Itâs here! I finally tackled my analysis of Keyâs gold Gasoline era costume, worn in his music video for the song, photoshoots, a stage performance at the Inkigayo show, and a live performance at SM Town 2022. Iâll discuss everything from the fabrics used, the gloves, the shoes, complain about the zipper, talk about whatever the heck jumps are, break down all of the tiny little types of ornamentation (including the things I donât actually know the name for) and more.
Itâs scary in the best way. Buckle up. Grab some coffee or tea or vodka and a blanket.
I want to preface this by saying that this is going to be VERY long. Iâve polled my followers and nearly everyone said they want me to get as granular as I want. So Iâm doing that. If thatâs not your thing, hereâs your exit ramp now. I get it. This is absurd.
You can also read it on my Twitter here. It actually has a LOT of bonus photos because they only allow me to have 30 on here, if youâre interested in seeing more. It may help clarify some things, as well.
Now then. Welcome to those who are left. Letâs begin!
Costumes by DĂ©nicheur by Seo Seung Yeon
For his Gasoline era, Key has had four costumes designed and made by DĂ©nicheur by Seo Seung Yeon, a Haute Couture Designer House that, among other things, makes elaborate costumes for Kpop performers. Theyâve got an amazing Instagram portfolio to check out. They made him a gold and black costume for his G.O.A.T in the Keyland concert, the blue and white one for the Gasoline MV, this gold one, and a cream and gold beaded jacket for the 2023 SM Town Concert.
This fashion houseâs trademark is intricately beaded, appliquĂ©dâŠencrustedâŠcostumes. I was able to get some high quality photos from some of you (thanks so much!) And the more I looked, the more I discovered.
If this were a piece of art (well, it is, but not in the same way) âMixed Mediaâ is what Iâd call it. There are literally over twenty different types of beading techniques, appliquĂ©s, various types of sequins, trims, braids, rhinestones, chains, and more.
First, Iâll do an overview of the garments themselves, and then Iâll move on to the ornamentation.
The top (itâs not a jacket, itâs not really a shirt, itâs not a tunic. So Iâm going with âtopâ) has a very boxy torso with exaggerated wide, padded shoulders. Theyâre completely squared. There are straight sleevesânot too slim, not too bulky. Thereâs a heavily ornamented oversleeve that reaches down to about his elbows and a ânudeâ colored full length under sleeve. It also has heavily ornamented cuffs at the bottom the sleeve. It has an exposed zipper up the center back that goes up into a short turtleneck collar. The collar and a portion of the lower neck back region are sheer with some beading and appliquĂ©s. There are sheer spirals around his arms and in chevrons on his front and scooping around to his back.
Just LOOK AT that masterpiece
The trousers are closely cut through the waist, hips, and thighs but become a bit wider at the knee. It looks like they were made full length but are always worn bunched up over knee high boots. They close at the center front with a very beautifully set fly zipper and flat trouser hook and bar. Itâs so low profile that it wasnât until I got some 4K images that I was even sure of where they closed. It was like he had been sewn in. I wrote a whole thread about it on Twitter that reads like a mystery novel, though I already spoiled the ending for you. Sorry.
The top is made of what is probably a ânudeâ (aka specially dyed to his skin tone) base fabric to hold the structure, with the ornamentation stitched over top. The external stabilizing fabric is what appears to be some sort of jacquard, possibly silk.
Jacquard is a type of weave, where the fabric is made of long and short âup and downâ stitches of sorts, to make a pattern. Because some of the time it uses longer âstitchesâ on top, it becomes more vulnerable to the fiber breaking and makes it become kind of âfuzzyâ looking. This can be especially true if itâs a natural fiber that usually has less structural integrity than a synthetic one. I initially thought this had started to happen on Keyâs rear, but after a very close zoom in, I think thatâs just a bit of appliquĂ© edge pulling up. I think maybe one of his mic packs is down there too, but Iâm really not an expert in that. I did the research so you donât have to, folks.
