River's dress by Rivertamfan

ONE TRADING POST

River's dress

POSTED BY: RIVERTAMFAN
UPDATED: Saturday, April 21, 2007 16:02
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Wednesday, September 21, 2005 7:30 AM

Hi everyone

I'm brand new to this site and have only recently discovered "Firefly" (I know, I know, shame on me).

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone knew where to get a replica of one of two dresses that River wears in "Serenity". The blue one from this picture: http://www.nexbase.net/photo-gallery/Serenity/med_1122557261_1483
(careful of the popups)

Or the green one she wears when she's slicing up the Reavers (I don't think there's a picture of that one on the web).

Any information would be very much appreciated

RiverTamfan

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Wednesday, September 21, 2005 7:50 AM

JACQUI

Maybe you might wanna spoiler one or two sentences there... for the really spoiler-phobic among us.

I'm with you on Summer's dresses, they're gorgeous, as are her boots. If I knew where to get a pair I'd be a very happy girl.

*~*~*
"Your toes are in the sand."
"And your head's up your..."
"Hey!"

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Wednesday, September 21, 2005 8:28 AM

RIVERTAMFAN

Quote:
Originally posted by Jacqui:
Maybe you might wanna spoiler one or two sentences there... for the really spoiler-phobic among us.

I'm with you on Summer's dresses, they're gorgeous, as are her boots. If I knew where to get a pair I'd be a very happy girl.

*~*~*
"Your toes are in the sand."
"And your head's up your..."
"Hey!"

I'm sorry, I didn't think I included any spoilers. The sentence in question was from a ton of commercials I've seen and various screen caps on different websites. My bad, it won't happen again.

Thank you for responding

Rivertamfan

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Tuesday, October 4, 2005 12:15 PM

HELL'S KITTEN

I imagine that all the costumes were custom made by the movie's wardrobe department. I'm currently working on patterns for both dresses (based on pictures and seeing the movie a bunch of times), and I think I have a pretty good idea of what's what. I'll try to let you know how it goes, if you're interested.

As for the boots she wears in the movie, someone posted this link in another thread:

http://www.shoepavillion.com/wanted-trail.html

These are pretty close to the ones River wears. The one major problem (minor, if you're not so into details) is that instead of the D-ring adjuster thingies, there should be regular old buckles with the straps not attached to the boot. Aside from that, I'm thinking about getting a pair of these for myself....

Cheers.

无党派人士

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Tuesday, October 4, 2005 12:22 PM

MER

As of right now, there are no replicas of River's dresses.
It would be nice to have it though...erk scratch that...cheap but in good quality. Mal's replicated jacket and Zoe's vest are $300 each.

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Tuesday, October 4, 2005 2:19 PM

RIVERTAMFAN

Hey Mer and Hell's Kitten

Thank you so much for the response to my post (I had almost given up on someone giving me any kind of useful advice or websites).

You know, I already got a set of boots from "Hot Topic" that looks a lot like River's boots:
http://www.hottopic.com/store/product.asp?LS=0&ITEM=332962
(beware of evil pop-ups)

It's a bit of a stretch and they're a little pricey, but I'm not looking for exact replicas.

Ouch! $300 you say? Holy cow, that is quite expensive. I'm not in the market for exact replicas (I have nowhere near enough money for that). I'm just looking for something that looks somewhat similar.

Rivertamfan

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Tuesday, October 4, 2005 3:36 PM

MER

Yea, I know you feel. Since River's boot's flatfooted, I thought of wrapping my feet and using buckles to hold it together. I dunno what I'd do for the bottom...but you know, those shoes you have from Hot Topic are pretty dead on. Plus, no feet hurting.

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Wednesday, October 5, 2005 7:07 PM

ERILEE

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/slouch-buckle-boots_W0QQitemZ8339486907QQcategor
yZ11627QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Hope someone who has this size gets them! Pretty darn close!

