Process: Headless Horseman Cape

Many people have asked how I went about creating the Headless Horseman cape showcased in my portfolio. Since it is nearing one of my very favorite holidays of the year (Halloween!), I thought it would be fitting to do a post about how I went about crafting this magnificent costume for one of my favorite clients, and now very good friend, Rich Correll.

Rich owns the world’s largest horror film memorabilia collection in the world. He collects screen-used costumes and props from horror films and has life-size figures of the characters created to put on display. A portion of Rich’s Haunted Hollywood collection can be seen at the Playboy Mansion every year for the world-famous Playboy Halloween Party. However, He keeps some of the best pieces at his home in Hollywood for his own exclusive party, always held on Halloween night.

Rich occasionally has me re-create signature pieces of iconic costumes for these displays. For the Headless Horseman costume, Rich owned the screen-used tunic, pants, boots, and gloves worn by Ray Parks in Tim Burton’s film Sleepy Hollow (1999). The cape was not available for purchase, so Rich turned to me to complete the costume for his collection.

I was already a huge fan of the film so I was thrilled to have the chance to craft the signature cape. I started by re-watching the film and paid special attention to the cape itself: the look of the cape, how it moved, how it captured and reflected light, and how the textures on the cape were layered and distressed. At the time there weren’t images available online of the actual cape, so the movie was my main source of reference.

Here’s what I gathered from the movie stills:

The cape is full length, meaning that it falls from the shoulders and brushes the floor. It is fuller than most capes so it had to be patterned with additional gores (inserts) to give it the right amount of weight and drape. The main fabric of the cape has an embossed pattern, which reflects a rich texture when the light catches it just right. It also has what looks like additional textured fabrics applied to the surface of the cape to give it a decayed look.

The lining looks like it was made of a bold red fabric. I say “looks like” because it is hard to see the true color with the film’s adjusted coloration for “night” and “spooky” effect. There are a couple scenes where you can see the vibrancy of the red lining in more natural light. Since the cape I was creating was for a life-size display, I opted for a vibrant blood red lining fabric for dramatic effect.

Now it was time to start gathering fabrics and supplies.

The fabrics chosen for the cape included a black cotton/rayon brocade as the main fabric, a black textured silk as the decayed layered bits, and a red silk lining. I opted for silk for the lining because, as a natural fiber, it would hold the dyes used to give the distressed, textured look. Also, you can’t beat how beautifully silk catches light!

The cape was patterned to have a good amount of fullness, and was cut to be a full circle. This means that if you were to lay the cape flat on the ground it would make the shape of a circle. That is why there are so many deep folds around the neck and shoulder area, and why the cape moves so beautifully when the Headless Horseman is in action. It also means that it takes a lot of fabric to create.

I draped the collar to have a good 5” stand. The front corners of the collar come to a sharp point, as does the center back. The collar of the cape was made to be much stiffer than a traditional collar. There is no head on this body! The collar needed to stay in place to frame the lack of neck and head. The rigidity adds to the illusion of something ghostly inhabiting the costume.

The textured silk fabric was cut into pieces of varying organic shapes and sizes. These pieces were applied to the surface of the cape with Fabric Tac and reinforced with hand-tacking. It took a few days to get the right variation of textured pieces securely in place.

Once I completed the sewing of the cape, it was time to cut it, dye it, and paint it to give it the distressed and decayed look. This is always a nearly-heartbreaking moment for Costumers. I put in so much time making something beautiful and when it comes time to essentially destroy it, I panic just a little. In the case of this cape I had to slice it, chop it, spray it with black, brown, and grey dyes, paint it with bone-dust whites and grave-dust greys, and tear portions of it with my hands. Create only to destroy.

The final look was totally worth it.

Materials used:
Black brocade fabric 
Black textured silk fabric
Red silk fabric
Custom pattern 
Black dye
Grey dye
Brown dye
Bone colored paint
Grey paint
Fabric Tac
Thread
Spray bottles (for dye)
Scissors (good, sharp ones!)
Gloves

To see more of Rich Correll’s collection:

Syfy’s Hollywood Treasure: Inside the Collections, featuring Rich Correll

The Los Angeles Times photo gallery of Rich’s home

Yahoo! Life video

The Spectrum News 1 story

The Denver Post news article