How I became...The Black Swan

For a night at least! Halloween this year needed to be simple and cheap, but effective. Borrowing my flatmates black net dress, I added some black swan feather details you could try for next year!

All you need is a black tutu-esque dress (or a cheap simple black tutu and leotard), some feathers (on an edging so they stay together) , hairspray, clear nail varnish, needle, thread, hair grips, mesh tear-drop head shapes, and plenty of black safety pins! I found many of these items at Barnett and Lawson Haberdashery on Oxford Street, they cost less than ten pounds all together, Barnett and Lawson is a little hidden treasure trove!

To customise my flatmates dress I thought some feathers to cup the chest area would look more like the gorgeous tutu Natalie Portman wore! So I cut two strips of feathers about 1.5 inches long, covered the seamline in clear nail varnish to give it some strength, and stitched the edges closed where I had cut them to prevent any feathers falling out. Then, spray the feathers with hairspray to give them some substance; let them dry, and sew some stitches between the feathers to keep them together.

Cut another couple of strips, and repeat the above process. Then attach them to the mesh headpieces by sewing the bottom edging of the feathers to the larger end of the headpiece. You will need to sew a few lines of stitching lengthways up the headpiece (about an inch apart or so) to keep the feathers in place. Once this is completed, repeat for the other headpiece.

To keep your top or borrowed dress pristine, safety pin the feather chest pieces to the dress in the position I have shown in the picture. About three safety pins per piece will do. Continue to add additional safety pins over the feather chest piece to keep the feathers upright, particularly by the straps – if possible pin from the inside to minimise the safety pins being on show. Try on the dress with it all pinned on, and cut the feathers round the shape of your breast to shape them to your body more.

Put the headpieces on, so that they are gripped slightly above your ears, and pin with plenty of curby hair grips. Then voila! You have a simple Black swan outfit! Add some white paint, fake blood and check out how to construct the make up with some assistance from youtube, then your set for Halloween!