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Sunday, October 9, 2005 8:02 PM

GLAMOURKAT

I want to go in this outfit of River's for Halloween, but I can't find any better images of it.....
Does anyone have screencaps of this outfit? Or pics from the visual companion book?(which I don't have *sob*)

ttp://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1070/973/1600/Firefly%20dress1.JPG

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Thursday, October 27, 2005 7:47 AM

SPINKBOT

hi there. I would totally be interested in your dress patterns. I am working on this too but I am super-new to pattern making and all I have is this hippie dress maker's model I made by wrapping my body in duct tape and stuffing it with rags. A neat trick to be sure, but... yeah. ^_^

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Thursday, October 27, 2005 7:50 AM

SPINKBOT

Also: REGARDING THESE BOOTS! I had a pair of boots that are also pretty darn close way before the movie came out but I got them at PAYLESS SHOES which is in most malls, at least in the pacific northwest. They are black suede airwalks which come up to the mid-calf, they are strappy all the way up but only two buckles.. and best yet they are only US$30! A good deal! I think they still have them.

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Sunday, October 30, 2005 6:38 PM

RIVEROFMIRRORS

The boots are actually quite easy to find; I've got a pair I bought for fifteen dollars at my local mall. Try Payless shoes if you have one near you; they're identical, and they're cheap. ^_^ As for the dresses, I'd love to know where to find them as well.

I'm a leaf on the wind...watch me soar.

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Monday, October 31, 2005 3:22 AM

JACQUI

Payless shoes in Australia don't seem to stock the same as their US counterparts, I'm afraid.

Once I have another job, though, I'm going boot shopping at some places I've got my eyes on.

*~*~*
"Your toes are in the sand."
"And your head's up your..."
"Hey!"

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Thursday, December 22, 2005 7:28 AM

REKA

I made the costume from the beginning of the movie (from the train station heist) for opening night of the movie. If I can figure out how to post pictures, I will.

Also, I found a dress that is VERY similar to the dress River wears during the battle scene in them movie. It's made by Gold Hawk, but I had to special order it through a boutique in town. I have hunted all over the web, but I haven't found the dress online. It comes in "denim blue" which is the closest they carry to the color River wears (a kind of greyish blue that's lit oddly throughout the time she wears it). The dress is $160. It's as close to identical as I can find. My best guess is that someone got the dress and then custom built one for River's costume. It's different only in small ways, but hers fits her way too well, and her costumes needed to accommodate her movement, so it makes sense that it would be specially built.

Also, the Airwalk boots that someone mentioned from Payless are really quite close. River's movie boots have one buckle across the arch/ankle, and then two up the calf. I have the Airwalks, and the behave very much like her boots do (bend, slouch, etc.).

For anyone who wants to MAKE the outfits, I can make you a pattern to fit you if you are interested. None of her things are all that hard if you have sewing clue, and I can also point you to the fabrics.

Sorry I'm resurrecting an old thread, but I don't check on here that often these days.

--Reka

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Thursday, December 22, 2005 7:50 AM

IMALEAF

River's boots are flat bottomed and the ankles are soft allowing for a lot of motion. They are not like the hot topic ones.

~~River: Bible's broken. Contradictions, false logics. Doesn't make sense.~~

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Thursday, December 22, 2005 8:16 AM

RIVERGODDESS

Does anyone have any links to similar dresses she wore in the series? I'd love to get something like the Objects in Space/Jaynestown outfit with the white shawl. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled!

*~*~
Summer's response to Nathan getting his very own action figure:
"I tried to pull his head off."

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Thursday, December 22, 2005 10:05 AM

ARTCAT81

a very dear friend of mine put together an excellent objects in space river dress complete with the crochet vest thing for under 20 bucks at a thrift store.
http://images.cosplay.com/showphoto.php?photo=250989
Browncoats are the shiniest folks in the 'verse

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Thursday, December 22, 2005 10:34 AM

TALLGRRL

regarding river's dresses in the film, if you or someone you know can sew, you should go to the local fabric store and look in the patterns.
there are tons of very simple slip-like dresses in the pattern books. especially in the spring/summer (no pun intended) books.

