It rubs the lotion on its skin...

November 12, 2013 3:18 AM

I'm looking to find / make / adapt a costume for a fine art photoshoot that I'm currently planning. The character in the picture is one from myth, who is said to have a skirt made from flayed human skin. Short of sending Ramsay Snow's a raven or becoming Buffalo Bill, how can I put together a costume that will look as creepy-beautiful as I need?

Bear in mind that I'll almost definitely be working with a costume designer for this, but it's the kind of question that falls somewhere between costume design and special effects makeup so I thought I'd throw it out there to the wise folks of MetaFilter.

The character in question is from old British legend, and was said to drain the blood of her victims, eat their flesh, and then dry out their skins and wear them as a skirt. I'm looking for something that will look reasonably creepy to start with — pale, translucent, leathery — which I can then augment in post-production.

My initial thoughts are that latex, suitably distressed, would be a good place to start, but I've got absolutely no solid ideas. Any suggestions are welcome, short of actually flaying somebody, which just incurs far to much paperwork :).

posted by gmb to Media & Arts (12 answers total)

Best answer: Well, based on anthropodermic bibliopegy, human skin won't be very translucent, it just resembles any other leather, just with larger pores. Dried skin would also be very stiff and tough, rather than the beaten/chemically-treated soft leather you get.

So while latex would definitely have the look, and you could do some amazing paint work on it, you would probably want to keep it somewhat thick and a bit stiff.

unless you're rubbing the brains into the skin after skinning and eating...that apparently makes it very soft. Or so I vaguely recall from one too many "survivalist" books I used to read.

About skinning animals.

Jesus, people.

Stop looking at me.
posted by Katemonkey at 3:53 AM on November 12, 2013 [4 favorites]

I would see if you could cobble something together from pig skin leftover from the butchering of a pig. You could stitch it together with twine and for extra added effect be sure to stitch together the nipples in the correct places. It possibly wouldn't last very long, but assuming you could cure it somehow I am guessing that it could be kept for a month or so without losing all structural integrity. It would definitely look very creepy.
posted by koolkat at 4:00 AM on November 12, 2013 [1 favorite]

I'd use very thin, pale pinkish leather. You don't want to be too literal about it - the pinkishness, for example, would be artistic licence because we're used to seeing human skin with blood in it - but I think latex is going to be too smooth and inorganic looking. Then wet the leather to stiffen it, and dry it in shapes. Then thread some fine brown or black embroidery thread through, secured with a knot at one end, and trim. Do this repeatedly so that there are areas with what looks like patches of wispy hair.
posted by Acheman at 4:31 AM on November 12, 2013

I like the translucent idea, would a really stiff organza or organdy - not a shiny one, hand-dyed to look leathery work? When we peel our skin it is just one layer and translucent, so many people associated that flexible translucent look with our skin and the stiffer animal leather (cognitive dissonance "humans aren't animals!").
posted by saucysault at 5:12 AM on November 12, 2013

Best answer: Suggestions on the skin are fine. I would suggest, however, that you can really convey the idea of human skin through the choice of stitching you use.
posted by MuffinMan at 5:16 AM on November 12, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I think actual leather might be too literal. Distressed palest pink silk or satin sewn with bright crimson threads would be both beautiful and... suitably troubling. If her victims were young maidens (as opposed to ruddy, weathered field hands) this fabric would convey how delicate her victims could be.
posted by mochapickle at 5:24 AM on November 12, 2013 [2 favorites]

Best answer: What you want is liquid latex, applied in coats, alone or over fabric. I've seen it used in many art projects and it has the off-putting, leathery-rubbery weight you are looking for. You can pour and paint it on, add layers for texture, ( I bet you could paint it on your hand, let it dry, peel it off, and use it as a decorative detail on your skirt). You can paint on top of the latex, so you could play with levels of transparency. Check out this blog entry. And post the finished work in projects or something! It sounds fascinating.
posted by velebita at 8:21 AM on November 12, 2013 [1 favorite]

There is an artist in Buenos Aires that doessomething very similar.I'm on the phone now, but look up the episode of Lonely Planet's Six Degrees with Asha Gill in Buenos Aires (in 2003) that features her.
posted by divabat at 10:00 AM on November 12, 2013

Response by poster: Just an update — I'll post the finished work to projects as velebita suggested — but I've decided to do a combination of liquid latex + pale pink silk. It turns out that when you use flesh-toned latex on top of pink silk it starts to look very much like human skin. All it needs is a couple of washes of paint for toning and detail work, but it's already looking very creepy.

And now I need to think of a way to explain this to the police. Just in case...

Thanks for your help folks; I'm looking forward to posting the finished image when it's done.
posted by gmb at 3:16 AM on November 22, 2013 [2 favorites]

So... how'd it work?
posted by mochapickle at 2:23 PM on December 9, 2013

Response by poster: Not quite ready to post it in projects just yet, but I thought I'd share the final images from my blog (the link is in my profile).

Thanks for your help folks.
posted by gmb at 10:24 AM on October 8, 2014

That looks AMAZING. Just wow!
posted by mochapickle at 10:29 AM on October 8, 2014 [1 favorite]