River's Maidenhead Dress by shameless

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River's Maidenhead Dress

POSTED BY: SHAMELESS
UPDATED: Sunday, March 22, 2009 12:48
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Wednesday, July 18, 2007 6:34 AM

Help! Does anybody happen to know what brand the actual dress used in the movie is?

Anyways.
So I found something on Ebay...

http://cgi.ebay.com/R-M-Richards-NEW-Blue-Floral-Dresses-NWT-Sz-10P-11
9_W0QQitemZ130135465681QQihZ003QQcategoryZ63871QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I know that it's not THE dress, but it's the closest match I have found so far, since if you look very closely, there is actually a floral pattern on River's dress - it's just difficult to tell since it's dark and sheer.

EDIT: Another possibility...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ANN-TAYLOR-BLUE-SILK-FLORAL-DRESS-SZ-4-118_W0QQite
mZ230153595147QQihZ013QQcategoryZ63861QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

And yet another...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Expressions-11-12-turquoise-blue-floral-slvless-dr
ess_W0QQitemZ120142529015QQihZ002QQcategoryZ3061QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

Again:

http://cgi.ebay.com/COCKTAIL-CRUISE-BLUE-FLORAL-LAYERED-DRESS-3_W0QQit
emZ220114671396QQihZ012QQcategoryZ63861QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Lalala.

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-GORGEOUS-Fitted-BLUE-DRESS-w-Beaded-STRAPS-LGE
_W0QQitemZ330146356747QQihZ014QQcategoryZ3061QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

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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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Wednesday, July 18, 2007 7:10 AM

EMMARIGBY

Not sure, but if you want to buy the original...
http://www.propstore.com/product-River--Summer-Glau--Maidenhead-Bar-Dr
ess.htm

___________________

Hissssssssss!

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007 7:20 AM

BENIHIME

Those are very nice, but I think they are too light.
Here's another version from The Prop Store of London:

http://www.propstore.com/product-River-Maidenhead-Bar-Dress.htm

If you look at all the pictures, you can see the seaming details pretty well.

They say there's no size marked on this dress, so it could have been a custom design. It appears as though on some of the other dresses, they'll say what size it is if it's a store-bought dress but they'll leave out the manufacturer's name (like the funeral dress, the final reaver fight scene dress, and the view pad dress...).

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Friday, July 20, 2007 8:37 AM

THEVOICEINMYHEAD

Spce City Costumes
Crazy Girl Dress
http://www.spacecitycostumes.com/index.php?cPath=21&products_id=51&opt
ion=com_oscommerce&osMod=product_info&osCsid=93af54bb41753bdb278422fdae10bde

Madness does not always howl. Sometimes, it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "Hey, is there room in your head for one more?"

Browncoats are forever

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Friday, July 20, 2007 11:41 AM

SHAMELESS

Haha, crazy girl dress - awesome! Sadly, it's way too expensive... I think I'll just make one myself. Just gotta find some material. And a pattern. Or make my friend sew it for me.

------------------------------------------
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, July 26, 2007 8:22 PM

SHAMELESS

Okay, another question... what material is it made of? Anybody know for sure?

------------------------------------------
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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Tuesday, October 23, 2007 6:47 AM

WHITESILENCE

Quote:
Originally posted by shameless:
Okay, another question... what material is it made of? Anybody know for sure?

Obviously, I don't know for sure but I'm thinking some sort of chiffon? At least for the floaty over dress part.

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Tuesday, October 23, 2007 7:20 AM

DEEPLYKIDDING

Quote:
Originally posted by whitesilence:
Quote:
Originally posted by shameless:
Okay, another question... what material is it made of? Anybody know for sure?

Obviously, I don't know for sure but I'm thinking some sort of chiffon? At least for the floaty over dress part.

Yup - almost positive it is chiffon, and its cut on the bias to allow for drape & fit. On one of the back photos you can see a diagonal seam which was necessary to piece the fabric together. I'm also guessing that the chiffon does not have stretch (spandex or other) in it, as the seams are pretty smooth. Very interesting that the overdress is hemmed in white thread and not matching!