"Take me, sir. Take me hard." -- Zoe

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Saturday, January 21, 2006 4:16 PM

REMEY

yeah, i wanted those boots, but aparently they arn't being made anymore. it makes me sad, they were nice boots and would have gone well with some of my outfits, but i can no longer find them. :(

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Saturday, January 21, 2006 4:18 PM

REMEY

you wouldn't happen to know if there are other places other than payless that those boots are at, would you?

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Sunday, January 22, 2006 5:02 PM

SPINKBOT

hmm. I think I saw some similar ones at Target but they were tan... but you could dye them though, with black rit dye

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Wednesday, March 22, 2006 4:52 AM

SHINYKAT

Coming late to the conversation, but I would love to have a pattern for River's Dress during the Serenity fight scene!! Or to special order from the boutique? Any chance of that still? I have a costume party next weekend...at a Curling Club actually--every year we have a theme at our last competition, and this year is it scifi!
Please help if you can!

ShinyKat

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Tuesday, January 2, 2007 11:38 PM

FEI

Okay. So I'm really late to reply, but this can help people for halloween this year (which is sooo far away). It's gonna be my summer project to make River's dress in *that* scene. I found the image of it on Prop store of london and I'm drawing out a pattern, probably gonna buy one from walmart of a slip or something and find those metal button things. anyways if it helps anyone. It's gray Chiffon on the outside and dark green lining on the inside.

The front:

he back:

Good luck!

"Dear Buddha, please bring me a pony and a plastic rocket..."

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Wednesday, January 3, 2007 5:45 AM

RIVERTAMFAN

Fei,

That dress is beautiful. Please keep me updated as to your progress in creating it.

RiverTamfan

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Sunday, January 7, 2007 7:44 PM

JTBTHIRD

Quote:
Originally posted by fei:
Okay. So I'm really late to reply, but this can help people for halloween this year (which is sooo far away). It's gonna be my summer project to make River's dress in *that* scene. I found the image of it on Prop store of london and I'm drawing out a pattern, probably gonna buy one from walmart of a slip or something and find those metal button things. anyways if it helps anyone. It's gray Chiffon on the outside and dark green lining on the inside.

The front:

he back:

Good luck!

"Dear Buddha, please bring me a pony and a plastic rocket..."

Hi!
Just wanted to add a little more info on the green River dress! The screen used ones are actually off the rack Donna Karan dresses (size 2). Both the inner slip and outer sheer piece are similiar seafoam green. I own the screen used dress from the end scene after River has exterminated all the Reavers (the bloody verison).

Regards!
James

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Thursday, January 18, 2007 2:21 PM

SHAMELESS

Thank you, James! It helps to just know the brand, especially since I just looked at the DKNY dresses on the online store - and half of them look just like something River would wear! And heck, you don't always need to get something she DID wear - just something that's her style!

------------------------------------------
RPG launcher bought in third world country illegally - $10
Landmines - $50 per
Attack/track dogs bred 1st class - $250-500 per
Highpowered assault rifles - $600 per
The look on your face when I show up on your doorstep with a bigfoot - ... Priceless

"You gotta love that the first pirated HD DVD is the one about space pirates who broadcast a video that the government wants to keep secret.

Can't stop the signal."
-reavers_ate_my_dvd

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Thursday, January 18, 2007 3:31 PM

ANONYMOUS1

Prop Store of London, I bought this glass from the movie Serenity from them.

