Sebastian is a new character in the updated version of “Cinderella”.  He is the stereotypical evil guardian . . .shuffling Topher off to an isolated upbringing at an all male school on an island . . . while he himself plunders the countryside in Topher’s name.  He is in cahoots with Madame to wed off Gabrielle to Topher so the two of them can rule the kingdom by proxy.  Sebastian is delightfully stuffy and has some great one-liners, and while evil, is not so much scary as comical.

It would be quite easy to dress Sebastian in the same costume for the entire show.  In the Broadway show he wears a long, flowing, dark jacket which is buttoned at some points, and unbuttoned at others.  I opted to give him an opening scene outfit, his main robe (with two variations), and his wedding wear.  We meet Sebastian in the woods after Topher has slain the Giant.

Woods Wear:

This costume began as a Halloween costume from a thrift store.  It was a Star Wars brand robe and I believe it was something similar to this one:

The robe was black with long sleeves.  It had a shorter undertunic and a longer overtunic that was slit to the waist.  It came with a mask (unused) and a hooded capelet (which I used for a villager).  It was accessorized with a sequin sash from a thrift store band uniform.  He wore black breeches, and a black hat with black and red feathers.  The lion applique was done using the freezer paper method on gray vinyl by one of my volunteers when we were experimenting with making armor for Topher and the soldiers.  It seemed a shame not to use it, so we cut it out and appliqued it to the black costume.

Main Costume:

The main costume was a gray robe that I found at a thrift store.  I think it was from some sort of organization.  It looked like this:

I bought two of them, thinking Sebastian could switch to the purple for the ball as it was a more formal occasion, but, it didn’t seem to work with his character, so we stayed in the gray.  Now I have to think of something else to do with the purple one!  The robe initially opened in the back and had a snap-on hood.  The double sleeves and the front were trimmed with black ribbon.  It included a belt trimmed with gold fringe.

A volunteer recreated the robe for the costume.  We paired the gray robe with a dark gray brocade. This was not quite as showy on stage as I had hoped.  The robe was slit up the front, and panels of the brocade, along with more black ribbon, were added as embellishment.  The felt decals on the sleeves were removed.  A cape was made from the brocade and attached with velcro to the shoulder.  A band of extra black fabric was added to the bottom to lengthen it.

Sebastian also had a long vest made of the brocade, which is somewhat visible in the above picture.  Since he always wore the robe, we could have eliminated that piece.  i rather throught it would be more visible under the robe when it ws open and he was moving.He continues to wear the same black breeches.

The “Chain of Office” was an essential part to this costume.  Originally it was one of the things that got pushed aside as time ran out , but after the first dress rehearsal I knew I would need to find time to make something “more”.  Early on I had found a belt I thought might work, but I didn’t care for it when the time came.  Instead, I looked through my stash and found this dress:

This was a gem I wore for a “Mom Dance” at my daughters’ Freshman Spring Dance show.  We dressed up as old ladies and danced with walkers and humiliated our children . . . it was great fun.  The dress was an eggplant silk with a heavily beaded and sequined neckline.  I cut this off the dress with a pinking shears.  I should have run a line of fray check along the edge, or a line of hot glue on the back.  By the end of the show it was getting pretty frayed.

I cut a piece of scrap black felt into a base (you can see it at the front, above the beads).  I embellished it with some flat gold braid, gold beads, a gem, and a row of silver cord at the top.

The whole thing just stuck in the velcro at the shoulders, and so Sebastian wore it for Court occasions, but not for less formal events.

The center gem was a Christmas ornament I had picked up a couple of years ago at super, super clearance.

The loops of beads did come apart during the performances, so they were just cut off.  I should have restrung them before gluing them on.

Wedding Wear:

I don’t have a picture of the original outfit Sebastian wore for the wedding.  It was a vintage coat and dress outfit.  I am guessing it was a Mother-of-the-Bride at sometime.  It was an awesome metallic pink/beige/gold fabric.  The jacket is worn without alteration.  The dress was made into a pair of breeches.  That was a funny story itself.  My volunteer and I had talked about how she would make the sheath dress into a VEST (which would have been fairly easy).  Instead, she had breeches on the brain, and so we ended up with breeches–which were much harder to do due to the darts and the armholes etc.  After she was done mentally cursing me for my unrealistic ideas . . . THEN she had to regroup and call me to sat “I think I screwed up”.

 

Sebastian switched to a white shirt, socks, shoes and had a white floppy hat with the feather.   This was a fairly quick costume change, so he had to preset some of the white pieces under his dark robe.  He had a jabot, but, in the end didn’t have time to put it on.

 

Cost:  Halloween tunic $4, sash $2, feathers $4.  Gray robe: $15, fabric $8, black for breeches:  donated.  Wedding ensemble:  $5, feather, $2.  Chain of office:  donated.

Overall, I was happy with Sebastian’s costumes.  I really loved his Wedding Wear, and wish he could have worn that for more of the show!