This past weekend was Megacon in Orlando, a rather large annual convention that includes Anime, Video Games, TV shows, Comic Books, Scifi... you name it, it's there.
Conventions are fun in and of themselves, but they're much more fun when you add Cosplay to the mix. Cosplay is 'costume play', in which we dress up and enjoy being a character.
It's incredibly fun, creative, and people create some pretty elaborate costumes.
I put a costume together in about a week after I finally made up my mind to go--so even though some costumes are elaborate and take months to create sometimes, if you put your mind to it, you can put something together that is comfortable, functional, and easily identifiable without a huge time investment.
My costume this year was Rainbow Dash, from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Here's a photo of her, in case you aren't familiar.
Obviously, I'm not really a pony. So I just used parts of her character and coloration to create my costume. Rainbow Dash is a very athletic pony, and prides herself on how fast she is.
So I decided I'd go with an athletic outfit--gym shorts and a T-shirt--with some rainbow flair. I couldn't find anything in the right color, so the next best thing? Buy white - and fabric dye.
I went to Wal-Mart and found some inexpensive, white, cotton workout clothes, then found some fabric dye that was the appropriate color. I followed the directions on the packet to the letter.
I had to use my sink as I didn't have any pans large enough. I was a little concerned that the dye wouldn't be dark enough, as the packet indicated it was enough dye for a 1/2 lb of fabric. However, it came out just fine.
The next step, was to add some flair. I had picked up some rainbow ribbon, and I used it to add a line down the sleeves, and down the side seam of the shorts. I added it to both to give an almost uniform look.
Then I hand painted her cutie mark onto the front-right of the shorts using fabric paint. Now all I needed were wings!
I didn't really think I'd enjoy wearing actual wings throughout the convention so (after numerous discussions with Kandis) I decided I'd make a backpack and paint wings onto it. That way I'd eliminate the need to carry a purse, and not have to wear wings.
I followed a tutorial on creating a simple drawstring backpack, which you can find here. I used some more rainbow ribbon for the straps. It was a very simple bag to create, and took maybe 30-45 minutes. Then I used fabric paint and stenciled on some wings.
Here you can see the bag and the shorts, ready to go.
Now, I love the look of knee high socks with athletic shorts, so why not rainbow?
And we can't forget about Rainbow Dash's hair. It's one the most identifiable things about her! A good friend of mine buys her wigs from a company in Oklahoma City - so I new that if I wanted a quality wig, I should try them. I did check locally but was unable to find one that was decent, or in the right colors.. so I did splurge a bit on a good quality wig from The Five Wits. Then I splurged a little more, and had my hair stylist style the wig for me so it would be more comfortable to wear.
Another item I decided to go for--to stylize her a bit more--was her pet, Tank.
Tank is a turtle who won a contest to be her pet. I thought he was adorable, so I found a little stuffed turtle, and gave him a propeller and goggles.
Now I had a full costume, with cute accessories. Put it all together, and you get this!
Pretty cute, right? I thought so! Of course when I got to the convention, a vendor pointed out to me that I was missing something vital, and decided to help me out....
No comments:
Post a Comment