Left: A type of jacquard fabric. The shine comes from the longer top threads, contrasting with details of shorter threads. Right: Is it an applique or is it some snagged fibers? Ultimately, I think it's an applique edge.
Perhaps the most interestingly nerdy thing about jacquard is that it was originally made on a loom that led to the creation of computer programming by utilizing a sort of âbinary code.â There were punchcards that showed the strands of fibers when to go up and down. Like âholes and not holesâ in which to weave.
A Jacquard Machine Loom with punchcards that create the desired design on the fabric
Itâs important to note that this fabric needs to have some stretch because it is also used to make his very tight fitting trousers. If it were not a stretch fabric, he wouldnât be able to do this like THIS orâŠmost things, really.
Even though the jacquard is stretchy, it has some structure to it. Itâs used as a stabilizer in between the âflesh meshâ on the outer layer. (aka power net, stretch mesh... There are many names!) It forms the base on which the majority of the ornamentation is stitched.
Flesh mesh is a stretchy mesh fabric dyed to the performerâs skin color and is used to give the illusion that youâre seeing their skin, but it gives much more strength than just a cutout. I wrote a thread about flesh mesh and the importance of taking into consideration the performerâs actual skin tone when building them a costume here
In this case, flesh mesh allows for adornment of these areas, as well. Itâs important to note that, even though itâs a separate layer over the base, it is âtackedâ through all layers in a regular fashion so it doesnât droop with the weight of all of the ornamentation.
There are also some parts that have metallic gold applied pieces. This was probably made of a beefy metallic spandex applied on top of the base rather than some solid pleather, due to way it behaves on the body. The latter would have been way too rigid in comparison to the rest of the fabrics.
Heavy gold stretch spandex, forming a chevron on which to affix beads and other trims
Okay. Range of movement time. You know how I love discussing this. Thatâs because itâs the single most important aspect of costumes for dancers.
Letâs talk armpit gussets. Theyâre an American football shaped piece of fabric that is stitched in the armpit partially to the sleeve underarm, and partially to the torso underarm. Itâs often made of a stretch fabric, but sometimes itâs out of the original âfashion fabric,â which is what we call the main garment fabric.
Gussets out of different fabrics under each underarm. You can see the gold bunch under his arm when it's at his side
It allows the performer to more easily move their arms above their chest and head to help keep the top from riding up. You can see in this photo, though, that it does bunch up a little when his arm is down, because of the extra fabric. It has to go somewhere when itâs not taut.
With this particular top, itâs interesting to note that, due to the asymmetrical decoration of his arms, one gusset is the gold stretch fabric and the other is the jacquard. That means that, either both fabrics have the exact same stretch, or his arms may be SLIGHTLY more limited on one side than the other. Thatâs fun! I really geeked out about this observation.
Often with jackets for dancers, theyâll have what are called âcommodity pleatsâ around the center back shoulder area. Theyâre a sort of sneaky hidden accordion-like bit of fabric that stretches out during movement that may otherwise split the back open. Taemin uses them a LOT. But, since this top is so boxy, Key doesnât need them in this instance. He already had the room he needed without any other accommodations.
They put commodity pleats in the back of most of Taemin's closer fitting jackets. I wish they'd make them the same color as his jackets, though!
With Keyâs trousers, weâve already established that theyâre made of a fabric with a decent amount of stretch. But since I canât find many good photos of his bottom half, Iâm unsure about if he also has âcrotch gussets.â
By this point, Iâm kind of notorious as being the âcrotch gusset person.â
The following posts explain them in much more detail, but basically, theyâre long triangular wedges that start in the trouser crotch and taper down to nothing in the inseam. These are often put in trousers of dancers when people need a better range of movement.
I wrote about this in detail regarding Taeminâs pleather pants he wore in his Metamorph concert, as well as all of SHINee in the Your Number dance video. You can find my posts on the subject here:(Metamorph) (Your Number)
Jinki rocking a black crotch gusset in SHINee's "Your Number" Performance Video (Black Version)
Gussets allow for extra room and movement when one is trying to do extreme leg movements like squatting. Unfortunately, I donât have many good photos of his inseam. Thereâs so much going on with appliquĂ©s and piecing of mesh vs jacquard, itâs hard to tell. Part of the front half of his trousers is flesh mesh, swirling around them. The other parts are the jacquard, whereas the back is all jacquard.