Sits next to my Star Wars Burger King glasses.

pics from the Propstore's Serernity page. http://www.propstore.com/list/cat_id/8/pos//num_display/100/view/0/ob/
itm/movs/877

Here is some of the River related stuff they still have for sale. These are REAL PROPS from Serenity.

http://www.propstore.com/images/products/877/serentity-tinlabelsml.JPG

Quote:
It has been signed by cast members Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin, Adam Baldwin, Jewel Staite, Sean Maher, Summer Glau, Ron Glass, Yan Feldman, Rafael Feldman and Christina Hendricks.

These last two were sold, but they saved it in the archive section http://www.propstore.com/list/cat_id/7/ob/itm/view/0/num_display/100/m
ovs/877
along with other stuff like Mal, Zoe and Jayne's costume. So you can still look at them.

Random Public Service Announcement.

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Sunday, February 11, 2007 1:10 PM

TAERIEL

Oh, this is wonderful! I've really wanted to discuss making River's dress with other fans. I hadn't gotten around to creating an account for these boards before, but when I saw this thread I was inspired.

I've been trying to make River's green battle dress on and off since last summer, but it's given me an amazing amount of trouble for something that looks so simple. I would love to bounce ideas and get suggestions from you guys.

I picked out New Look 6244 for the pattern, as seen here:

I started with the bottom version, which is one panel in front and one in back, but upon making it found that it wasn't as full as the illustration implied. The real dress looks to me like it has a bit more body/fullness, so I began considering the side-inset panels used (for example) in the top right version. I drafted together a combination of the bottom version to get its neckline and the top to get the inset panels. It also occured to me to wonder whether perhaps an inset like this might be connected to the gold decorations on the dress - perhaps the loops around the hip and the line going down from there cover up a seam in the dress where a panel was added? If you zoom in on the line of nailheads going down the dress at the bottom where it's just chiffon (esp on the back view), it looks like there is an extra layer of something behind it - either a seam allowance or maybe an extra strip was necessary to attach the nailheads well?

However, I've had great trouble with the inset: I just can't seem to get it to lay smoothly... it bulges out at the corner of the hip and looks bad. And now I'm back to wondering whether it should be there or not. (mostly because I am having such difficulty getting it to work!)

Hell's Kitten and Fei - it sounds like you were both working on patterns for this dress? Could you give us any insight into your approach? What did you find worked, and what didn't work? I for one would love to hear more about your experiences and see pictures if/when you have some.

Also - James, as you are so fortunate as to own a copy of the real thing (and let me just say, wow!)... could you tell us whether the dress is made from one panel in front and one in back, or if there are any additional panels added in? It would be such a big help to know how they made the real dress.

Oh, also, if it would help anyone - I found a site that has gold nailheads that look like they would work for this dress: http://www.i-kandi.com/nhround.asp I'm thinking perhaps a size 4mm or 6mm. You can also sometimes find batches of these on eBay.

Taeriel

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Sunday, February 11, 2007 1:28 PM

TAERIEL

Oh, and James - thank you so much for confirming the color of the dress! The two versions shown on the London props site (clean and bloody) look like such different colors, and both look different from how the dress appears in the movie! I'm guessing it's just a question of the lighting. So thanks for letting us know what the real color is!

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Sunday, February 11, 2007 5:28 PM

JTBTHIRD

Quote:
Originally posted by Taeriel:
Oh, and James - thank you so much for confirming the color of the dress! The two versions shown on the London props site (clean and bloody) look like such different colors, and both look different from how the dress appears in the movie! I'm guessing it's just a question of the lighting. So thanks for letting us know what the real color is!

The pictures of the two dresses on the Propstore website look different because the bloody version is also dirtied up somewhat. It has sweat stains, and the like, in addition to the faux blood. My dress appears to be one panel in the front and one in the back.

Regards!
James

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Sunday, February 11, 2007 7:32 PM

TAERIEL

Wow, thanks for the quick reply and for the information!

There's no better help than someone who is looking at the real thing. So, no inset panel around the side of the hips/legs, huh? Hmmm. I originally tried making the dress with just two pieces - one front and one back - but it didn't seem full enough. *shrug* I'm really just a beginner at sewing, though. I'll have another try at it this week to see if there's anything I can do to increase the fullness a bit.

