Original Medusa Cosplay
Duchess Silk looks awesome as her twist on the ancient myth of Medusa! Here's what she had to say about the concept...
"I read a lot of (edited for kids) Greek Myths when I was little, and always liked the story of Medusa. She was a Gorgon, and while she had the body of a human, she had snakes for hair. She lived with her two Gorgon sisters, hating mortal men and turning anyone that looked at her face to stone.
When you're a socially awkward little girl with two brothers, this sounds like an awesome idea.
I was always kind of angry at Perseus for chopping her head off, although it was pretty brilliant that the winged horse Pegasus sprang from her body. Strong women and horses were my two major interests at the time. Later, I read the less santised Medusa legend, and was properly distraught to find out the whole cursed transformation thing was the doing of my favourite Greek goddess, Athena.
I have no idea why I decided that I should reverse the reptilian hair and human skin of the Classic Medusa. I just know it had been a character concept I'd had since I'd started dabbling in burlesque, because twisting stories for the stage was one of my favourite things to do. While I never had the opportunity to perform Medusa Reversed, I jumped at the chance to attempt her for a group photoshoot organised by Lollilicious Makeup Artistry, called 'Afraid of the Dark'.
It was time consuming and a great deal of hard work to make this costume come together. I made the face pieces by pinching tiny bits of plasticine to plastic card, then using that to make a plaster mold for latex, which I poured and dried in preparation for the shoot. It took several days to do that, and my flatmates were very tolerant of my strange craft corner in the living room.
The dolls heads I found on Ebay, the toga (worn as much to save me some body painting and it was for modesty) from a costume store. I bought professional quality body paint, a scaling stencil, a heap of sponges, and can of green hair spray, and hoped it would all come together on the day.
And so it did, although only with the assistance of Lollilicious Makeup Artistry. As well as organising the day and making up her own hoarde of models, she helped paint me up when I really underestimated how long the whole transformation was going to take. Without her, I probably wouldn't have had time to take any photos before the studio booking ended.
Here are some of the best photos of the day. Enjoy my strange concept and horrific appearance."
Model/Concept/Styling/Makeup/Hair:
Duchess Silk
Male Model: Broc Folland
Bodypaint Assist:
Lollilicious Makeup Artistry
Photographers:
Precious S2 Photography,
Vincenzo Cascioli Photography & Frank Mancini
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August 27 2015