Nadia Satrinava
Original Designs Integrated with Official Artwork
My interpretation of Nadia Satrinava, a character from a game called The Arcana, included many original designs and concepts, most specifically towards the bottom half of the garment.
This costume took about two months to make; the entire garment is handmade with love including the dress, shawl, fabric accessories, pieces of the jewelry and manually dying/styling the beautiful two-pieced, 40" wig.
I wanted to utilize the creative liberty I had with this project - I ombre dyed the fabric by hand, and individually glued over 500 pearls to the costume's shawl and dress. The dress' original designs were brought to life through hours of drawing, cutting and applying appliqués from a sheet of vinyl.
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All photos taken and edited by Samuel Lim.
Creative Liberty
I took much inspiration from the ornate aesthetics The Arcana supplies by weaving diamonds and spires into my vinyl designs. To keep the integration of the pattern organic, I used stencil patterns and sprinkled puzzle-piece-like cutouts around the garment. I wanted to highlight intrcacy - one can identify what cutout corresponds with what pattern on the dress. The movement of the vinyl design is also key: I kept the design trailing upwards from the bottom of the dress, mimicking the sharp diamond shapes that are evident symbols within Nadia's original design and The Arcana itself.
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The form of the dress was also reflected of Nadia as a character - I included two slits traveling up the legs and a second, smaller tier to the dress. In this sense, the garment truly billowed as I walked in order to portray Nadia's powerful status and intimidating strength.
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Meanwhile, I was able to handcraft pieces of Nadia's jewelry from clay, embellishing them with gems and pearls. When visiting my family in Shanghai, my family and I also found jewelry that fit Nadia well - ornate, decorative chopsticks and earrings. Many of these pieces were found in the marketplaces of ancient cities, which motivated me to highlight the air of power and sophistication that this character has in her royal position.
Personal Aspects
Nadia Satrinava, as a character, was very easy for me to relate to and project onto. The base of her character is comprised of mixtures of intense emotions dealing with family dynamics, identity, femininity, power, and tests of physical and emotional capabilities. I identified with the responsibility she holds over taking care of others over herself, and relate to the nature of distance she maintains in stressful and sensitive situations.
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This character, much like Jasmine, was a huge part of finding pieces of self confidence - she also had a large nose with a bump on the bridge, a feature almost unseen by most forms of media. It was significant that Nadia had these unique features and was still addressed as a beautiful, powerful and smart woman. Whenever I get into this costume, I feel truly beautiful, accepted and confident. And these feelings of confidence in myself and my image often trespass from costuming into day-to-day being: Even when I'm not in costume, I can still reflect on my image as Nadia and feel better about myself.