Photographer: Sage Look @asagelook

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Often, death is perceived as a negative; something to fear. The death tarot card scares new readers, however, the meaning of the card is quite positive. The death card represents an end of one journey and the beginning of another. While graduation is the end of my college career, it’s also the beginning of my career in industry work. I’m transitioning into a new life that is intimidating but also exciting. With these contrasting concepts in mind, I designed a piece to represent both the perceived fear and hope for what is to come in the future.

 

I pulled inspiration from historical Victorian mourning attire and incorporated that into my own personal design aesthetics and comfortability while wearing this piece.

I decided on the bodysuit to have a solid base that would not distract from the decorative elements of this design. However, the fabric chosen was to replicate the crepe fabric commonly seen in Victorian mourning attire. The ribcage corset is the highlight piece and center of attention. This was my main goal for this costume and incorporating the design to fit. The bones on the bodysuit are to have a stronger tie in the ribcage to the rest of the costume. The panels are meant to give a similar silhouette to a skirt without it actually being one, with the belt being a recreation from the victorian era. The five panels are meant to tie into the tudor rose which is shown on the original Rider-Waite Death tarot card. On each of the panels, there is a roman numeral that is correlated with one of the 22 major arcana cards in tarot, representing the fool’s journey. The veil was a dramatization of the veils commonly seen in victorian mourning wear. I also chose to wear recreations of victorian boots to tie into the historical context of this design.