Cosplay Links

After I got some reference pictures from the Web, I went looking for cosplay photos to see how other people solved the various design problems. What I mostly ended up doing was reaffirming some of my personal ideas about cosplay costumes:

1) Satin is not a good fabric for making costumes. It's too stiff, it's too shiny, it shows wrinkles and folds easily, it looks fake, and it's bloody hard to clean.

2) People tend to cut the vest too long. Anthy's vest is fairly short.

3) People tend not to tailor the vest correctly. It ends up too loose at the waist and too tight at the bust.

4) Hoopskirts provide the proper width for the skirt, but unless you cover the hoops with 1 or 2 petticoats, or unless you buy a hoopskirt with stiff ruffles sewn over the hoops, the hoops show through the skirt and look awful.

5) If you use the buttons ont eh costume in a functional manner - to button up the vest - then if the vest is fitted tightly enough, the fabric puts tension on the buttons, leaving gaps in the closure between the buttons and making distracting folds radiate from the buttons.

A few random Rose Bride cosplay pages:
(their inclusion here does not indicate whether I thought they were good or bad versions, and is not intended to be an endorsement of any commercial products or services)

Marika Magical Cosplay Group:
http://www.marikaroncon.com/PageCostumi/anthyutenarosebridepage.htm

Setsuna Kou's Specialty Shoppe
http://www.fortunecity.com/business/johns/1394/costume/miscvariouscostumes/roseco.html

Nezumi's Cosplay Shoppe
http://www.geocities.com/cosplaymouse/catalog/utena_rosebride.html

Amethyst Angel's Revolutionary Girl Utena Cosplay Gallery:
http://amethyst-angel.com/aa_cosplay.html

Identity Crisis 4.0
http://www.geocities.com/viberaphon/rosebride.html

Swords Don't Go With Dresses
http://www.hunters-guild.org/utena/cosplayers.htm