Convention Fans

If you’ve attended a convention, you’ve probably heard the term “cosplay” thrown around. Cosplay is the act of dressing in a costume and acting as the character you are portraying. Initially, this word was used rather exclusively in the anime community. It has since been broadened to include pretty much anyone dressed in a costume for the purposes of portraying a character, regardless of whether the character has Japanese origins.

One particular cosplayer who stood out to me is “dandelionswish” from cosplay.com. Not only are her costumes wonderfully constructed, but she takes extra care in adding details with wigs, make up and accessories to take the cosplay to the next level. I had a chance to ask her some questions, as well as get some details on her favorite costume.

How long have you been cosplaying?

Dandelionswish: I started cosplaying in 2002 when I was 14. I had gone to my first convention the year prior, Otakon 2001. I didn’t know what “cosplay” was at the time, but I noticed a lot of people were dressed up. I immediately thought “That looks fun! Next time I’ll dress-up too!”

What inspires you to make and wear these costumes?

Dandelionswish: I’ve always been a creative person, and took interest in making my own Halloween costumes from an early age. When I started liking anime and going to conventions, it only seemed natural to start making my own costumes for these events too. Although at first, I have to admit my best friend sewed most of our costumes. I made our props before I learned to sew, I guess you have to start somewhere!

What really inspires me though is my love for a character or series. There so many characters I really admire and want to bring to life. I love the technical aspects too. Most outfits that are designed weren’t meant to be made in real life, and are challenging to translate. Figuring out how to make something from 2-d to 3-d is really challenging and exciting!

Actually wearing the costume is really fun too. Although sometimes costumes aren’t that comfortable, I’ve had really great experiences in them. It’s really rewarding to be recognized or to hear “Great costume!”

How involved are you in the construction of your costumes? Do you sew/design/build everything yourself? How much is created vs purchased?

Dandelionswish: Recently the construction of my costumes has been very involved. I love pushing myself to find the best construction techniques to use. Sometimes I’ll do something several times just to see what the best way is. It’s time consuming but I’m only happy when I know it’s the best I can do. I can be pretty obsessive, and foremost what I create has to be accurate to the design. My friends tease me about how crazy I can be when it comes to accuracy.

Technique wise, I like draping my garments more than pattern making, but I use both. I mostly make my own patterns but there are a few I’ve bought and altered, it depends on the design. Usually I sew everything myself but sometimes if I’m in a pinch I get help from my cosplay buddies. It’s great to work with others who can help if the con is coming up soon!

Mostly everything is created verses purchased, usually if I can make it I will instead of buying it. Really, it’s just to save money. I am a college student so sometimes I have to be resourceful. Plus when you make everything, it’s totally more hardcore!

Tell me about your favorite costume, and how it was constructed:

Dandelionswish: My Art Book Mitsuki from Full Moon wo Sagashite costume is my most favorite costume ever! 

Oh boy was this costume a labor of love. This might sound strange but if there was any costume that I could say was my child, it’s this one. […] First, I went to New York’s garment district to buy fabrics. I decided on an evening wear fabric, a medium bridal weight satin, because I wanted the dress to look elegant.

Next was draping and pattern drafting. I had a friend of mine […] help me with the drape of the dress because I had never done a handkerchief hem before. From those patterns I drafted the over dress (red), and the black underskirt. The pattern making for the black underskirt was really complicated because I had never done anything like it. The points of the black skirt fall between the points of the outer peach dress, so I couldn’t free hand a pattern. The patterns needed to match, but at the same time all the points needed to fall in different places on each. I made a pattern of the outer dress, cut and re-arranged where the points fell because I wanted to keep the length and curves cohesive. When I finally figured out how to do it it work perfectly, thank god, because it took me forever to figure out!

The top of the peach dress is lined and boned, to hold it up. At the front of the dress is a monogram “M” like in the original illustration. Before the dress was completely sewn up, I had to monogram the “M”. It was hand embroidered and took forever!  I had never done such intensive embroidery so it took awhile to get the hang of it.

The outer red dress is fully lined and all the ruffles are baby hemmed. I drank so much coffee while trying to finish those ruffles! In total they measure over 12 yards!

The wig was dyed and styled by me. Originally it was blond and I dyed it to a darkish grey. It’s meant to look like manga hair, so after dying it the base color I mixed up a few different tones of the same color to add streaks. It’s subtle but has a nice effect. I also wefted extensions to add to the bottom to make it longer.

The wings were made by me from scratch, built on a wire frame. I bought a few different lengths of feathers, cut each tip to a point and glued them on one by one. Thankfully the wings aren’t that big so it didn’t take that long.

On the top of the black underskirt, under the peach dress, is a built in pettie coat. I have a little bustle going on in the back it’s so puffy. I gathered tulle it and sewed it into black lining fabric to match the underskirt, the top is finished with bias tape so it could be sewn clean to the black skirt . The built in pettie coat keeps everything from looking to heavy and it’s convenient not to have a pettie coat on under everything else.

I guess it’s easy to tell how much I love this costume! Thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about [it]!

You can see more of dandelionswish’s amazing costumes on her cosplay.com profile!

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