The Venetian Carnival costume inspiration started in February 15th, 2006. I inadvertantly stumbled upon an album full of pictures of the Carnival in Venice.

I was stunned and spent hours looking through all the pictures. The faces were haunting with creepy masks but the outfits were absolutely gorgeous! Some of them were even made of what looks to be cheap panne fabric and yet still looked really nice! Others had huge metal back pieces or were made entirely of sequinned fabric.

Within a month I knew I wanted to make a carnival costume.

Here is a brief history:

The Carnival of Venice officially began in 1296, when the Senate of the Republic authorized the carnival with an edict declaring the day before Lent as a day of celebration. After a break of almost two centuries, the traditions of the carnival were recovered by the Municipality in 1980 and since then the event has been held with great success each year. The carnival is a celebration that greets the passing of winter into spring, a period in which everything is apparently connected, including the illusion of the more humble classes becoming similar to the powerful, since everyone is disguised behind a mask.

Carnival goers dress in fancy elaborate costumes with masks, hats and gloves. Most costumes rarely show any skin except for the eyes. However, some attendies choose half masked costumes as well as face painting and or just wearing a fancy costume. Clearly though, the elaborate costmes are the most memorable.