I saw one photo which made me begin to wonder if the inseam is a little further forward than it could be, though. That could mean there IS a gusset. Iâm really not sure...I don't have official visual confirmation, but now you know more about crotch gussets either way. Youâre welcome.
That seam line is up a bit more forward than usual. It really has me wondering, because that would happen if there was a gusset installed. Hmmmm.
Okay. Zipper education time. I apologize in advance. Things get spicy but I tried to tamp it down. The center back (abbreviated as âCBâ in the industry) of the top has an exposed zipper. This means exactly what it sounds like: itâs exposed. You look at it, and it looks like thereâs a zipper right there. Itâs not hidden. Sometimes itâs a perfect match, and sometimes itâs âfeatured.â Exposed zippers actually become a trend every once in a while in everyday fashion.
I thought it was extremely interesting that, on this elaborate costume, they chose to use a zipper with metallic teeth on white âtape.â (The fabric on the sides of the teeth.) It was a huge disappointment for me, actually. I would have loved to have seen the zipper more carefully hidden like his fly was.
Hello, zipper. I see you loud and clear!
I have to comment a bit on what I view as the one flaw in this otherwise perfect costume. I will preface this by saying that I was not in the fitting room where this was conceived, and I donât know about any extenuating circumstances and the reasoning behind this decision. But there a few things that I would have done differently regarding the zipper and back collar of this top if were to have made it.
But first: some zipper education. Besides exposed, there are center lapped, as well as regular lapped zippers. With the center lap, itâs like the fabric covers your zipper but you can pull the zipper down through it. Your hoodie probably has one. The regular lap zipper is more like your trouser fly in that there is one flap of fabric that covers the whole zipper, hiding it.
Top: Exposed. (Though it has a matching zipper and zipper tape.) Bottom Left: Center Lapped. Right: Regular Lapped.
Either of those types could have been used to make the zipper more discreet. I personally would have chosen to use a regular lapped zipper, which is less likely to get snagged than a center lapped zipper.
People have defended the exposed zipper by asking if itâs because itâs less likely to get caught. I very much get this argument, and, technically itâs right.
But, in my extensive experience, I donât think I can recall a case of an exposed zipper in the back of a costume, quick change or no. Itâs unattractive. (Not to mention a dead giveaway in a period garment!)
If itâs sewn well and tested, with the correct size lap and no loose fabric, it will work just fine. There should be a hook and eye at the top to make sure that it stays secure while dancing.
Part of being a good dresser is being methodical and purposeful, not frantically zipping something up in a way that is more prone to snagging. They keep their cool, perhaps taking a couple more seconds but ensuring that they pull it up smoothly. They use their fingers to block the overlap as they guide the zipper up.
(Random side note: I met a dresser once who preferred zippers be installed upside down for their quick changes. Hey, whatever works best for them! I wonder how they discovered thatâŠ)
I will also note that, as far as Iâm aware, the only times heâs worn this costume, he didnât need to get in or out of it quickly. I know that he wore it in the MV, the Inkigayo performance, and the photoshoot. He also performed at SM Town Tokyo 2022, though he had 11 songs during which to change between Bad Love and this. He never wore this look at his G.O.A.T. in the Keyland concert. Oh, and the collab with the Jinro frog. Iâll talk about that later.
So ultimately, all of the zipper quick change talk is for nothing. There COULD have been a chance that this was going to be worn during his concert, I suppose. But if not, in the end, I can find no reason that there needed to be an exposed zipper other than: they wanted it that way.
Sorry for that rant. I know that it was intense. I justâŠwish it were pretty. Thatâs all. I know it wouldnât have bothered most people, but I personally think that the costume deserved better!
Well then. They arranged the symmetrical beaded appliquĂ© motifs so they didnât interfere with the center back line, so it wasnât an issue being all chonky around the zipper.
