Each of the courtesans we chose to become first needed a theme. Much like the Moulin Rouge dancers who had names such as Tatoo, Travesty, and Baby Doll, we decided upon designs that meant something to each of us. Maggie's outfit was the last to be sketch and since the color black was prominent in both mine and Shelly's costumes she decided to be different and went with white. This is the color of innocence so we named her the Baby Doll Courtesan. Along with the theme, each courtesan's outfit also revolved around one key prop; in this case, Maggie's prop was a large Chinese paper umbrella we ordered from the Oriental Trading Company. Fantabulous.

Status of Costume: complete

Started: Fall 2002
Finished: Oct. 31, 2002

Materials Used:
Corset - duck cloth, satin, and pink bias tape as well as boning, hook-and-eye tape, pearl buttons and ribbon lacing from Joann's; we also hand sewed on ribbon flowers from Joann's; grommets were from Home Depot
Skirt - white cotton from Joann's

Patterns Used:
Corset - Simplicity 9769, modified
Skirt - self-draped

Found Items:
Matching Tank Top: Hects, $5
Lacy Boy Shorts: Hects, $7
Lacy Thigh-Highs: Walmart, $5
White Garter Belt: Hects, $10
White Garter: Claires, $2.50
Maribu Slippers: made from a maribu boa from Michael's and Payless mules, $10
White elbow-length gloves: Claires, $15
Jewelry: necklace, earrings and bangles from Claires, $10 in all
Hair: peacock feathers from Michael's

What I like / would change: I'm very happy with how all of our tango underwear costumes came out and wouldn't really change anything. Due to time constraints we weren't able to sew hooks and eyes onto the skirts to keep them modestly ;) closed so we ended up resorting to safety pins. Other than that the costumes were a hit!

To see the reference images used to make this costume,
check out my Tango Underwear Research.