Tell me about the outfit you are wearing – who are you cosplaying and how did you decide to pick this particular character ?
These costumes are based on a picture from the Magic Knights Rayearth artbook by Clamp. This was an early series by Clamp that helped grow their popularity. I personally have been into anime and manga for many years and this was a series that was one of the first mangas I ever read. Oddly enough this series has been gaining popularity again in the past few years and we decided to jump on the band wagon. I usually make one Clamp based costume a year (mainly from xxxHolic) but I wanted to do a costume from one of their other series. I have cosplayed by myself in the past and many times in a duo. This was the first time an opportunity arose that I could cosplay with three people so the characters from Rayearth seemed like a logical option. Since the characters and series have become very popular again we did not want to do the default outfits or any other well-known outfit in the series. I love doing costumes that are not very well known and obscure. We found the maid outfits in the artbook and immediately fell in love with the costumes.
Tell me about the process of making your outfit – was it easier or tougher than you imagine it to be ?
Since these costumes are all basically the same but in different colors we wanted to make them at the same time. This way we could go shopping together to pick out identical fabric and accessories. We spent a few days trapped in my parent’s house working on these costumes. The other girls called it “Leah’s Sweat Shop.” The overall construction was not too demanding since we followed many basic patterns (shirt, skirt, and vest). One of the girls in the group knew how to make bow ties and we relied on her expertise to show us the pattern for the neck, hair, shoe, butt bows. The bows on the back took a little extra time just because of their enormous size. We put many layers of interfacing into the bows to hold them up but unfortunately we had to add a few extra snaps to make them look just right.
The leggings were a completely different story. We were able to find the right stretch material in one color but sadly the store did not carry the other two colors. In this case we bought white material and hand dyed the leggings to match the color of the outfit. The leggings were a real bother when wearing since they did not want to stay up for very long. We had to use a good amount of rescue tape to keep them up. In retrospect we have a much better idea of how to make them and will implement this knowledge in future costumes.
The shoes were also hand painted to match the outfits. The blue shoes turned out real nice but the green ones did not like the paint originally. We had to scrap the shoes completely and buy new ones to start over. This time we primed the shoes correctly and bought the right paint. Everyone designed and constructed the wigs on their own time. Everyone had to individually make the bows for the hair and make sure they matched the design in the artwork. The wigs were not difficult to style: the blonde wig just needed to be curled, the blue wig needed to get combed, and the pink wig need a small amount of construction and hair spray. The pink wig was actually two separate wigs (one short spiky wig and one long straight wig). I braided a pony tail from the long straight wig and hand stitched the pony-tail into the back of the spiky wig.
Any interesting stories from people’s reaction to your outfit at the con ? ^^
Overall we got a great response from these costumes. The one downfall from doing an outfit that is not very well known is that many times people do not know who the character is. I guess the costumes were just so cute that it did not matter if someone knew the character; they still found the outfits adorable! We originally wore these costumes to MTAC which is a smaller convention in Tennessee. I don’t think anyone there knew who we were! When people asked us directly and we told them Magic Knights Rayearth they still did not know the show. That definitely made me feel old.
What are the con did you first attended and what’s your favorite con that you’ve attended so far and why ?
My first convention was Dragoncon 1999. I only decided to go because my friends wanted to see Neil Gaiman talk about his new book. Once I went and saw all the crazy costumes I was hooked. I went to Anime Weekend Atlanta for the first time the following year and got inspired to try and make a costume. My very first costume was Lina Inverse from Slayers. I look back now and realize that is not the best costume to do your first time. I think I did okay for my first time but I will probably go back one day and remake the entire costume just to prove to myself I can. I have attended Dragoncon and AWA on a yearly basis since 2000 and I do not plan to stop. I have branched out to other conventions just to see what else is out there. These conventions include Otakon, MTAC, Anime Expo, Kunicon, Metrocon, Animazement, Anime Boston, Megacon, Anime Festival Orlando, and Momocon. Although I have attended conventions all over America my two favorite are still Dragoncon and AWA. AWA holds great memories of starting out in the convention scene and participating in the costume contests. Dragoncon is just incredible for the sheer size of the convention and the amazing costumes you can see there.
What are the con did you first attended and what’s your favorite con that you’ve attended so far and why ?
Making costumes to me is just a great hobby. I find it is a great outlet for creativity and a source of pride. Finishing a costume and trying it on for the first time is a wonderful moment because you realize you have created something completely on your own. Wearing costumes at a convention is another great experience. For me I make costumes as a way to socialize. This hobby has allowed me to meet so many wonderful people that are now some of my dearest friends.
If you had unlimited funds/technology/time, what is your dream cosplay ?
My dream costume has always been a Clamp drawing from the Sohryuden series. This is a novel series that was published in Japan and the author needed cover art for the paperback editions. Clamp was signed to create the cover art for this series and in the end helped the sales of the books. Clamp later released other artwork to accompany the cover designs and an artbook. The outfits that I dream of making are the intricate outfits for the main 4 dragon kings and the queen. Of course I want to be the queen but I can’t every convince people to do the 4 dragon kings with me. These outfits contain yards and yards of high quality fabric, armor, and crazy accessories. Maybe one day it will happen.
