Secret Honey Belle Library Costume

Hello everyone and welcome to a new post Today I would like to talk about one of my absolute favourite costume designs Secret Honey ever did: Belle’s Library dress. The design is very cleverly done and so gorgeous. And I love green, what can I say 😛 Also: This dress not only works as a Belle Cosplay, no, you can also use it to cosplay Fiona, if you want to 😉 We love versatility.

I showcase one of my Disney pieces every two weeks, you can check out my other posts if you like. Last time I showed you my Secret Honey Rapunzel Sweater and Skirt.

If you would like to know more about the brand and about how you can get these dresses, I have got you covered in several posts. Here are some resources to start your very own Secret Honey collection.

How to buy Secret Honey: A brief overview on several ways to get your hands on Secret Honey casual pieces and costumes. Including recommendations for resellers etc.
How to buy Secret Honey with Buyee: Detailed post with many screenshots detailing how to use the service Buyee to buy Secret Honey (or other stuff, of course) from Japanese websites such as mercari.jp
Of Remakes and Fakes: There are remakes of Secret Honey (costumes in particular) that are being sold. In this post I share some thoughts about the topic as well as a photo comparison of an original Secret Honey dress and a remake (spoiler: they are different).

I also sometimes sell dresses from my collection, check out my shop or my Instagram, I usually list them there.

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Every piece I ever covered on my blog is sorted by princess on this page. So if you want to browse options for your favourite girl or guy, check it out.

The Belle Library Costume

Let’s have a look at this beauty! I adore this dress. It is so beautiful, the colours work perfectly together, the quality is amazing, the fabrics well chosen, there’s embroidery… It has it all! And, the bodice is very well structured actually. Usually, Secret Honey’s costume bodices have only a few bones, sometimes even only one in the centre front, this one has lots and it reminds me of the way 18th century stays were boned. Especially the horizontal bone over the bust. Which is actually a perfect design choice since “Beauty and the Beast” is taking place in the 18th century. I love little details like this. Here is the dress from the front:

A picture from the side. You can see how the boning shapes the body on this one pretty well. We have a flatter chest that is being pushed up, like 18th century fashion 🙂

Of course, I also show you a picture of the dress from the back 🙂 You can see that the bodice should be 2 or 3 centimetres longer for my torso to cover the waistband of the skirt underneath completely. Just keep that in mind, if things like these bother you. If you are tall or your torso is long, the bodice might be a bit short for you.

The Facts

The dress is still being sold around it’s original price on mercari, as far as I can see, but I suspect that these are remakes… If that does not bother you, you should be able to find it. The dress I am showing in my pictures is untagged, so a real one with flaws. I bought it before remakes were a thing.

Size and Closure

I really like this dress, it is very comfy to wear. The only thing I do not like is the armscye, it is a bit narrow for me. Other than that, I do like the size and I think it is on the more generous side for Secret Honey’s costumes, specific measurements further down for your reference.

The skirt closes with a hidden side zipper and has a shirring panel with lacing in the back to help adjust the size:

The bodice closes with a zipper to the left side of the shirring panel which makes it a biiiiiit difficult to close yourself if you do not have that much mobility. The shirring panel extends quite far and there is lacing as usual to adjust the size as soon as the bodice is closed:

Measurements

Bodice: (Amateur-)measured with shirring extended:

Chest: ca. 92 cm (but, the boning will shape your bust, I guess, a bust of around 95 would still fit, simply because of the way the bodice is done with the boning etc.)
Waist: ca. 78 cm

Skirt: (Amateur-)measured with shirring extended:

Waist: ca. 74 cm

Fit on me

As mentioned above, the bodice is a bit short for my torso. I do not know if that is solely the length of my torso or a problem with the fact that I am 15 cm taller than the models Secret Honey uses 😉 Probably both. Other than that, I do like the fit of this costume. The sleeves are a bit short, but they also are on the official pictures so I think, they are supposed to be a bit shorter.

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The Bodice

The bodice of this Belle library costume does not look like much on the floor because of the way the boning is shaped from me wearing it and also storing it ^^’ But I wanted to show you anyway. There is a loooooot happening, I love it. Velvet, brocade, lace, trim, boning, gathering…

Here it is from the back as well. There is even boning in the back next to the shirring panel and the zipper to stabilize it. It is super well structured, I love it. No wrinkles in the fabric possible with this boning placement, it will always look very neat and pretty!