Unfortunately, since the zipper was built into the neck with just the âstretch mesh,â it moves very differently than the rest of the top. It has a substantially weaker structural makeup and it canât support itself the same, so it stretched at a different rate than the zipper on the solid fabric on the bottom. It kind of âbubbledâ when he moved and it rode up.
Showing the neck bubbling, and, on the bottom left photo, you can see that there is some sheer stabilizer to ensure that the zipper doesn't just tear out of the sheer net.
It couldnât have been helped unless that whole back neck area had been backed with the solid nude base fabric. Thatâs what I would have done, personally. But using the stabilizer helped a bit. Without it, it may have not lasted a performance.
I donât know why they did it that way, but the result was rather disappointing to me, especially considering the care that was taken with the rest of the garment.
Okay. End rant. The rest of the costume is EXQUISITE.
One more thing to note is that the zipper terminates about 4â above the topâs bottom hem. It is right around where his waist is. It was built that way to ensure that he was able to move his legs and hips comfortably without getting hung up anywhere.
His knee high boots were covered with the same peach jacquard as his top, as well as utilizing the gold fabric to serve as ornamental buckled straps.
The stretch element of the jacquard is further showcased by the fact that it pulls over the boot toe smoothly, with little issue. A completely stable fabric wouldnât be able to do that.
Now for the ornamentation. Oooooh boy. There are around twenty types of various adornments on this costume, and I thought Iâd highlight some of them.
I can spy about 15 different types of ornamentation here alone.
Beaded appliques at the neckline
Rhinestone appliques and/or individual rhinestone pieces
Yellow individual small rhinestones
Grey beads in between bugle beads
Gold and silver flat braid trim
Round flat decorative chain
Dark seed beads with some of the paillettes
A sequined applique peeking out from behind a chain
Utilizing the main fabric as a chevon stabilizer as a design detail
About paillettes: these might actually be my favorites. Theyâre like âfloppy sequinsâ that only have one hole at an edge. Theyâre made of a very lightweight plastic, so theyâre virtually silent. If you wear a dress completely covered in paillettes, youâll just hear a little rustle. In this case, his were mainly attached via dangly wires as fringe around the upper sleeves. There are a few other random instances throughout the garment where theyâre stitched on individually. You can read more about paillettes in my post here.
Appliqués: There are at least three different types of appliqués in this costume:
Appliqués are premade decorative pieces. It looks like someone hand beaded everything on the costume, but they were able to take a shortcut by using these. So no, contrary to what you might believe, there wasn't someone laboriously hand beading every single thing on to this costume.
It still takes FOREVER to invisibly stitch each motif on to the costume as well as, in this case, sometimes layer upon layer. A lot of them are attached to a net base, and in closeups, I saw how they trimmed the net away closely around the motifs.
On the top, we have the gold paisley sequined appliques. On his trousers, you can see the low profile lurex embroidered lace appliques. Bottom left, you can see the beaded and rhinestone applique. And on the right, beaded appliques. You can see that they're over flesh mesh so, when it's on Key, it just looks like he has a beaded collar.
The sequined, beaded paisley motifs are the most prominent and plentiful form of appliquĂ©s, focusing around the topâs cuffs and lower edge. Theyâre also heavily featured spiraling around the trousers. There are even some appliquĂ©s stitched across the seams of the trousers and top.
There are some huge, gorgeous bead and rhinestone appliqués, like this one on his right bicep that you can see in the photo above.
Thereâs also the Lurex lace (metallic threaded) embroidered appliquĂ©s that concentrate mostly on his trousers' waist and hips. Itâs low profile without any bits that might snag the top while moving. They added a few jewels to it further down once it was no longer posing any danger to snags. There are also a few flat appliquĂ©s on his rear, so as to not make sitting uncomfortable but still be adorned.
Beads and gemstones: There are also individual beads and jewels both sewn and what appears to be discreetly glued on as accents. A popular adhesive we use for that sort of application is called E6000. It bonds pretty much everything from plastic, leather, metal, rubber, and wood. Itâs like a slower acting super glue, but is more flexible.
