Series: Final Fantasy 9
Worn to:Sakuracon 2008
Status: In need of repairs

This is one of those costumes that always caught my interest but I never thought I'd actually do. My friends and I were deciding on a group to do for Sakuracon which we could all enjoy and, with Krystal's intense love for FF9 in mind, we decided to give a FF9 group a shot. After a mental tug-of-war of which character I wanted to cosplay, I decided on Beatrix for several reasons:
1) her costume is slightly beyond my difficulty level and would push me to improve as a cosplayer
2) I would get to make ARMOR - something I had never done before
3) Heavy wig styling - something I have always enjoyed in the past

Although I knew from the start that this costume would challenge me, I had a TON of problems with it. I drafted the pattern for the dress but did a very poor job and had to remake it 3 times. I also chose inappropriate, heavy fabric on the basis that it wouldn't be see-through but, unfortunately, it ended up being see-through anyway! In the end, the dress looked like more of a bag than anything and, despite making it form fitting, was very unflattering. And the collar is ridiculously crooked..but after reattaching it 2 times, I gave up and hoped that my wig would cover my error. It didn't. XD

However, this costume isn't all negative - I am very proud of my armor! Using this craft foam armor tutorial, I was able to make all of my armor pieces on my shoes, belt, and arms.I painted each piece with acrylic paint and weathered and rub-n-buffed all of the larger pieces to create the finished product. It was my first time making anything out of craft foam and I am just so happy with the results - I'll definitely be trying them out again on other projects.

The wig was much easier than I anticipated. I cut out craft foam and shaped them into large curlers which I could roll the hair around. Although I had originally planned on using craft foam as a permanant core, I was happy to discover that the curls held by themselves! After the con, I was able to wash out the curls and will be able to completely restyle the wig another time.

Now the sword...that was a huge surprise. After complaining about not being able to make a Save the Queen for Sakuracon, my friends Kayla and Mandy decided to surprise me and make me one for Sakuracon. I pretty much DIED when they handed me the bubble-wrapped, BEAUTIFUL 5 foot sword. They really are amazing and I still can't thank them enough!

For the most part, I like this costume. I don't think I look like enough of a bad ass but I tried my best and looked pretty cool in the end! Unfortunately, I don't know when I'll be wearing this costume again. My groupmates and I went through hell trying to get these all done for Sakuracon but, unfortunately, that meant compromising the quality of the costumes. I would like to remake the entire dress before I wear this again - I hope I'll get another chance to wear it again before my group and I are together again at Fanime 2009. Here's hoping!