Gabrielle’s Amazon Queen costume

Recently I got my hands on this awesome costume, probably one of my favorite’s costumes of the whole series of Gabrielle. For me, the Amazon episodes were so iconic!!

After Gabrielle had received the “Right of cast” from Terreis, she inherited her status, so she became an Amazon Princess. During the series, Gabrielle returned frequently to the Amazon tribe and turned into an Amazon Queen. 

After Ngila Dickson left the series, the costume designer from the latest seasons, Jane Holland, decided to design a new wardrobe for Gabrielle Queen of Amazons with influences from the Northern amazons tribe of Yakut and the Greek Amazon tribes.

 

Gabrielle’s Amazon Queen costume worn by Renée O’Connor in the episodes of Lifeblood and Kindred Spirits from season 5, and after, in “Path of Vengeance” and “To Helicon and back” from season 6.

Gabrielle’s Amazon Queen costume includes several pieces. The suede leather top seen in “To Helicon and Back” and many other episodes , the top is over a real woman's bra and inside is written “Renee 2”. The leather undershorts, this particular version of Gabrielle pants without the braid and leather fringes was seen firstly in the episode “Lifeblood” during the moon dance and later on, was used under the deerskin skirt. The belt is made of leather with a braided edge, feathers, bull hair, plenty of beads, walnut slides, fish bone beads, chicken feet shaped painted resin pieces and a fossil shell shaped round piece in the middle. The skirt is made of real deer skin, brown leather and suede fringes sewn at the waist.

  

The gauntlets reminds me of the Northern Amazon style, they are made of real rabbit fur leather and leather braids, each gauntlet has a pair of velcro sewn into it. The armbands are made of leather, bone beads, walnut slides, fish bone beads, feathers and bull hair. The shoulder guard is made of interlocking leather strips and cotton cord mesh and it is attached to the left armband. The beaded necklace has plenty of natural seeds and wood beads and the Amazon Queen necklace is simply amazing. The head piece with deer antlers and boots worn in “Kindred Spirits” are missing, I would love to complete the outfit one day…

The costume has the “It’s a Wrap!” COA, it is written “Gabrielle’s Rustic Costume-Final  Episodes”. Definitely, people who wrote the description of the Certificates have never seen the series before.

Photos for references:

 

 

 

Gabrielle's Archangel costume

Another great acquisition was the Gabrielle’s Archangel costume, worn by Gabrielle played by Renée O´Connor, seen in “Fallen Angel” from season 5.

As a curiosity, “Fallen Angel” was so complex that it needed two months to be filmed, while a whole season of “Xena” (22 episodes) took one year to be filmed.

Xena's long way of redemption and her great compassion towards Callisto, meant giving her light to her and taking her to heaven. After meeting Callisto in the purification cave, Gabrielle’s forgiveness purified her soul and obtained a pair of wings and the Archangel costume to fight evil and demons.

 

 

This awesome colorful costume is composed of 4 pieces: top, skirt, belt and gauntlets. I have already found the knee guards from another collector, but for the moment, there are just these 4 pieces.

 

Probably the top is the most notable piece; it is made of beautiful red velvet, maybe an omen to the season six hero costume, with a pale white ribbon around. The chest is made with a silver shiny fabric imitating a metal breastplate; the top piece includes the shoulder guards to be attached in the arms. The top laces up at the sides and at the back, as a corset. The costume department in coordination with the special effects team decided to make a pair of rear openings to insert the angel feathered wings to the inner harness.

The belt is made of  darker purple fabric. The skirt is made of several layers of reddish translucent chiffon fabric and has an inner tag that is written “Renee” in. The gauntlets are made of grey leather and intertwined strips to look like metal.

The costume has a COA from “It’s a Wrap!” and is described as: Gabrielle Archangel costume from “Fallen Angel”.

As curiosity, I found a pair of photos of the costume design drawing of this costume:

Photos for reference:

Gabrielle's Bitter suite dress

 Recently I added to my collection the Gabrielle’s costume worn by Renée O´Connor in the episode “Bitter suite” from season 3. 

I am not very fanatic of the musicals, but in this case, “Bitter Suite” was the best musical episode of the whole series, there’s no doubt. The costumes in this episode are all based on the Rider-Waite designs of Tarot cards. Gabrielle was The Star, then The Empress, and then The World with the last costume, the reptile dress. This dress reminds me a Greek style wedding dress.

The dress is composed of a pale white chiffon fabric which has a seam under the chest and reaches to the feet. The most iconic part of this dress is the reptile chest piece that is awesome, probably real crocodile skin. Indeed, the costume is described in the “It’s a Wrap!” COA as “Gabrielle’s Reptile Vest Costume”.

Photoshoot

Amazon Queen Necklace

  “To a strong Amazon Nation”⚔️

Once again, a much desired prop appeared, a set-used Amazon Queen necklace. This necklace was used in the Amazon tribes to differentiate the leader, or queen, from the rest of the tribe. The first appearance of these necklaces was in the episode “Path of Vengeance” from season 6, when all the Amazon queens were reunited to judge Livia for her crimes, and later on “To Helicon and back”. 

After Terreis death, Gabrielle received her “Right of Cast” which means that she will inherit her status and belongings, and become an Amazon Princess. After, Gabrielle as Amazon Queen received her own amazon queen necklace too. 

  

The necklace is composed of several pieces; the most striking piece is the central large round shell with an ethnic detail inside and some black feathers around, there are other two smaller shells in both sides. Also, the necklace combines some oval Batik bone beads, originally from Africa, with some smaller round carved metal beads.

So finally, I am able to almost complete my Varia costume.