The Sleeves

The first part of the bodice that I would like to show you in detail are the sleeves. We have some sort of straps done in the brocade and decorated with golden trim. The next part of the sleeves are puffed velvet sleeves decorated with pearls. The bottom part is done in a stretchy lace fabric and ends with a ruffle. There is a lot happening with these sleeves but I really don’t think, it is too much!

This shot is one that interests me as a sewist and you get it as a bonus too… I wondered how the sleeves are finished on the inside and here you go: the answer is bias binding, my favourite way to finish sleeves!

Here I have a detail shot of the lace fabric that is used for the bottom half of the sleeves. It has a flower pattern:

The sleeves are finished with a ruffle at the bottom as well as dark green velvet ribbon:

The Neckline

The neckline of the dress has two layers that have several layers themselves. We have the brocade layer that is decorated with golden trim. Behind it is a gathered layer done with lace fabric as well as a lining:

Here is a look at the lace layer. It is some sort of embroidered mesh with white and light golden thread. The layer is gathered which gives a ruffle effect at the top behind the actual bodice layer.

The gathering can be seen very well on the inside of the bodice if you look at the lining:

The gathering at the top of the lace layer is done with elastic rather than real gathering stitches which makes it mould to your body nicer:

Boning and Other Bodice Details

Let’s talk about the boning first. As you can see here, we have boning in the centre of the bodice in five different plaves running vertical and diagonal. There also is boning running across the chest which gives the bodice this typical cone shape of 18th century fashion. I really love how structured this bodice is.

All the bones run together at the tip of the bodice at the bottom that is nice, sharp and well shaped because of it. Around the edge of the bodice we have the same golden trim that is also used around the neckline and to decorate two of the bodice seams (we will have a look at them further down).

There is no boning to support the side seams, which might lead to wrinkles if the bodice is too long for your torso. For me, it doesn’t, the bodice is on the shorter side. Just keep that in mind. But, there is a bone running down next to the zipper and shirring panel in the back. It stops about 2 cm above the waistline of the bodice. Maybe to make zipping the bodice easier? Or because your back bends? Or both 😛

Last one. I wanted to show you the boned seam with the golden trim in a close up. The trim is the same everywhere. Be careful to not get it cought on a ring or something, it is very delicate.

Dress in Action

The Skirt

Here is the skirt on my floor. It is not as wide as the skirts of Secret Honey’s other Belle costumes, you will need a hoop skirt with a smaller circumference. The hoop skirt I am wearing beneath this in the pictures has a circumference of 2.5 metres. I think, for the other ones I wear a hoop skirt with a circumference of 3.5 metres.

The waistband is nice and reinforced. There is a hook to hook the bodice to the skirt. I can’t use it, because the bodice is too short but it sure is useful! The skirt is also pleated at the top:

The skirt has only two layers, there is no additional tulle or anything so you may want to wear a petticoat to hide the hoopskirt nicely. For your reference: I don’t wear a petticoat over the hoop skirt and I think it does look ok. But you can be the judge of that 🙂

I wanted to show you the hem because I think it was stitched by hand and I like details like this 🙂 Look how beautiful! I think invisible stitches would have been difficult with this fabric, but these stitches certainly look nicer than a machine sewn hem would have!

Now, let us have a closer look at the skirt front with the opening! It is beautiful, the sides are embroidered in green and gold and the fabric beneath is a beautiful gold green brocade. Do you notice something? It is the same brocade that is used for the bodice. Secret Honey just used the other side of the fabric. How ingenious is that? I love it. This is my favourite detail of this costume, to be honest. So clever.

Here is proof, of course 😀 I love it!

The Embroidery

The embroidery is done in green and golden thread and I love the pattern. Flowers and tendrils with leaves. It is very elegant and beautiful. At the bottom, we have a more complex pattern and then another easier pattern that runs up to the waistband. I also added photos with details of the beautiful brocade from both sides. I really love the choice of fabric for this costume!

Here is one last picture from the front showing this beautiful dress in its full glory. This really is one of my top costumes Secret Honey ever released and I can’t believe the price, especially considering it came out quite “late” in 2019 where the costume prices were already very high. It is simpler and the economical use of fabric etc. will have reduced production cost, but still!

And that is everything I have for you today. I hope you enjoyed looking at this beautiful Belle Library Costume in detail together with me. I wish you a good one and hope to see you in my next post

Love,
Ella