My best educated guess is that the underdress is some sort of knit material, probably a jersey of pretty good quality, since it has clean lines and doesn't appear stretched or distorted. Poor quality jersey can stretch out of shape when worn, even if only pulling it on over a mannequin. I wasn't able to see if the underdress had any seams, which led me to believe knit. This would have also allowed Summer Glau a lot of freedom of movement during the fight, although I don't know how it sayed in place. Maybe it has attached panties to anchor it in place, functioning like sturrups on a pair of pants to keep them tucked into boots.

I'd rather be a smartass than a dumbass...

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Tuesday, October 23, 2007 8:21 AM

ARTCAT81

From what I understand, the original dress(es) did not have a label in them, but
I strongly suspect after much ebay surfing (shameless amounts) I ran across this baby http://cgi.ebay.com/ICE-BLUE-WHITE-SILK-FLORAL-LINED-DRAPED-DRESS-8-NW
T-98_W0QQitemZ110151695384QQihZ001QQcategoryZ63861QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

here is my theory, most of the costumes from Serenity or may be not most but an amazing amount were straight off the rack designer dresses from that season even (Hey Joss, I know how to shave that movie budget several thousand bucks!)
I think the costume department picked this dress up, or rather this cut by this company, the label is "ICE" (which if anyone happens to track down I would be very appreciateive) I have found this dress in several different colors with different floral patterns and it is chiffon.

ok so they bought the dress, dyed it deep blue (which explains why the hemline is white, it did not take the dye) and simplified the neck from a cowl neck to a simple V which also explains its low cut. The underdress that is used in some scenes but not others, appears to be the underdress sold with it. again dyed deep blue and with some alterations.

This is just my working theory and i have not had the money to justify buying a dress that wont fit me just so I can try to make it into Rivers Dress. Another browncoat from another thread has bought the dress and I'm waiting to see how it turns out for her.

If its not the exact pattern used in the movie, the design is very close, check out the seams.

as for how she kept the underdress in place during hte fight scenes, simple, she was not wearing it,notice how there are two of her dress available for sale, one with the underdress the other with just undies? I think the one with the undies is the fight scene, the one with the undress is from the other scenes and closeups where the camera can actually focus in on her.

Also reasonably certain the dress is chiffon.
Hope that helps!
-artcat

Browncoats are the shiniest folks in the 'verse
www.texasartcat.com/bluesun.html <--my bluesunshop

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Tuesday, October 23, 2007 10:48 AM

WHITESILENCE

Quote:

My best educated guess is that the underdress is some sort of knit material, probably a jersey of pretty good quality, since it has clean lines and doesn't appear stretched or distorted. Poor quality jersey can stretch out of shape when worn, even if only pulling it on over a mannequin. I wasn't able to see if the underdress had any seams, which led me to believe knit. This would have also allowed Summer Glau a lot of freedom of movement during the fight, although I don't know how it sayed in place. Maybe it has attached panties to anchor it in place, functioning like sturrups on a pair of pants to keep them tucked into boots.

I was thinking some sort of spandex/blend material, the kind of stuff camis and things are made out of. Skintight but still allows a great deal of movement. Also, if you can find the film still where River is on the pantry ceiling with the can of peaches, you can get a really good look at the seams in both parts of the dress. There's at least one slit on the right side of the underdress.

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Wednesday, October 24, 2007 9:25 AM

SHAMELESS

Artcat...

Hiya! I'm actually the one who bought the size 8... All right, so it's silk, and based on looking at TONS AND TONS of pictures of both THE dress and different fabrics online, I'm inclined to believe that the movie dress was actually a custom made dress made out of sheer silk. And it's a good theory, the ICE dress thing, especially since the green River kickin' Reaver ass dress is Donna Karan and a skirt that Kaylee wears for two seconds in the background is Diesel and River's funeral dress is BCBG... but the underdress drives me nuts! It's polyester and CLINGS LIKE MAD, and is completely wrong for the look. Especially with the lace. Plus, there are some very small seams in the front that aren't in the movie (there are the sideways pretty seams that kind of define the dress, but these are different). Basically, I bought it because it's so darn hard to find a sheer silk dress that is only attached to the underdress at the sleeves (by a little bit of thread - really easy to remove), especially one that is really plain without annoying details like an empire waist seam or whatever... so I'm planning on eventually either buying or making my own underdress out of some sort of knit fabric (definitely agree on that one, no idea how it stayed in place while she was fighting, and if you look really closely at the screencaps, she's definitely still wearing it while fighting in the Maidenhead).

