Sexy Absinthe Green Fairy from Moulin Rouge Costume

This costume is modeled after the Absinthe Green Fairy from Moulin Rouge. I had so much fun designing this one for my daughter. I have been creating costumes for my daughter since she was 2 years old. Her very first costume was the green fairy, Fauna, from Sleeping Beauty. So we decided it was time to do another fairy — but this time a grown-up, sexy version. We both love the film Moulin Rouge and the scene with Kylie Minogue, and I really wanted to do the costume justice. Researching a costume and searching for materials is always a lengthy process, and this one was especially difficult given our budget.

I tried making the corset originally and couldn’t get the look I wanted. Then I went looking on eBay for corsets to use as a base and most of them were too short in length. I finally found a long-line, steel-boned corset in England that didn’t break the bank. I sewed rows and rows of green sequins over the entire corset. Sewing on the sequins was obviously the most time-consuming part and I learned that there was a lot of color transfer, so I ended up with green fingers until it wore off. Lacing this corset up makes us feel like we are in Gone with the Wind – it’s also a rather painful endeavor. The bead fringe is Egyptian glass seed beads that easily added 3 pounds to the corset – it’s surprisingly heavy.

The bustle is made from layers of chiffon and tulle. To get it to pouf like I wanted, I had to hand-gather each layer of tulle and chiffon separately and then sew everything together. Sewing tulle is like sewing spider webs and gives me a headache — it’s always shifting and it’s so hard to see each layer. I then went crazy with glue and lime glitter to really give the bustle sparkle.

It took forever to find the wings, but they are adorable and light up, which is really eye-catching. I found a child’s Disney Tinkerbell wings, which I took apart. I then designed a wire frame, and attached the wings, so I could slip it down the back of the corset (instead of the normal shoulder straps) — I wanted them to look like they were sprouting from her back. Then I painted veins across the wings with lime green glitter to match the bustle, and gave everything another good coat of glitter. The shoes were a find on eBay and are perfect for the costume, despite being about the most painful shoes ever.

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