You definitely need to use this in a ventilated area or, ideally, with a respirator. The fumes are no joke! There are little chevrons made out of long tubular metallic bugle beads that were probably glued instead of stitched on. There are also round bronze beads and gold rhinestones glued to the edges of the metallic fabric.
There are little dangling gold dudes, though I donât know what theyâre officially called. There are individual sew on rhinestones. There are circular decorative flat chains. There is gold beaded fringe at the wrists of the sleeves.
Top left: gold braid, beads and chains are heavily featured. Top right: the dangling gold dudes. I don't know what to call them. Bottom left: Paillettes, hanging on gold wires on the upper sleeve hem. Bottom right: Gemstones highlighting the center of the chest, with a whole organized, beautiful mess of braid, beads, etc.
Thereâs gold flat âbraidâ trim that also looks like it has a bit of silver in it to add dimension. Itâs basically like a braided ribbon, often in metallic colors. Itâs used a lot in military uniforms.
And there are a few other various random beads and trims that show up amongst the circus of adornment.
The layout of the overall design is asymmetrical, with left and right arms and legs that donât match. However, the front of the top is completely symmetrical (which is extremely impressive) except for a few rampant rhinestones that intentionally deviate a bit. Hereâs an abomination I made of the sleeves next to each other to see the asymmetry more clearly.
I THINK (not based on this photo but others that aren't Frankensteined together with different perspectives) that the sleeves are actually different lengths as well.
Something that I should cover is that with garments made out of a stretch fabric, like Keyâs trousers in this case, stitching on something non-stretchy (like some appliquĂ©s) can be fraught. The appliquĂ© can keep the fabric from stretching as much as it needs to accommodate a body in it, and it might tear off.
Sometimes, we need to stretch the fabric a bit as we sew on the motif so it will look normal when a leg is in it. It may look a bit puckered when itâs not being worn. The good news is that it appears that most of the motifs in this costume are on what is most likely a mesh backing, so they probably didnât have to deal with that headache here!
Since the motif on the Jacquard fabric is pretty small, as well as the fact that some of the appliquĂ©s wrapped across the side seams, âpattern matchingâ wasnât a big priority on this. However, itâs always preferable to keep the motifs at the same horizontal height. This is a REALLY small pattern, so it wouldn't matter terribly, plus the fact that it was so covered it can hardly be seen. There WAS a point on the right side seam where the pattern did match, but the fabric slightly torqued on the left so it didnât. All in all, it wasnât a big deal whatsoever. If it were a bigger print though, it could have been. I made a thread about pattern matching here. It's a subject I'm pretty passionate about!
This side seam was cut so that, at a fixed point, the motif was all at the same level horizonatally at there was a part where the motif perfectly matched up to create one complete one. Because there are curves in the seam, it can't do that everywhere.
Now for a bit of a departure: SHINee and its members have done a few collabs over the years, dancing with the frog mascot from Jinro soju. SHINee did one for Donât Call Me, Taemin did one for Move, and Key did one for Gasoline.
They dressed the frog up like Key, complete with jewels and chains! It was precious. SO GOOD. Watch it now. I also bring this up because that video was the resource I used to figure out where the gold chains on Keyâs top were âtackedâ (AKA stitched to keep it held down strategically.) It was a nice close-up view. Thanks, Jinro frog!
(Side note: I have made mascots before and it's ironic because they freak me out. I also refurbished a hot dog mascot that had gotten too gross after public appearances over a decade. My life is weird.)
I love how scaled-back but accurate the frog's costume was.
Through the magic of the Jinro frog, I found the answer to the question âwhere were the chains tacked?â Here. Enough that they still have independent swing and look natural, but frequent enough to keep them from smacking him in the face. Based on the way they move, I think that is metallic coated plastic and not actual metal. Also, for safety's/comfortability's sake! You don't want to be thumped in the chest with every move.
Here's where the chains were tacked
Someone asked me how much they thought this costume weighed. My answer?
