etsy for SVG patterns that could be purchased. I found one that had the general look I was going for and then tweaked it in Design Space. My friend, Anya, helped me by adding the borders to the trim to match the artwork. With the file created, I took many hours to cut out the files and then weed them and then painstakingly iron them to the gown by hand. Every time I thought I had enough flowers on the back, I’d step back to look at it and hear Kylo Ren’s voice in my head saying, “More!” So I added more. Lots more.
I made the braided hairpiece with Kanekalon hair that matched my own and then braided the ribbon through it. I then added all the flowers and kept them in place with hot glue. The flowers on the side of her head were a little tricky to figure out until I decided to wear a braided headband and glue more flowers to the side of that. I added an additional hair extension to give my own hair more length and volume and voila! Instant wedding hairdo.
I have to thank my friend, Ashleigh, who helped me find the boots. She has an eye for finding things one thinks is impossible so, having her help me was a godsend. My boots are Uggs that I added my ribbon to.
The entire process took me three days. I stopped only to go to work or to eat, quickly. I do not recommend this process. Making this gown was a definite challenge but one I truly enjoyed. Wearing this gown makes me truly feel like a princess and I am so glad that Del Rey released the images so we could all see the gown in its entire
If you've been thinking about trying your hand at cosplaying or bounding, or you just needed some inspiration for your current project, we hope that this inspired you! Remember to have fun with it and be yourself! Please don't hesitate to leave a comment below or get in touch with us via social media below if you have any questions:
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Jenmarie:
Twitter | Instagram
Disclaimer: Affiliate links were used in this post meaning if you purchase something from Amazon, I will receive a commission.
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