I've been wanting to make Serenity's dress for a while now, but I couldn't figure out for the longest time how not to look awkward due to my figure. While mulling it over and sifting through various reference material, I arrived at a sudden epiphany while looking through the official artbook images. I decided to make the anime style dress with manga art influences since I love the iconic simplicity of the anime version and the shear elegance of the manga version. I liked the idea of combining the simpler bust design with the more elegant jewelry, and more glamorous accessories.

I drew inspiration for the drape and design of the dress from both, combining elements from each without muddling the two together.

♥~Dress~♥
The bodice portion is made out of a high quality matte satin I randomly had in my fabric stash, lined with a nice cotton. I made the pattern myself after looking at some similar dress patterns so that it would match my hourglass figure more properly and have the right cut. The bodice is fully boned and the skirt is made up of 3 gathered layers of a sheer fabric. I bought it at a discount fabric store and I'm not exactly sure what it's called. The beads are Swarovski pearls that I picked to match the gold I used for the rings as closely as possible and are hand-stitched. I drafted and made the pattern for the rings...though how they're made specifically is my little secret...^_~

♥~Sleeves~♥
Made from the same matte satin as the dress; they didn't take too long at all to make. I made the less accurate ones to fill in because I didn't have time to finish working on the the "sculpted" versions of her sleeves before the convention. Those will be "coming soon."

♥~Jewelry~♥
The bracelet is made from matching gold Swarovski pearls of a slightly smaller diameter. I lucked into finding the perfect swirl earrings on-line; they're real gold too! :D The pearls are the same real pearls I use for my other Usagi cosplays. The hair pearls are white Swarovski pearls in graduated sizes attached to hair clips so that I can use them with either my real hair or my wig. The artbook necklace was made with real gold chain and findings, white Swarovski pearls, and an AB Swarovski crystal pendant.

♥~Shoes~♥
Since I could only find one picture of Serenity that looked like she was wearing shoes, I combined that with what I could find with Naoko's overall style. I used a pair of white pointed-toe 5 inch stiletto heels. I added ankle straps of 3 strands of white Swarovski pearls strung on silk beading thread, which I knotted as you would with real pearls. Then I added a fancy gold 3 strand clasp to for a functional, simple yet elegant look which, I feel, fits Serenity as well as the style of the artbook.

♥~Accessories~♥
I found a crystal that looked like the Ginzuishō in both roundish form and in flower form (Sailor Moon R The Movie) online. I only have pictures with the round one since I forgot the flower one at home.

♥~Wig~♥
This is the first time I've ever made or worn a wig to cosplay as Usagi/Sailor Moon. I made it because, at the time I was preparing to debut this cosplay, I was recovering from some health problems and was concerned that I would be unable to style my hair using the techniques I had developed in the past for other Sailor Moon outfits, totally preventing me from debuting the cosplay. Considering it was my only outfit ready to debut that I could wear comfortably due to said health problems paired with the fact that I had already had that same issue at Dragon*con, the task became a necessity rather than a convenience.

As for the actual construction, it took me about 16 hours total. I started with an "Innocent" wig purchased locally, then straightened the pigtails with hot water, filled in the bangs with wefts from another wig from the same company, then raised and secured the pigtails to the inner wig netting. I added the long pigtails made from matching extensions, then proceeded to style the wig as I would style my hair (like I would for Sailor Moon), giving it a more natural look than the overused Styrofoam ball method. I also added some clips and combs to keep it securely on my head. I didn't have time to give it all the touches I would like to for it's debut, such as some side curls, but overall I'm fairly pleased with how it came out.

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