I really have no ideaâŠbut probably not NEARLY as much as it looks? I'm like 99.9% sure the chains aren't actual metal. Iâm not sure if the âjewelsâ are glass or plastic. The tiiiiiny âseed beadsâ and "bugle beads" are glass, but there arenât enough that they would weigh a significant amount. There's a lot of gold braid on there that's very lightweight. A lot of what you see are layered appliquĂ©s with sequins and seed beads, which weigh nearly nothing. The dangling paillettes are just a light plastic.
For the garments themselves, as weâve established, the are a few layers of fabric and mesh, which arenât very heavy. Because of the âencrustedâ nature of the ornamentation, of course, it still weighs a bit more than just a regular top, and is probably kind of rigid on the front. However, itâs not like heâs dancing around in chainmail.
Lastly, there are his gloves. His left one is made out of that heavy gold stretch fabric that was incorporated into the rest of his costume, and his right was also made out of a flesh mesh. From the way it behaves in this photo, it appears to be a much heavier mesh than the top and trousers.
The right glove has thicker mesh that almost appears to have a natural fiber content that is getting snagged. It doesn't completely conform to the skin like a tight flesh mesh would.
The gloves are heavily ornamented with appliquĂ©s and beads. Iâm going to guess that these were actually custom made for him, which is a big deal. I know very little about glove making, except it involves a TON of pieces to be done right. Gussets in between the fingers to make them slim and elegant and such. No Mickey Mouse hands here.
Stitching the ornamentation on to gloves is pretty difficult work. You either need a hand form and a curved needle or a very brave stitcher who uses their own hand as a form (palm up.) I havenât done that for gloves, specifically, but I have been a âsacrificial handâ for other situations. Iâm so calloused in most places, I donât really feel much anymore!
Thereâs one more aspect to this costume that was seen in the intro for his Gasoline Inkigayo performance: the cloak. He didnât wear it for very long, but it appears to button across his chest to the other shoulder with snaps underneath. The snaps keep the underlap from peeking out fromâŠunder the lap.
It looks like they might have had a wardrobe emergency here, because you can see that two of the three snaps were hastily stitched on with red thread. The ornamentation is asymmetrical, mostly focused on his right side. On his left shoulder, there is a decorative beaded âepaulette.â Those are the ornamental shoulder pieces you often see on military dress uniforms.
Left: The full cloak. You can see the facing on the inside edges, made of the same fabric as the outside. I'll write about that in a bit, and I'll show you a closer view later. Top right: The red thread holding on the upper snaps. Bottom right: Metallic epaulette.
Itâs hooded and made out of the same jacquard fabric as the rest of his costume, and it has a satin lining the same color as the âfashion fabric.â It appears to be about calf length. One of the photos I found actually has a shot that shows the facing, the lining, and how the hem is done. Of course, I nerded out. Itâs âself faced,â which means that thereâs the same fabric thatâs on the outside making up the âfacing.â The facing is the first ten inches or so of the inside edge of the cloak. It makes a pretty transition from the outside to the inside, without a harsh switch to lining.
While attached at the top, the hem of the lining and the outer fashion fabrics are allowed to âhang outâ separately while on a dress form. Because fabrics stretch out at different rates (and it also changes by the direction theyâre cut from the fabric, but thatâs a whole different lessonâŠ) itâs ideal for something like this to hang on a dress form and do its thing for a day or so.
In an ideal world, youâd have a fitting with your performer and you would mark a âlevel lineâ on them while theyâre wearing the cloak (and also the shoes they will be wearing. Different shoes can change a lot!)
There are several different ways you can mark a hem. You can safety pin it up the way you want it, using a ruler measuring up from the floor to keep it even. But this can be awkward and clunky.
Or you can safety pin a âlevel lineâ and say that itâs, for instance, 18â off the ground, and youâd like the hem to be 16â off the ground. Youâd draw a new hemline 2â down from the pins. It's the easiest way to know what's level and then decide exactly what you want to do later.
