This is the lovely Inara’s dress from the Shindig episode of Firefly:
and my version:
I’ve only worn this dress once, for the 2010 Dragon*Con Whedon Costume Contest and I won Best of Show!! My first big time costume award!
The top was drafted by me, but I can’t wait to improve upon the design and maybe make it a tad longer. The screenshots I used from the show did not show the seam placements, so i had to guess.
The skirt fabric was the most challenging. I ordered a heavily embroidered silk and added the rope embroidery to the hem myself. I also attached hundreds of pearls and rhinestones to the entire skirt. It was quite an undertaking.
Here is a closeup of my crazy embroidery addition:
The Bollywood jewelry was found on ebay and pictures of the real jewelry can be found at the Costumer’s Guide.