Wavemother Robe from Baldurs Gate 3
Costume Breakdown and Cosplan Plotting
I was so late to this party but I’ve been playing a lot of Baldurs Gate 3 lately. I’d heard stories from my friends who played it for about the year it was out prior. I’d seen the memes and the videos online. My friends told me I’d like it, I was warned about how cool some of the outfits in the game are. But I was not prepared. All that to say is I’m now doing a Baldurs Gate group costume this Dragon Con and am still obsessing over 75% of the in game outfits.
Brief heads up, BG3 is very much an MA game. There’s no nudity in this post and we’re not looking at these pictures to ogle bodies, however this is a really skimpy dress and there is a lot of skin on display next to the costume bits we will be discussing.
The first outfit I’m looking at from BG3 is one I haven’t been able to find in game yet and am kind of upset by. It’s called the Wavemother’s dress, because it theoretically can be found in the Water Queen’s House temple in the city of Baldurs Gate. It’s part of the quest Avenge the Drowned. We first see the dress on Diomira Trellis as we head into the temple. Inside variations of the wavemother dress are worn by all in the order.
The crown jewel of these variations is Allandra Grey, the leader, shown above both in game and on her character design sheet. (Character Design by Tan Bur-Ci).
Breakdown
Enough about plot though there’s costumes to talk about. Let’s get into the head to toe of it.
Foundation Layers
BUT before we get into the main bit let's talk foundation pieces. There's not a lot of places to hide things like underwear here. In some ways that makes what is there even more important.
I would strongly recommend wearing dance tights, nylons, or some other hose layer underneath this for just that extra bit of coverage.
If you do, check if it has that different colored control top bit up high, you might want one that doesn't have that.
For a bit more coverage / support than just the tights, a high cut pair of undies is a great next layer, if you too like superman, wear your tights as the first layer.
If you're looking for some bra like support up top, there is shape tape, kinesthesia tape, boob lift tape and the like. There are also bras that stick and lift that would work with the dress cut. If you go with a sticky tape like route please be careful taking things off because I have been scraped up by those before and it's not pleasant. (and also please wear pasties or something under them to protect the nips!)
There are also other options like the hybrid silicone / underwire lift and stick bra that I did order to test out
There is an option to build in padding and wire support into the dress lining itself, which another option I will be looking into during the mockup phase.
There are the low cut metal scooper bras that have no back
there was one thing that looked like a halter top bra I found on Temu, that I have no clue if or how it works.
If you're looking for more control or coverage beneath the dress as well, shapewear is a totally valid foundation layer / base for your cosplay
Whatever you end up with, if your robe is low cut and does not have something keeping it secure across the bust - remember remember remember your fashion tape to avoid any gaping or slippage incidents!
Hair / Makeup
We don't need to worry about the hair as this is just the article of clothing / equipment from Baldur's Gate 3. If you'd be interested seeing breakdowns of characters who could wear it, or Allandra Grey, let me know who you'd like to see down below.
Robe Proper
This robe as seen in the game is a LOW cut, backless, high side thigh outfit. It's technically held on at the shoulders, and with some well placed jewelry chains, and hopes and prayers.
There is a front piece from shoulders to ankles (A), the back torso bit from back of the neck to the sides of the front bodice (B), the the back of the skirt that attaches along the back rib line and dips down at the lower back (C), and then the short oversleeves (D).
The robe itself is about ankle length on all character models but part of this length is going to depend on fabric length and human height and preference.
There are two-layer sleeves as well, an exaggerated tulip style sleeve out of the dress material and a long undersleeve reaching the wrist of a different fabric. The undersleeve looks like it could be made with a satin finished fabric, with or without a pattern in it. I will likely look for a jacquard or floral, or speckled poly silk satin. There is a detail at the top of the wrist where the fabric dips up an inch or two.
The upper sleeve, the exaggerated tulip cut, is about mid bicep at the underside and comes up to about a 1/4 of the bicep on top of the arm, cut to taste of wearer. In some views of this robe it does not look like the robe fabric full connects on the top, instead held together or held to just touching by the frothy foamy lace that we will get to in a bit. Both of these sleeve layers are sewn into a complete armscye at the bodice of the robe.
The bodice half of the robe has a full shoulder coverage (coming up to the neckline point that a t shirt would hit at at the shoulder ridge line. Starting at the back, these pieces meet and likely clasp at the back of the neck, and then fall at about a 60 degree angle down to the natural waist.
In the front from the shoulder down, the robe is cut open in a V to at or a bit below the naval where it converges in the center. The bodice part of this is carefully fitted at the side to hug whatever is going on up top.
