My Historical Loki Variant Cosplay (Borgias-Inspired Renaissance Dress Costume)

I was making a Borgias-inspired Renaissance dress and decided to lean into to the green gold color scheme and make it a historical Loki variant costume. I wanted a Renaissance gown but being shiny and pretty was more important to me than historical accuracy so this isn’t pegged to a specific decade, but rather a look inspired by both the Borgias HBO show and the character Loki from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The dress is made from beautiful green and gold shot raw silk suiting. The bodice uses the same fabric but with a silk/rayon organza burnout overlay, and the lining is a black cotton canvas for structure.

Rather than using a commercial pattern I Frankensteined together math and modified pattern bits from previous costumes I made. The bodice is a shorted version of the kirtle I previously made using help from the Tudor Tailor book (Amazon affiliate link). I widened the shoulder straps and added some more seam allowance but it is otherwise generally the same.

The skirt is made of pleated rectangular panels. Each of the front and back are 1.5 panels wide, with the seam hidden under the metallic jacquard trim.

The sleeves are basic sleeve shapes but cut a little loose to allow for the chemise underneath. They are somewhat like tie-on sleeves except instead of ribbons I sewed them at the meeting points with a glass pearl and some gold bead caps.

Underneath the dress I wore a Tudor chemise because that is what I had on hand. (It was also made using a pattern from the Tudor Tailor book). However, at a later point I’d like to make a Renaissance camicia with a different neckline and much fuller sleeves to puff out through the gaps in the green sleeve.

LOKI CROWN

I bought the Loki crown as 3D printed pieces from Parton Prints on Etsy. The horns come as separate pieces for ease of shipping and I glued them on using E6000 glue. After a little sanding, I used a primer that someone recommended to me for 3D printed plastics Tamiya Gray Fine Surface Primer (Amazon affiliate link) I finished up with two coats of Rust-Oleum Metallic Spray Paint in Gold. Originally I used more E6000 to glue on a black elastic strap but decided to cut them off. Instead I used the nubs of those straps as an anchor point to sew on some gold necklace chains both as decorative dangling elements in the front and also as a visible gold band across the back to hold the crown on.

I am wearing a wavy black wig from Amazon (affiliate link) under the crown. I wish my hair was that luxurious! The necklace is a secondhand eBay find.

And here is a video of the dress in action!

I had so much fun pretending to be a villain. Here are a few of the fun TikTok videos I made as Lokizia Borgia:

1. Transforming into Lokizia Borgia:

2. Asking you to join me in ruling the galaxy:

3. Starting my villain arc:

MATERIALS

• 5 yards green/gold raw silk suiting from Fabricmartfabrics.com: $52.50 + $9.99 shipping (some left over)
• 2 yards organza burnout from Fabricmartfabrics.com: $16.10 (shipped with silk suiting, a lot left over)
• 10 yards metallic jacquard trim from Aliexpress store Lucky Zakka: $9.42
• Thread, hooks/eyes, glass pearls, lining scraps, paint, glue, etc. from stash/left over from other projects: ~$5
• Package of 9 mm gold-colored bead caps: $5.90 from Amazon (affiliate link); I have many left out of that 100 pack.
• Gold chains: $0 (gifted from someone’s destash)
• 3D printed Loki crown pieces: $32.12 including shipping from Parton Prints on Etsy

Total cost: $131.03 (with about $100 of that in the dress itself).

OTHER RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE POST (Amazon affiliate links below):

• The Tudor Tailor book by Ninya Mikhaila and Jane Malcolm-Davies
• Tamiya Gray Fine Surface Primer (spray primer suitable for 3D printed plastics)
• Rust-Oleum Metallic Spray Paint in Gold
• E6000 glue

I had a lovely time wearing this to a Sistine Chapel art exhibit with my lovely friend Sara, who took a number of the pictures in this post.

Thank you for reading!