Cruella | 2021

Cruella deVil – Cruella

Made for : Auckland Armageddon 2021

Background : Although this costume was made for Auckland Armageddon 2021, that event never ended up happening due to a certain pandemic. So it’s been sitting in my wardrobe ever since. I’ve been trying to sell it but my buyers keep ghosting me *sigh*.

Anyway, wore it for a quick photoshoot when I heard that Cruella won best costume design at the 2022 Oscars, as it should have.

I would like to have a go remaking this in the future now that some decent reference photos of it have popped up online.

Things used :

Wig : Brought a cheapie from Ali Express and teased the heck out of it. Did a makeup test with everything on and realized I’d styled it way too big. So I threw it in a bag and forgot about it. It wasn’t until I decided to go shoot this costume on a whim, that I took it out and in half an hour completely over-hauled the whole thing.

Coat :

I started with Simplicity S9086 as the base pattern. Though I pretty muted altered every pattern piece.

First of all, I did away with the collar and skirt pieces as I didn’t need them. Next I shortened the sleeves so the were now mid forearm length. I added a point to the right front bodice panel as Cruella’s is asymmetrical.

Then I drafted the skirt from scratch. I originally made the skirt from a full circle piece, added it to the mock up, cut the asymmetrical shape in to it and then decided it was no where near full enough, so then I made it from two full circle pieces.

I put horsehair braid along the skirt hem to help give it fullness. The skirt pieces are lined in bemsilk to try and cut down on the weight of it.

The bodice is fully boned and lined in cotton to give it structure and strength as it needed to support the weight of the faux fur skirt. I initially made the left sleeve from the same taffeta as the rest of the costume and then I found a reference photo that clearly showed it was made from a sheer fabric, so then I remade it from a black organza.

I tried drafting the hood so many times but it never sat right. In the end I gave up and searched for a pattern that would work. That’s where Simplicity 1254 came in. It had the right shape I was after but I had to change the front meeting of the points, to be symmetrical.

I found three handbag buckles that I liked and added them to the front of the coat. I then painstakingly drew on every individual Dalmatian spot using a fabric Sharpie. This way I could get the spots looking as sparse as I wanted.

Blouse :

The blouse started it’s life as a plain, long-sleeve button up shirt in my wardrobe. I cut off it’s Peter Pan collar and sleeves and saved the fabric from them which I then turned in to the new high neck collar and ruffles.

I turned the shirt around so that the buttons were now in the back. I cut two triangles out from the new front at the neckline and replaced them with skin coloured mesh. I then used the new ruffles I had made, backed them with organza to make them fluffier and added them to the new front.

Pants : Brought from Cotton On. Took me forever to find faux leather pants though and of course, several months later, they’re all the rage and everywhere.

Accessories :

I absolutely lucked out with the gloves that I found. They’re leather half gloves, just like Cruella’s and they have little round studs all over them. I brought them second-hand from TradeMe. I then added a ruffled lace trim around the edge.

The cane is one that I happened to have already in my costume bits and pieces.

The boots are from my everyday wardrobe.