Thanks again for the help and info!

Taeriel

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Monday, February 12, 2007 6:03 PM

JTBTHIRD

Quote:
Originally posted by Taeriel:
Wow, thanks for the quick reply and for the information! There's no better help than someone who is looking at the real thing. So, no inset panel around the side of the hips/legs, huh? Hmmm. I originally tried making the dress with just two pieces - one front and one back - but it didn't seem full enough. *shrug* I'm really just a beginner at sewing, though. I'll have another try at it this week to see if there's anything I can do to increase the fullness a bit.

Thanks again for the help and info!

Taeriel

Actually,
Upon a second examination, there does appear to be small insert panels along the hips. They are located along the downward sloping bead/stud row. The bead/studs almost cover the seams!

James

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Tuesday, February 13, 2007 10:56 AM

TAERIEL

Ahhhh... that's kinda what I had suspected before, that the nailheads might be covering up a seamline. The shape of the nailhead lines around the hips and the line down from there looked so similar to the inset panel shape shown in that pattern above, for example. Thank you very much for taking the time to double check!

So if I am understanding/guessing right, the panel starts at the hip and adds to the side of the dress, with the nailheads from the line going down and one of the loops over the hips covering up the seamline? (Basically, it's shaped more or less like the top patterns above?)

Hmm. Drats. So now I have to consider, do I attempt to be accurate and include the inset panels? This will mean figuring out how to do them right, which I haven't had luck with so far. Or do I try to make the dress without them, using just a single panel in front and one in back? I'll have to think about this.

For those of you who have tried making this dress... which approach did you take, and how did it work out?

Taeriel

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Monday, April 16, 2007 9:37 AM

DASHILE

Hey All:
This is my first post :) I have been reading through the site, but this is the first time I thought I had anything postworthy to say. Today on Ebay, I searched for "green DKNY dress" because someone mentioned that River's Greeen Dress was an off the rack DKNY. Well, there was a newly posted, (only 12 hours old) listing for the very same, if not movie worn, dress in my size. I used the prop store photos to compare. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=015&sspagename=STRK%3
AMEWN%3AIT&viewitem=&item=250105206296&rd=1&rd=1
I was thinking of making this dress, and while it was a little pricey, it was the shiniest fifty two dollars I've ever spent. I have found a close match for the fabric at the local store, but it was going for six dollars a yard, so I figure to make it might have run me around the same. Not to mention I don't have a sewing machine yet...
So, for all those that want this dress, with a little luck and patience, you can find it too, without spending too much. :)

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Monday, April 16, 2007 11:22 AM

SHAMELESS

Wow. Just - wow. It's funny, if only I had checked yesterday... but I don't have the money, and I'm just happy it went to a browncoat! Congrats!

------------------------------------------
RPG launcher bought in third world country illegally - $10
Landmines - $50 per
Attack/track dogs bred 1st class - $250-500 per
Highpowered assault rifles - $600 per
The look on your face when I show up on your doorstep with a bigfoot - ... Priceless

"You gotta love that the first pirated HD DVD is the one about space pirates who broadcast a video that the government wants to keep secret.

Can't stop the signal."
-reavers_ate_my_dvd

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Monday, April 16, 2007 2:47 PM

TAERIEL

Wow, Dashile, that is the most absolutely amazing find! Congratulations!

I will definitely have to keep an eye open on ebay for this dress from now on... !

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Monday, April 16, 2007 2:50 PM

FUTUREMRSFILLION

Welcome Welcome Welcome!

---- plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose

Bestower of Titles, Designer of Tshirts, Maker of Mottos, Keeper of the Pyre, Owner of a too big Turnippy smelling coat with MR scratched in the neck (thanks FollowMal!)

I am on The List. We are The Forsaken and we aim to burn!
"We don't fear the reaper"