Chrysalis Costume

Chrysalis is the main villain from the end of My Little Pony: Friendhip is Magic, season 2.

If you'd told me a year ago that I'd be dressing up as any pony to an event today, I'd have called you nuts.

Queen Chrysalis is somewhat vampiric, and is distinct from every other pony by not having a cutie mark, and by her hooves and hair being full of holes. Because I'm doing a human version, my costume has no 'tail'. I did keep ears though.

Main Items: 

A six or seven year old dress that I bought from wal-mart as a  witchy type costume, worn for several years as such. A few months ago, I pulled it out, slit open the side to thigh high, cut off the sleeves and cut round holes along every open edge. I used a sleeve pattern from a ren fair dress pattern to make new sleeves. I may redo them again.

For my main photo here, I'm wearing a black leather corset that I picked up a few years ago. I wear it when I don't have anyone handy to lace me up, since it closes in the front with clasps.  This costume does not require making or wearing a corset, but I like wearing one with it.

I used a simplicity steam punk inspired pattern - 1819 - to make a teal underbust corset for when I do have help to get into it, as well as a bustle that buttons under the corset. The bustle is made of bargain fabric, green with shiny black contrast fabric, with extra black fabric added to the off the shoulder sleeves for costume unity. I did not use the front fold that is pictured in the simplicity pattern.

The blue wig is off ebay for about $26. I ended up choosing this color because is it a blend of green, blue and black hair, and i feel it is closer to the original color than a lighter blue wig that some other cosutmers have chosen for this character. It's a kankelon wig, and better than average quality than your standard Halloween store wigs. I also love the shine.

I picked up your standard cheapie fangs ($16) from Norcosto, can also be found on amazon and at Halloween stores. I think they add a nice touch to the costume and is a detail that is usually overlooked for her.

My horn and ears are both made out of scrap black velvet. The horn is absolutely huge, the way she is drawn, and I wanted to keep the almost absurd horn/head ratio. The only good option seemed to be stuffed fabric. The ears are lined with black faux leather for accent and contrast. The horn is attached to a small square of blue felt, again, hot glue, to the front edge of a hair band that I covered in blue satin. I wanted the horn to sit forward of the center of my head. The ears are backed with simple bendy hair clips hot glued to the back and clipped in place in the wig on either side of my head.  

The crown is shaped black craft foam covered in black faux leather with blue beads to make up the crown tips. I wrapped the bottom edge of the crown in blue ribbon for contrast and hot glued a few extra plastic crystals along the sides for sparkle and easy detail. The beads are also simply hot glued on. A black veil attached to the crow keeps in place by pining into the wig with regular hairpins.  The veil is also attached to the crown with hot glue. I made the crown in about 20 minutes, same for ears.  The ears are cut in oval shapes from craft foam for stiffness and covered in black velvet, hot glued in place.

Because Chrysalis is insect-like, I picked up some sticky half-round beads meant for scrapbooking purposes and stuck them on my face and neck in a few places. If I'd thought about it, I would have painted or colored my eyebrows blue with eyeshadow or skin paint.

I made the wings following another Instructable on fairy wings, to continue the insect-inspired nature of Chrysalis.: https://www.instructables.com/id/Cellophane-Fairy-Wings-in-under-2-hrs/ using green, blue and iridescent Cellophane. 

I lined the bottom half of the dress with translucent blue sparkly fabric and stitched it to he inside of the dress, so it shifts when I walk. The necklace was a steampunk inspired piece of jewelry that I picked up, and it seemed appropriate. The belt was also something random I had sitting in a drawer that worked well. I painted my nails shiny blue/green and am wearing green colored contacts as well.

I'll update with photos of the back and better photos of the wings when I have them.

ETA: I do not own, nor claim to own any my little pony properties or designs of characters. 'My Little Pony:Friendship is Magic'  is a product of Hasbro and Lauren Faust.  My interpretation could not be possible without their creation.