A Hairy Affair

  What started out as an innocent attempt to create vegan "feathers" for a friend has mutated into a full-blown obsession with wearing hair extensions.  And when I say wearing, I really mean wearing.

Hair extensions make for a really fabulous clothing and jewelry material - they are vegan and cruelty free, they have amazing movement, and super soft, chemically treated and straightened human hair feels amazing! Truly, you haven't lived until you've worn a hair skirt...

My Parasitic Twin costume!

My theme for this little number was "Parasitic Twin," or simply "Teeth and Hair" if you prefer.  (You can barely see my tiny tooth necklace.  We'll get to teeth in the future.)

This was a super simple project, I used three layers of hair extensions (10inch) on the skirt, sewing each onto a fat black elastic band, making it basically a hair tutu.  The necklace is a single length of black hair extensions sewed along the neckline to a bit of bias tape.  The bias tape is totally invisible and has the added bonus of covering up the weave seams, which can get a bit itchy against the throat.  One of my few costumes that needs the occasional shampooing!

Hair collar - detail

 






  As you can see, the necklace alone makes quite the majestic statement piece, and doesn't even look too terribly outlandish when worn sans matching skirt.  I feel like a girl could wear this to the club.

  RE: "Vegan Feathers" - because I haven't forgotten mentioning this.  I made a series of earrings using small, one- to two-inch sections of weave, which were originally intended to mimic a feathered earring look for my dear amiga, Friend of the Animals.  They didn't turn out looking too feathery, but to my delight, they came out looking like badass chandeliers!  The Stevies (left) are classy, but I am really partial to the duo-tone look!

On the left, "Stevie Nicks," on the right, "Miley Cyrus"

  In order to achieve a more feather-like effect, I reduced the width of the extensions considerably - down to only one or two centimetres.  With this look it was easier to combine multiple hair feathers without getting too weighed down - visually or literally!  (The chandelier type can be pretty heavy once they're all bedazzled with bead and chain accents!) This look really reads better as feathers than the larger style, but the visual effects of each are so different, you can't even really compare them!  Which do you prefer?

A pair of the slimmer variety, this is the same pair on my head, and hanging from the wall. 

  Eventually I'd like to offer these for sale.  Would you wear human hair jewelry?