At the point or slightly higher than the bottom of the V, the side cuts away at the natural waist, and a narrower strip of cloth is what makes the front of the skirt. By the time this reaches the knee I wouldn't say this piece of fabric (AFTER SEAMS) is more than 10 or 12 inches wide. At the hip it runs from inner hip to inner hip like this. It does seem to flare out slightly at the bottom as well.
The open V in the front is connected at the waist by a small metal link, showing here. There is also a chain that runs below the breasts / pecs that connects to a fan of filigree like metal past the side seam. We'll look at this more in a bit. The under chest chain connects in the front to a central vertical chain that runs up to and connects to the jewelry collar.
Let's go back to the back. the bottom skirt piece is much wider than the front, about half of the waist or hip measurement to provide coverage. It does narrow slightly as it gets lower but not by much. This back skirt is connected by 4-6" at the back near the sides on each side, and by 4 chains per side to the front skirt (more on that soon).
Trim
Trimming all the edges of this robe is 1" to 2 1/2 " of an organic looping lace. This looks like it could be sea foam or froth and does not resemble fabric.
Hardware / Armor / Accessories
Accessorizing this robe are a mix of jewelry pieces to a few armor like pieces.
At the neck, there is a cowl like shoulder piece that sits on the shoulders and wraps to the back of the neck. In game it looks like a metal piece, however this can be 3d printed, modeled with foam, or other methods.
Beneath this, visible at the front of the neck, is a jewelry collar with a ring in it. This looks like it has 3 stones of different sizes and organic shapes set into it. The stones look like milky blue swirls, or like abalone shell linings.
From the collar, a chain drops down the front center to connect with two chains that then run below the bust at a slant, maybe 20 degrees (roughly) and around to the back sides of the robe.
There is a triangular filigree piece 3-4" inches a side (roughly) that aligns with the point that the back skirt connects to the back torso fabric. the top angle of this triangle connects to the underbust chain. The bottom slant of this filigree piece extends forward around the hip several inches and can be seen slightly in these images here.
Back to the center dip in the dress. At the V, a few inches about its lowest point and around the naval height, there is a decorative link connecting the edges of the V, seen here.
At the legs, on each side, there are 4 smaller chains that wrap from the back skirt around to the front skirt, connecting to the edges. These slant down as they go back to front. They are about half as steep as the cut of edge of the skirt piece.
Shoes
There are no specific shoes to match this costume piece. The original wearer of the robe, Allandra Grey, does not wear shoes with it. This opens up the range for cosplayers
To go barefoot (where it is safe and allowed only please!)
To use invisible style shoes that are con safe while giving the illusion of barefooted-ness (I don't always trust how these hold up)
Some cosplayers have used nude dance style shoes which I personally am going to go with
There are also plenty of screenshots from the game of the robe being worn with all sorts of equipped boots. There's really no wrong answer for this bit.
If you want to do something funny - something I think is funny at least - you could pair it with the classic surfer Ugg / FUgg boot, cause like surfers like the waves too, man.
Analysis
So what is this actually made of then? The dress in the game is modeled to look like scales. Realistically in our world it’s not, we know that fishskin doesn’t really make garments. With the luster of the scales and the sheen on the material it actually looks a lot like silicone cast scale sheeting that certain groups like mermaids & merfolk use in their costuming.
If budget and time were no constraint, and this is pushing it to the limits, I’d want to make the dress proper out of a semi stretch semi rigid fabric with a good drape. And then I’d apply either custom sequins in that shape, mixed with very thin specially cast and cut resin scale sheets laid over the iridescent sequins. This is in almost no way realistic. The closest I’ve seen done like this are the tails from the Australian epic show H20 Just Add Water. IYKYK.
REALISTICALLY this is made from a semi stretch sequin fabric. I personally prefer one for this with a pearlescent luster but since we can’t make fabric out of giant fish scales it’s really cosplayer’s choice here. There are also scale print fabric, mermaid scale print spandex, and a whole lot of other options. There’s a lot of room for personal preference and personality here. If you’re using something with a scratch back side don’t forget a lining. It’s not canon but you’re going to want something between the back of sequins and your skin or hose.
For the sleeves I’d recommend something with a somewhat non geometric speckle pattern, however honestly a floral silk or faux silk, or a floral brocade honestly look just as good.
For the lace, there’s several trim options especially in the growing cosplay market. Look for an organic looping lace trim, something that looks like it came from nature rather than a loom. Organic as an aesthetic is preferable to a more accurate but more geometrically rigid look.
These are just suggestions and picks that I’m looking at for my build. But the real questions are:
Would you make this?
Would you wear this?
How many hours have you logged on Baulders Gate 3?
And if you’re planning on being at Dragon Con let me know in the comments!
Happy Costuming