Anyways, it's a tiny bit too long, but the hem and the flow is PERFECT! I took it in to get it professionally altered (I was told several times to NOT EVEN TRY to alter sheer silk myself - apparently it's extraordinarily difficult to work with that kind of really thin and fine and delicate material). I'm not sure they really understood exactly what I wanted with the neckline, but the way they pinned it was close enough, so I'll find out tomorrow. I'll then be taking it in to a shop where they sell dyes to get the color matched to make it a darker blue.

The boots - ordered the Wanted Trail ones in black from shoe pavillion - here: http://www.shoepavillion.com/wanted-trail.html

The shrug - I'm knitting one on my own, and I chose this pattern - http://www.modadea.com/patterns/LM0229.htm

I'm making some slight modifications (ex - don't like the yarn type, so had to go up to a medium since I'm using a yarn and needle size that made for a slightly smaller (larger? However you describe when there are more stitches per inch), and so far it's working... plus I didn't like how they made a sort of cuff by using garter stitch then switching to stockinette stitch after five rows at the beginning of each sleeve, so I just started out with stockinette stitch. The measurements for the part across the back seem a bit small, but... we'll see how that turns out.

I'll post lots of pictures and details for anybody interested when I'm done... just say the word, and I'll share!

------------------------------------------
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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Wednesday, October 24, 2007 9:27 AM

WYTCHCROFT

well i know what DarkFly wants for Xmas...

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Wednesday, October 24, 2007 9:45 AM

WHITESILENCE

Pictures please. I just ordered the same dress in ivory. It'll be nice to see how your alterations came out. How are you handling the dying? Are you doing it yourself or having someone else do it?

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Wednesday, October 24, 2007 10:24 AM

SHAMELESS

Actually, I'm taking it to a shop where they will help me find the right color, then I'm dying it myself. They said that dying sheer silk is not tricky. But I'm opting for the boiling in pot method versus the washing machine method just to be safe (of course, that's also because our machine is slightly broken and therefore has some sharp bits. You never know).

------------------------------------------
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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Wednesday, October 24, 2007 11:16 AM

WHITESILENCE

Quote:
Originally posted by shameless:
Actually, I'm taking it to a shop where they will help me find the right color, then I'm dying it myself. They said that dying sheer silk is not tricky. But I'm opting for the boiling in pot method versus the washing machine method just to be safe (of course, that's also because our machine is slightly broken and therefore has some sharp bits. You never know).

Sheer silk = not hard at all
Polyester on the other hand... not so fun.

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Wednesday, October 24, 2007 11:25 AM

SHAMELESS

Really? Hmmmm.... I might either have to deal with a different colored underdress or find another one super fast.

------------------------------------------
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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Wednesday, October 24, 2007 11:33 AM

WHITESILENCE

Silk is a natural fiber so the dye is really just attaching itself to what is essentially protein.

Polyester is synthetic and made of plastic so changing colors is harder.

I don't think it would be that hard to whip up a new under dress but I guess it's more a matter of what you can live with.

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Wednesday, October 24, 2007 11:38 AM

SHAMELESS

Yeah, agreed, but... I have three days before a party. Oh well! ::grins::

------------------------------------------
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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Sunday, November 11, 2007 3:39 PM

TAERIEL

I had the very good fortune to be able to see the real Maidenhead dress up close at a costume and prop exhibit at the convention SiliCon last month. Universal Archives brought their Serenity costumes for display in the exhibit, and their wonderful archivist was so very nice and endlessly patient with all my questions, picture-taking and gawking. She volunteered information she knew about the costumes, was willing to check details on River's dress and even demonstrated how Inara's skirt was constructed and wrapped. ( Her dress from the fight scene with the Operative at the training house.) I really can't say enough about how nice and helpful she was!

Anyway, regarding the Maidenhead dress, here's some of what I found out:

1. The archivist checked for tags, but was unable to find any. She didn't know for sure, but she was of the opinion that the overdress dress at least was probably custom-made. (see below)

2. It appears that the underdress, where ever it came from, did not originally go with the overdress. Have you noticed how the front neckline of the underdress doesn't look even everywhere? The archivist pulled down the overdress to give me a good look at it - the fabric of the underdress was actually ripped to match the pattern of the overdress. And I mean ripped, as in ripped, not just cut neatly for whatever reason. There's actually a jagged, ripped edge in some sections. It seems the original underdress neckline was higher and they ripped it to go with the overdress.

