Costume Fears and Hall of Shame

How I feel that my costumes are going to turn out sometimes...

Well...because I've had some...major fails. Usually in an effort to remain on budget I cut out a lot of quality. 

But we learn from mistakes so here's my little walk of shame of costumes and cosplay that really didn't come out as planned. 

Princess Kraehe 

My first "real" honest attempt at a cosplay was this character: Kraehe from Princess Tutu.

At the time I was planning on going to AnimeFest in Dallas almost last minute with some friends. My game company was called Corvidology or "Study of Crows"...so I thought Kraehe would be super appropriate. Plus I knew I could pull it off. Well...here are the results.

Well...I DID try. And for a budget costume it wasn't super bad...but most pictures of me were ummm unflattering. Some things I learned: 

Black Ballet shoes do NOT exist. I had to dye them. I used Rit Dye and they're still black. (yeah I still have them.) But getting them wet shrank them so, the already snug fit was deathgripping my child size foot. They were also Pre-Pointed shoes for practice. I went up on my toes only with support. I was pretty proud of my head feather that I found. It was a black halo. My hair was short so I simply sprayed it black. (It was red at the time.)

Everything else was pretty much bought on the cheap: a leotard and a black tutu from Party City. I didn't even try to make it look like Kraehe's real tutu. (To be honest, it was a bit too showy for my taste.) But I did focus on a lot of details like long purple nails, the slippers and eyelashes oddly enough. 

Do the Robot

Can not compute how this made me feel.

 This...this costume had so much promise. I was SO excited with my design drawings. I thought it couldn't fail. Well...prepare for failbot. 

The worst part was how much I actually prepared for this costume. Months went into planning it. This was also shortly after I made my Halo Armor. I drew things out, researched makeup, scoured the internet for the right shoes.

I did have gloves but eating with them was tricky so I had them off when someone wanted a photo. 

Some of the fail is because of a desire to really stay low cost. Ebay, Amazon and Party City helped me out. 

The wig, dress, pants, makeup and the unseen gloves were from Party City. The silver shirt which was originally for a Gally Cosplay that I actually ended up not wearing to Anime Fest. The glasses were from Amazon and the shoes I found on some shoe site. Here's the thing, the pants didn't really fit very well but I didn't think to try them on until the night of the party. (My own mistake). The dress was too small. I had to sew in a zipper...which I was proud of myself for doing. But I should have gone with the plain sequin dress or silver dress instead of this Lady Gaga one. The gloves REALLY didn't match because they were for Optimus Prime. All of the silvers were different shades. The makeup application went on pretty messy. 

Again, I focused a lot on cool little details like LED shoe laces that I used as "loose wire". The glasses and a glowstick for my mouth and blue lips. I wanted a certain shape for the dress that was funky and sexy boots. I planned and researched the make-up but it turns out that cheap cream make up is really prone to smearing and coming off. I put in a lot of cute little details in the pants, shirt and make up that don't get picked up on camera. 

But I'm not ashamed of everything I've done. 

Stride of Pride

I'm not even a fan of this game.

Gally from Battle Angel Alita.
And the Sacred Heart of Jesus. 

Lady Galadriel really did suit me.
Maybe I can use this as my wedding dress.

All shall fear me and not pass!

Perfect for my pale skin

Usually I find what makes a costume look GOOD on me are a couple of factors: high quality pieces, I make it myself, and if I can hide my face. 

Sometimes I do manage to make a "thrift store" bought together costume work. Gally for instance is pretty much all bought. (I ended up getting a different shirt for the sleeves. I used it on my Robot Girl. More shiny.)

The catsuit was a LUCKY ebay find. It was pretty much exactly what I was looking for and it cost a pretty penny. (It's also technically fetish wear...yeah...and then a year later my mother visited and cleaned my closet...where I had that hidden. *shame*)

The Vampire was also bits of other costume parts I had around. The bodice I got at the Ren Faire and the skirt was an internet buy for a steam punk fashion show that I went to. It bustles. I love it. The jewelry is my nice pearls and the teeth are the nice Scarecrow brand. Not too big. And the wig I think I got at Walmart in the halloween section. ;) 

Galadriel I sewed the dress myself from a pattern I found. I got the wig from Amazon and the circlet from ebay. I actually do have a replica of her Ring too. The leaf was a gift I got from a guy back when I was in college or something. 

And Halo Spartan is when I started making this my cosplay blog. 

Anyway, just some thoughts as I work on my current projects. And pray they don't end up like Robot Girl. (Which the Warden Armor is in danger of doing.)