How to make a witches costume out of of human hair…. On season two of the period fantasy series Salem, Costume Designer Joseph Porro and his team create a dress for Lucy Lawless out of silk and human hair. Not a simple task….probably a television first and here’s how they did it.The Inspiration: Joseph was amazed when he found this human hair necklace by Kerry Howley of London online. He bought it and two matching cuffs for the character Countess Marburg played by Lucy Lawless. The necklace inspired him to design a dress out of human hair that would go from Lucy’s scalp to the floor.

Kerry Howley necklace

The original design was drawn before Joseph met Lucy. As he dressed her for the season he rethought the cut of the dress. The script required Lucy to pull a sword from inside her cape. There was no cape in the original design, also Lucy is tall and voluptuous and Joseph didn’t want the hair to add weight to her frame. So he decided on going with a period dress with

Original Hair Dress concept design for Countess Marburg

a Watteau inspired cape which would help hide the sword and would be more flattering with all that bulky hair. Because of the huge expense of creating such a complicated costume, it was strategically used for the season finale. Work began only five days before the dress was needed for camera. No one was sure they could pull this off on such a short timeframe so everyone proceeded at a frantic pace! Fabric was ordered, twelve yards of Thai ivory silk and another ten yards of an unusual Italian fabric with woven holes that you could weave the hair through. Joseph had met with the head of the hair department Daniel Curet and talked about the strategy. This was truly a team effort between both departments. Daniel was excited to be involved and ordered human hair wefts to make a dozen wigs in Lucy’s color from an Asian source. Getting it long enough to trail down the whole dress was impossible so the decision was made to weave it in and out of the dress in a way that would hide the gaps from view.

Construction begins on the dress. It is a complicated pattern and takes two days to construct. A rare 100 year old pinking machine grinds out the trim.

The basic dress is ready for the first fitting. Italian fabric is used for the cape on the left and on the sleeves and corset on the right. Sheared self trim of Thai silk gradates

from the top of the overskirt. Silk chiffon layers are used for the underskirt.

Cutter Fitter Maggie McFarlan oversees the first fitting with Lucy. Adjustments are made. The workroom assembles the sheared silk trim for the overskirt.

Terry Howley’s hand made cuffs sewn to the gloves and string ties are added to the necklace the Countess will wear. Human hair Momento Mori earrings from the 1880’s

are used to finish off the accessories .

Lucy is called in for a second fitting to check the alterations. Hair is pinned to the dress so Joseph can to check proportions. Maggie marks the cape for

length.

Left: Sheared and pinked silk trim is used to control the human hair tresses and keep them from getting snarled on the over skirt. Right: Crochet hooks

are used to weave the hair in and out of the fabric and stabilize it.

Jesse Trevino, head of Salem’s aging and dyeing department takes the lead and airbrushes the dress creating shadows that gives it a dark and sinister feeling.

A peplum is added to the overskirt to hide the ends of the hair tresses. Hair is crocheted into the bodice top and the ends are left as fringe.

Left: Large wefts of hair are sewn under the peplum and woven through the overskirt. Right: Hair is woven meticulously into a sleeve in the workroom.

Several of Salem’s workroom staff spend hours and hours weaving the back of the cape and hiding the raw edges. Notice the thickness at the top where Lucy’s own hair

and a partial wig will be woven and blended into the cape.

Day 4: Adam Simon, Salem Producer/Head Writer visits our workroom. After more airbrushing to darken the garment, hair is sewn to the upper bodice in an organic

pattern. The pace is frantic. Everyone tries to finish the dress for the next morning. Daniel the Hairstylist brings in more staff to help with the connecting pieces to the wig.

More hair is added to the underskirt after airbrushing the dress another shade darker. A rosette is made and added to the front bodice closure.

Day 5: Final fitting before going to camera! Daniel Curet supervises his team as he styles Lucy’s hair and adds the extensions from the cape and sleeves into her

hairline. Wardrobe staff do final tweeks. Lucy studies her lines as Joseph looks on.

Daniel blends the wig pieces into the cape and assistant designer Betsey Potter adjusts

the rosette closure. Notice the stylized crimped hair bows on the sleeves and skirt!

Lucy Lawless and Joseph Porro on set after rehearsal. The crew and other actors

were amazed at the sight of this costume. It turned into a photo frenzy! A thank you to Lucy, who was truly a good

sport about all the time it took out of her busy

schedule. The dress was featured in the season finale

and later displayed at the FIDM Emmy exhibit in July.