*Edward*
Final Fantasy IV
Worn at: Anime Expo 2004, Anime Vegas 2004, Anizona 2005
Chara Info: Edward (or Gilbert, depending on what version you've played) is the prince of the desert kingdom of Damcyan. However, he desires to be a bard. Throughout his journey, the cowardly prince loses the love of his life. . .but gains a group of friends.
Status: As expected, not many recognized me, but those that did really liked it ^_^.
The doublet (ooh, I get to use a cool word like "doublet" XD) is made from this super-spiffy material I found at Joann. You can't tell well in pictures, but it shifts from a tawny yellow to an orangey-gold color in the light, due to it being woven from both orange and yellow thread. There's not much to say about the rest of the fabrics chosen, except I picked all of them expressly for both interesting texture and prints. My favorite is the inside of one of the capes, which was a sheer greenish material with a dark red raised flower design.
No, I did not do any of the beading on this costume. They are all store-bought trims. I do want to try doing my own on some areas in the future, but I think the premade trims worked really well and matched nicely too ^_^.
The pants and hat were very simple to make. The hat is just a big interfaced circle gathered into a band -- took about 30 minutes to make ^^. The feathers were custom colored with markers, but I think I'll run down to a feather shop and try to find more interesting ones ^^.
The cape was a pain in the butt. I attached it to a rope and pinned that to my shirt. Don't do that when you have a cape with four different layers -- I ended up having two very noticeable holes in the shirt ;_;. I'm going to work on figuring out a better way to attach this thing.
My friend Jess did my makeup at AX, and I think it looked great and very Amano-ish. It was completed by the very awesome blue lipstick that is seen so much in Amano's artwork. This was really fun and comfortable to wear, save for the cape pulling back my shirt. I think this costume will be getting a lot of con time in the future ^_^.
Update 3-31-05: I made two things for this costume just in time for AniZona. First, I added three strings of beads to each sleeve. I might add more in the future, because they're a bit difficult to see. I also fixed the too-short pants by adding lace-up spats. I'm not sure if I like these -- they're a bit plain. Maybe if I add some decoration to them by AX they won't look so strange.
This costume has been sold. But I'm looking forward to FFIV DS coming out, and I will DEFINITELY cosplay the CG version of Edward!
Pictures
