*Aeka (Battle Fuku)*
Tenchi Muyo OVADate Constructed: October 2001
Event Worn At: Halloween 2001, Anime Expo 2002
Chara Info: Princess Aeka of the Planet Jurai is stranded on Earth. After a while, she doesn't seem to mind, since she's staying with her crush "Tenchi-sama" XD. Aeka is snooty and imperialistic, every bit the princess.
Why Her?: Aeka isn't my favorite Tenchi Muyo! character, but I adore this outfit. She looks AND acts quite androgynous in this outfit, battling hard with Kagato. Plus, it's gonna be great going around doing my high-pitched, snooty, faux English accented Aeka impersonation XD.
The Story: This costume was a real triumph for me. I've wanted to do this costume ever since I first saw the Tenchi OVA so long ago. I used a vest pattern for the black top, bordered it with orange fabric, and made my own pattern for the "sleeves." The white "collar" and the cream-colored sleeves you see were all one piece. I made a long-sleeved cream shirt with a scoop neck and sewed white silk to the collar. I didn't want to paint my neck and chest black, so I found a tight turtleneck made out of lycra and used that instead. The pants were made with a simple pattern. The blue belt I designed myself (although I did the pattern backwards! Eek!)
To make the ring around her arm, I wrapped ribbon around a styrofoam ring. I haven't attached it yet, seeing as I wouldn't be able to move my arm at the party I went to ^^;;. I plan to attach fishing wire to it, though. I took some more of that peach ribbon and cut it so that I could velcro it onto my wrist. With the magenta ribbon, I took three strips. One I used as the "headband" and two I used as those things you see dangling from her forehead. I then attached some elastic to the headband piece, and that was completed.
The night of Halloween, it took me nearly two hours to get into costume ^^;;. First I put on the makeup, and WOW did that take a long time. I was pleased with the results, though. Then I put on the shirts, vest, pants, and belt. The black underwear went over the pants, as you can see in the reference pic. I took some leftover strips of black fabric, wrapped them around my ankles and feet, and pinned them to the black booties I was wearing. I pulled on the black gloves and tucked the sleeves into the glove ends.
The very last step was the wig. I couldn't find a dark purple wig the length I needed anywhere in town (at least for a decent price ^^;;), so I bought an inexpensive Glamour Wig. My aunt-in-law's mother cut it for me just before I left for the party (thank you!) and I'm glad I went that route. It was the perfect length and looked really nice, too. I've seen a few Aeka cosplayers with really icky wigs, and I'm glad mine didn't look the same ^_^.
Pictures ::sigh:: I really need to take some pictures of this costume that are BETTER than this. Plus, my floating ring is cool XD, and I wasn't wearing it in these.
