Vampire from ancient Byzantium - Halloween 2026 contest
Hello everybody!
My name is Annemarie, I`m a costume designer and tailor from Germany, and this is my very own interpretation of „The Keeper of the Faith“, a character from the Vampire: Dark Ages / World of Darkness – roleplay universe.
I enjoy playing larps (live action role play) as well as transforming myself – sometimes even to the point of unrecognizability – and diving deep into a fictional character to experience fantastical worlds and stories through this character.
This particular costume has been created for a vampire larp in the UK.
The Keeper of the Faith, who is the guardian of the library of the forgotten, is a majestic and monstrous vampire from ancient Byzantium. It was my intention to make it an otherworldly creature – alien and inhuman. A relic of a bygone time, a terrifying, yet fascinating representative of a magnificent, but perished world.
I created almost the entire costume by myself: From drawing the costume sketch, to the whole costume design including the embroidery design of the headpiece (stitched by Perandoria- costume makers), up to sewing the gown, handcrafting the headpiece, making the jewelry and doing the makeup on myself.
Unfortunately I am not specialised in creating SFX materials by myself (I`m even a complete autodidact regarding makeup in general), therefore I used some silicone prosthetics which I bought on Etsy from UK sellers.
My main inspiration regarding the costume design came from Eiko Ishioka´s incredible costume work for the film „Bram Stoker´s Dracula“ by Francis Ford Coppola as well as makeup-wise from the extraordinary creations of drag artist Salvia.
And here are some pictures of the finished costume as well as some making of / work in progress pictures:
Picture by Jon Habens.
Picture by Darren Smith.
Pictures by Ludmilla S.
Picture by Egle Zioma.
Selfie by myself 