OR you can use what I call âthe pooferâ which is a little measuring stick on a tripod with chalk and a rubber squeezy ball that poofs chalk into a line at a set height, instead of dealing with pins. But sometimes the chalk doesnât like to brush away, so thatâs a bit of a risk in exchange for convenience.
First, letâs talk about hemming the outside cloak fabric. Because it may have stretched out unevenly, you may have wildly different hems lengths now that theyâve been âleveled.â Letâs say weâll leave 6â of âhem allowanceâ to fold up into the garment so it can be lengthened later if we need to. Youâll trim the rest of it away. I canât tell you how many times Iâve altered hem lengths on cloaks over the years! I'm always grateful to have extra.
You may want to finish the hem with a âsergerâ or âoverlockâ machine, which is the sewing machine that uses 3-4 threads to sew things, often stretch, together and kind of seals off the edges. Itâs probably what stitches together the side seams of your t-shirt or hoodie or lounge pants or basically anything stretchy. Itâs used to keep hems and the edges of fabrics inside garments from fraying. Sometimes people donât do it, especially since it's inside, but itâs nice if youâre planning on altering it or if the fabric is really prone to fraying.
The cloak fabric is then thoroughly pinned and hand stitched up. There are many different sneaky stitches which grab a few threads at a time from the front of the fabric and are virtually invisible. Everyone has their favorites. My personal favorite is the âvertical hemming stitchâ or âvertical blind hem.â I like it because it holds the inner hem and the outside of the cloak more tightly together than a lot of other styles. The âcross stitchâ which is called the âblind catch stitchâ here in this diagram is one of the most popular methods. However, I feel it can be a bit too loose some times and is more likely to be caught on something. The one downside of the vertical blind hem is that, if you pull it too tight, itâs more likely to show from the outside. It takes a very sensitive hand to get it right. The lining is usually slip-stitched to the cloak hem.
Once youâve got your level line of your fashion fabric, it goes back on the dress form. IâmâŠnot entirely sure Iâll do a good job explaining this because I work best with showing things with points and grunts. My apologies.
You mark the lining to match the level where the hem of the fashion fabric ends. You decide how far up from the bottom of the hem you want the lining to end (in this case, 4â.) So normally, you think you'd fold it up 4", right? Ha! You subtract two inches from that number. This means youâll be folding up only two inches of lining. But, since we will be stitching it 4â up from the hem, that means thereâs a floppy extra two inches. (Cue Advice.) Whatâs that for? Now I have to tell you about âjumps.â
Jumps are a sneaky trick. This method is used in suit coat hems and sleeve linings as well. Basically, theyâre a way to give a little bit of wiggle room with the length of the lining to hem interaction.
After the fashion fabric is hemmed, you hand stitch the lining 4â up from the hem. You have two extra inches of lining. One extra inch of lining is pressed down so thereâs an extra inch of âunderlap". This photo (top right) showed me that they had done this to Keyâs cloak. You can see it stretched out with the pressed line on the left, and it is folded over on the right.
Left: The "self fabric facing" at the center front inside of the cloak. Top right: The cloak hem showing the underside of the "jump" (left) and it down in its "resting" position (right). Bottom right: the "poofer." They're marking a level line.
If you want to get even MORE granular, that is considered a âsoft pressâ, which means that the iron steams and very lightly rests on the fabric. A âhard pressâ is what it sounds like. Squish that lil dude and steam the heck out of it. That line is never gonna come out.
Okay. Enough of that. I canât believe myself.
I could literally discuss this costume inch by inch, but I think Iâve covered it enough that you can peruse it yourself if youâd like and kind of know what youâre looking at.
I deeply admire and respect the, perhaps, 100+ hours of craftspersonship that it took to make this stunning costume. Donât even ask me what it cost to make!
Do check out the Instagram of @denicheur.official where you can see other costumes theyâve worked on for groups like IVE, Enhypen, Stray Kids and more. Theyâve got an amazing portfolio to drool over.
I hope youâve gained an even greater appreciation for this gorgeous look, and the knowledge youâve gained here can go forward with you as you enjoy future costumes! And thanks so much for sticking with me. I hope it was worth it!