3. There are more panels making up the pattern of the dress than I at least had been able to make out from the Propstore pictures. For example, there is another seam right down the front of the skirt that I'd never realized was there; it's hidden by the folds of the skirt. I got a picture while the archivist was pulling the skirt to its full width to illustrate this.

4. The dress is more than just bias-cut ... the different panels have the bias laid out in totally different directions. I did my best to sketch the location of all the panels and to note the bias directions as well as I could on my sketch, at least for the front of the dress.

5. The underdress has a built-in bra.

6. The boots were off the rack. She said the name of the brand, but it wasn't a name I was familiar with. I'm sure I have the spelling wrong, but it sounded something like "capishi"...?

7. Unfortunately, I couldn't tell by looking whether the overdress fabric was silk or polyester chiffon, and I didn't think to ask the archivist. However, I did note that the material had a slight crinkle pattern to it.

I hope that my observations and research are useful to some of you! I don't have time immediately, but at some point I hope to get my (many!) pictures and the sketch up online. When I do, I'll post back here with a link.

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Sunday, November 11, 2007 11:21 PM

SHAMELESS

HAVE MY BABIES. IGNORE MY FEMININITY.

So... capishi? Is that a hard "k" sound, or a soft "s" sound? Is it pronounced "kahpeeshee"? I'm going nuts trying to find this!!! Any idea what her name was? I'd like to email her...

Update on my version of the dress... So, when you dye the fabric, instead of just making everything a darker blue so that the flowers would still be visible, just not as dark as the rest - it just made the entire dress blue. So no floral pattern.

But hey, still looks nice! Pictures coming VERY VERY soon... tomorrow, in fact! I'll post them in the blue sun room and put a link here.

------------------------------------------
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, November 12, 2007 6:31 PM

VIOLYNS

[quote=Taeriel] even demonstrated how Inara's skirt was constructed and wrapped. ( Her dress from the fight scene with the Operative at the training house.)

My mouth is hanging open right now...

*JEALOUS!!*

Sorry, I just made this dress this year and was totally baffled. (pics here, if you like: < http://www.pbase.com/karaya/masquerade_ball&page=1>)

Thanks for putting up your thoughts on the Maidenhead dress. Really helpful. Could I get your email?

-----
~mia
"I will never cease to fly if held down."

Serenifly Costumes http://serenifly.tripod.com

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Tuesday, November 13, 2007 7:55 PM

TAERIEL

It looks like you did a fabulous job on Inara's dress, especially on the bodice! I'm sure it must have been very challenging to get the pattern right on that part. Wow, and it looks like you got exactly the right clasp on the skirt as well. You even have the jewlery. Very cool!

If it makes you feel better, the archivist said that they were confused by that skirt as well! When it first arrived, they had a hard time figuring out how it was suppose to go together to be worn. Once they figured it out, they made sure to document it with notes and plenty of pictures.

Sure, I'll pm you with my email...

Shameless - the name was a hard 'c'. However, now I'm wondering if I might have gotten mixed up on it. I'd written the name down in my notes on the River page, but looking through my pictures, I see the brand name on Inara's pumps and it looks like "Capezio". I wonder if that's what I heard, and I mistakenly thought she was refering to River's boots at the time... possible.

On the topic of River's boots, though, I was at the BSG Razor screening last night and the person sitting next to me was wearing a pair of boots that looked very similar. When I asked her about the brand, she refered to them as her "River boots"! The brand was "BC". She bought them at a store called "Bunny's" in Santa Cruz about 2.5 years ago. They looked really good!

edit: I found the brand: here's an example of their boots, though I don't see exactly what we're looking for. http://www.dealtime.com/xDN-Shoes--bc_footwear-sh_shoe_types_boots~PG-
1

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Sunday, March 22, 2009 12:48 PM

TAERIEL

Someone asked me about my pictures of of this dress from the display a few years ago. I've gone ahead and posted them online at

http://s219.photobucket.com/albums/cc25/Taeriell/Costumes/Serenity%20C
ostume%20Exhibit%20-%20Silicon%202007/River%20Maindenhead%20Dress/?start=all

I hope they are of interest or help to people!

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