Well, Paine rulez *.* And I love the cheezy, colorful Black Mage outfits in FF X-2. That's my inspiration for making this costume.
I put a lot of effort into making the sleeves: the black "scales" (cut from pvc leather) are hemmed with golden pvc leather (bias tape), one by one; then sewn together so they overlap, attached to a stiff lining and finally sewn to the sleeves of the blue bolero jacket. I really like how it turned out, I think it looks a lot better than sleeves that simply have the golden designs painted on. But it definitely was the most time-consuming part on the costume so the whole thing actually took much longer than i thought.
I just LOVE the hat, though it was rather easy to make, and the mage's staff...! These are my favorite parts. - Oh, and the wig... but you can't really see it under the hat.

Worn again at J-Popcon 2007 (DK)... and I still haven't added the studs to the back of the fuchsia belt / corsage thing:(

Cost: EUR 170
Hours: 60

Connichi 2006