Queen Akasha's Skirt + Armband Sleeves

I hate you. I hate you so much skirt and sleeves. You have made things much more difficult.

Also people who don't really look at the reference photos that can be zoomed in on. Thank you. Grawr.

I can see that there is a slight sheen and sheerness to her damn skirt.

See that background? That means it's sheer

I'm a little perplexed by this material. It's black but it's also a dark purple. So I'm starting to think that it's layered with a black and a dark purple. Great. That must give it the somewhat navy appearance to some people. Or maybe I'm crazy.

On cosplay.com's forums someone linked me a tutorial because they're awesome like that. They used chiffon in the belly dance skirt tutorial and it really looks like the material I want/need. I almost wonder if I could find chiffon here in Hangzhou since they've got a great silk market apparently.

I really need to learn more about fabrics and costuming. Such a terrible noob...