Although it's actually supposed to be one of Count D's ancestors, this outfit from volume 9 was one of my favorites when I first read through the PSOH manga. (Reference pic: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v342/LadyoftheThread/misc/19thcenturyd.jpg) I was happy to finally have a winter con to make this costume for and it’s now my favorite of my D cosplays and my favorite costume overall. It came together slowly over 3 months and debuted at NYAF in December, where it won 1st Place Craftsman in the hall contest. I’m also really excited about the prospect of wearing it again at Anime Boston with a big PSOH group! ^_^
Long-winded construction notes…
General: Since the only reference images were black and white, I chose my own color scheme. I started by looking for a fabric with swirly patterns for the tabard, eventually settling on a dark navy velvet with gold designs. After that was chosen, I selected the yellow patterned brocade, a teal solid which would go with both fabrics, and a gold that I could use to trim everything. I picked rich fabrics like velvet, brocade, satin, and taffeta because in the manga, the costume was worn when D visited the castle of an European princess in the late 1800s.
I mostly drafted the patterns on my own although I copied elements like necklines, shoulder seams, and armholes from commercial patterns. Since the costume was floor length and I’m short, I opted to make my costume longer and wear heels to try to better match the very tall look of the reference pic. All of the clothes are fully lined except for the underskirt, which was French seamed.
Collar: I drafted the pattern for the collar myself, making pieces in 2 sizes for the layers. The brocade was interfaced with needlepoint canvas so the collar would hold its shape and the edges were trimmed with appliqué.
Main robe: I patterned the teal robe with an opening in the front (closes with snap buttons) that can be hidden by the tabard. The sleeves were made with a contrasting cuff and curving hem to match the reference. I also made them long enough so that I can conceal my hands since neither hand is seen in the main reference. The yellow brocade collar was attached and then the mandarin collar added. Like the yellow collar, the trim on the mandarin collar was appliquéd. The trim along the side slits and hem was done with one side of the bias strips being machine sewn and the back then being tacked down by hand. I did this to avoid visible stitches on the outside and I thought it looked much better than my attempts to completely machine stitch the trim.
Tabard: The velvet part of the tabard was made first. It buttons with snaps at the right shoulder so that the closures are hidden by the collar. The gold trim was handled in the same way as on the teal robe. The 4 yellow brocade pieces were made separately and trimmed before being hand sewn in place. The front and back of the tabard also button together at the sides of the waist.
Underskirt: The underskirt was sewn with French seams and pleated for fullness before being gathered with an elastic waistband. The bottom is finished with a narrow, machine-stitched hem.
Sash: The sash was made with two long rectangles of fabric. Since it’s not completely smooth in the reference, I cut the piece of satin larger and pleated it at the ends and middle so that it would fit the smaller piece of lining and form some folds. The ends attach with hook and eye closures.
Necklace/bead strands: The necklace is strung on beading wire and the ends are fastened to the clasp with crimp beads. The reference shows a few different sizes of beads in the necklaces so I used 12mm beads for the shorter strand and 10mm beads with 8mm ones at the bottom for the longer strand.
The strands hanging from the waist are also strung on beading wire with a giant lobster clasp at each end. The clasps allow me to clip the strands to a metal ring on a belt hidden under the sash. Since the belt supports the weight of the strands, it prevents the costume from being dragged down at that point. This is actually a replacement set of beads since I found my original set of crystal pearls was too heavy and made the skirts bunch too much.
(The beads were actually one of the most aggravating parts about this costume because I really wanted colored pearls but couldn’t find anything large enough other than glass and crystal, which were too heavy. Plus, it was hard finding a color that would go with all the fabrics and photograph well. >_< I eventually had to give up on the pearls and buy gold acrylic beads instead.)
Brooches: The brooches were made by gluing together pinbacks, filigree pieces and stone cabochons. Due to the limited color selection in large stone cabochons, I chose to paint them lighter shades with nail polish to better compliment my color scheme. For the brooch at the neck, I also made two small patches of feathers by dismantling some feather trim and sewing the feathers more densely in rows on small pieces of fabric. These were then glued to the back of the brooch.
Wig: The wig is an off-black D. Boy with a little bit of straightening at the ends and some trimming near the front
Contacts: I bought ColorMax lenses in Violet and Gothika’s Black Wolf style to do D’s mismatched eyes.
Shoes: Even though I decided to use heels to be taller, I wanted the toes of my shoes to be accurate in case they peeped out from under the skirts. I bought a pair of 4” black wedge heels and then used several coats of shoe dye to color them gold because the reference shows the shoes as being light colored. I also used bronze leather paint to add the designs along the front of the shoes.
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