From 2005.
I absolutely fell head over heels in love with this costume design the moment I saw it for the first time in xxxHOLiC. I set about buying fabric right away.
The dress was made of black linen - the top is boned and laces up the back. At the time I made this I only had a handful of references from the comic, but I did make the back incorrectly on purpose - I went with the lace-up back instead of the low open back to help support the weight of the rest of the skirt. All of the appliques were white fabric, and in some cases, some leftover white suede from my 2004 manga Belldandy costume. I never got around to added the white trim around the bottom, or the design to the back. Basically? This whole costume was a nightmare to make. There were times I wanted to trash the whole thing - I ran into *so* many problems, weird little fiddly problems that never came up, or at least never came up so many times in one costume, things like the wrong kind of grommets being delivered or mistakenly poking a hole in the fabric and having to repair it... I am amazed I actually finished it and wore it to the con. Anyway. The sleeves I made separately and later attached to the dress. I opted to go without the under sleeve, since it was already extremely hot as it was, and I was wearing this to A-Kon in Dallas, LOL. The jewelry I made, including having to make all of the beads for the necklace because I couldn't find anything similar. The wig was bought and cut, and I added the "fan" of hair to the top, along with the flags. I opted for a shorter wig, since I had dealt with that long, heavy Hild wig the year before and didn't really feel like dealing with that again, LOL. The boots I found on ebay.
Well despite all the problems, I was actually really pleased with how this looks.
I wore this to A-Kon 2005 and MTAC 2006.
United States