Fashion Portfolio

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Look 01

Toxic Temptation

I wanted to take the Evil Queen and make her feel more regal than she appears in the film, so I built up the details wherever I could — a taller collar, additional embellishments, rhinestones, and extra structure throughout the silhouette, all tied together with brocade fabric. The cape attaches to the bolero so it can be worn separately, but getting that connection right took a significant portion of the 100 hours, since the cape's weight initially pulled the bolero down until I revised how it was sewn on. Sourcing materials was its own challenge: Jo-Ann Fabrics closed right as I needed supplies, so I ended up importing the brocade from Turkey and sourcing the rest from independent boutiques.

Materials — Brocade (imported from Turkey), velvet, leather, wire, trims, crystal apples

Technique — Boned corset, beadwork

Time to make — 100 hours

Homage to the Oogie Man, lit skirt detail

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Look 02

Homage to the Oogie Man

This piece is based on the Oogie Boogie Man from The Nightmare Before Christmas. I hand-stitched the burlap hood with curved horn shapes, built a spiderweb lace layer underneath, and wired fairy lights into the tulle skirt so it glows while worn. I also hand-sewed on patches featuring characters and scenes from the film and hand-painted the distressed black detailing directly onto the burlap. Burlap proved difficult to work with, as it frayed easily and stretched out of shape, so I layered black cotton underneath it to help the piece hold together. In total, this piece took around 103 hours to complete.

Materials — Burlap, tulle, fairy lights, cotton, plastic bugs, yarn, spider-web netting, satin, trims

Technique — Hand-sewn, embedded LED lighting

Time to make — 103 hours

Enchanted Sea Witch, lit skirt and tentacle detail

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Look 03

Enchanted Sea Witch

This was the most ambitious build of the three. Each tentacle began as its own fabric tube stuffed with stuffed-animal filling to achieve the right shape, but once attached to the bodice, they proved too heavy to hold their position, so I reinforced each one with bra wire, which allowed me to bend and adjust them into whichever pose worked best. The suction cups required just as much attention to detail: I cut small foam circles, sewed fabric around each one, and stitched a bead into the center to create a puckered, three-dimensional look — roughly 25 suction cups per tentacle across all six tentacles, for about 150 total. Paired with a sequin bodice and an iridescent skirt, the completed piece took approximately 112 hours, most of it dedicated to the tentacles.

Materials — Sequin fabric, pleather, stuffed-animal cotton fill, trims, bra wire

Technique — Hand-sewn soft sculpture, hand-painted trim

Time to make — 112 hours

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Look 04

Queen of Hearts

This was my very first costume, made back in 8th grade — and the first time I'd sewn anything more complicated than a button. There was a lot of troubleshooting along the way since I was learning as I went, but it paid off: this piece won my first Scholastic Art Gold Key.

Materials — Cotton, trim, tulle, velvet, iron-on fabric

Time to make — 92 hours

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Look 05

Twilight Serpents

A metalsmithing piece that won an Honorable Mention award. Every curve was hand-hammered and shaped, and a lot of the 60 hours went into sanding the metal down until the curves felt completely smooth. The snake forms were the most demanding part — hammering the curves and hand-forming each indent took real patience, since nothing on this piece was machine-made.

Materials — Brass, silver

Time to make — 60 hours

Ariya Sinha

Toxic Temptation

Homage to the Oogie Man

Enchanted Sea Witch

Queen of Hearts

Twilight Serpents