1985 Film Legend Darkness and Dark Lily

Tami · November 3

I decided to create a couples costume inspired by my favorite fantasy film from the 1980s. I began working on the costumes in June to have them ready for October costume parties. Everything was crafted with new and upcycled materials. The original artists were Rob Bottin, with contributions from Lois Burwell and John Tole.

I studied numerous images and movie stills to recreate the characters faithfully but with some of my own artistic expression to enhance the character.

His horns and headpiece were built with a lightweight EVA foam foundation, air-dry clay applied in layers to the surface to enhance texture and shaping. The finished headpiece is worn like a helmet. I initially tried making a latex mask, but I wasn’t happy with the results, and it wouldn’t stay attached to his skin. Instead, I created a sculpted mask for the lower half of his face, secured with a simple elastic strap. Easy to conceal, this was more comfortable and designed to fit together with the helmet for a seamless appearance. I painted and airbrushed both his mask and horns with acrylic paint to bring out their texture and detail. You will notice the contacts are not true to the movie. I pondered this for sometime after realizing the flaws in the lenses themselves. The vertical slit on the yellow cat eye would not stay upright and kept shifting horizontal. I decided to try a white lens that ended up glowing better in black light. For me, I liked it better since it referenced the glow of his features in the blacklight scene in the movie.

For his muscle suit, I started with a basic red bodysuit and designed it around layers of EVA foam and memory foam as the foundation for the muscles. Memory foam worked to soften the edges and add depth. Muscles were then airbrushed the muscle shapes to enhance their dimension and definition. To preserve the tattered nature of his cape and smaller accessories I sourced curtains, repurposed costume pieces, and other found objects that fit the costume.

His hooves were designed as platform shoes. Layered wood panels shaped and sanded to form hoof shapes. Much easier to walk in and gave him an extra 5 inches in height.

For Lily, I made my entire dress using two fabrics that closely resembled the sheen and texture in the movie. For the structured collar, I cut a rigid foam panel to shape, covered it with matching dress fabric, and hand-stitched it in place.