That's just incredible. Where do I sign up?

i suppose as it gets colder

aaaahh, im in total love with this sequence, and what a suprise it was seeing it get an extra three stages, this level of gothiness is truly the ideal~ <3

Go goth girls go!

Can't let down all the fine lovers of ornate dress! These take a long time, but I don't think I'll ever get tired of making them.

Peak sail area. I love gloriously encumbering and impractical restrictive fashion. But better hope the wind doesn't kick up. There might be enough area of dress and parasol to actually get airborne.

Fortunately, one silver lining to dresses like these is that they are discretely laden with weighty elements like heavy wool layers and metal crinolines. It keeps her planted on her feet and enforces very slow, graceful movements to give the illusion that she's gliding along.

Crinolines aren't actually that heavy, though I suppose it would be trivial to make them arbitrarily so, or perhaps to put weights in her platform boots. Other subtle bondage elements have been topical in some of my recent conversations as well; boots with side closures featuring a large number of small, difficult to work buttons were popular throughout the Victorian era proper, and it turns out that there were dedicated button hook tools used to fasten the buttons for convenience. It got me thinking about button closures that have such exact tolerances that separate tools are required not only to fasten them, but also to release them afterwards, functioning as all but invisible dress bondage for lack of obvious restraints.

A bit parallel to that idea is that, instead of a number of heavy, obvious restraints as part of elaborate dress bondage, use a large number of invisible design elements like needing special tools to undo buttons, so while individually these features aren't burdensome, they come together in such a way as to turn into self bondage; even if there's a way to get into the outfit by yourself, you need a maid to get yourself out once you're dressed due to the undressing sequence assuming a level of mobility you no longer have while dolled up. I interpret that sort of idea through the lens of an extreme degree of dedication to fashion, such that you're willing to make more and more self-inflicted sacrifices for smaller marginal gains in overall fit and presentation. Not for the faint of heart, though there may be a happy few out there for whom such a price is a fair one to pay for their goals.

Fashions of that style could be viewed as a form of "Conspicuous Consumption". Flaunting your status and wealth in this case by showing you are well enough off to show complete unconcern for frugality and practicality.

In the extreme case suggested by wearing clothing that requires special tools, and even hiring dedicated people, for you to wear them at all. You don't have to do work, you actually employ people full time just to make you more fashionable.

Being restricted is another selling point, showing off even mundane chores and simple tasks are something you pay other people to do for you. Showing off your wealth by wearing something that makes it clear you are incapable of taking such action yourself.

You definitely got a lot of mileage out of that full skirt concept from back in the day, that's for sure. I was actually just watching a number of YouTube videos about how historical Victorian gowns came together, and one thing that stuck out to me is how these complex looking skirts actually come together over a number of layers and detachable pieces. It got me imagining fancy dress transformations in the form of layering on more and more things to a relatively basic beginning piece, which is about the direction these later stages seem to take; Thus far we've only seen the extreme ends of dress up as distinct stages, without illustrating the transformation process itself between them, as that's how the original sunny goth sequence ended up as well.

A bit old hat, given you know my foibles, but one thing I key in on going over this and the Rowena version of the sequence is how the reactions to the transformation starts shocked/negative, and then gradually shift more and more positive over time. I get that "surprise TF you didn't know you wanted," is a typical fandom convention, but I do still think a good deal about the implications of changing reactions to what's still essentially a forced transformation. While the more innocent side of me wants to interpret Malduran's reaction here as more surprise than fear, with her attitude coming around as she realizes what's going on is harmless, it's at least just as equally valid to assume a certain amount of conditioning or mind control is going into this shift in demeanor. At least, that would explain why her look directly towards the viewer has me worried she's eyeing me up as a fine addition to her doll collection (Not that that would exactly be a terrible fate).

You've certainly outdone yourself all the same, and I'm glad you had a good time of it. It might make a certain specialty dressmaker curious to know, however, if this is how dolled up his new best customer intends to become herself.

This is pretty nice. Do you ever consider adding extra parts like this to your maid or school girl costumes or making a new version like for a king or queen changing outfit?

I took them about as far as I thought I could. There was someone who liked the idea so much they had another artist do an alternate final stage for the maid dress, though. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10162350/

I'm always trying to find a new idea for the costume series but so far haven't found any that got me jazzed enough to draw up.

far enough I suppose. Thanks for the link

VERY well done, seriously this is just impressive.

How does she fit through a door?

Crinolines are remarkably flexible to accommodate moving through confined spaces. This dress, though...perhaps she'll have to confine herself to large venues like convention centers and ballrooms that would have wide double-doors, if she decides to escape the hot sun.

Fantastically done!

you think it's possible to go EVEN FURTHER with this?