Unlike most of Yoshitka Amano's Final Fantasy work, he drew not one, but two artbook versions of Rinoa Heartilly. The first version is his interpretation of her classic outfit, while this one is his version of the ballroom dress she wears to the SeeD graduation ball. I wanted to do this outfit for several reasons; first, I liked the design, second, very few people cosplay this obscure version, and third, by doing this outfit, I would have cosplayed all of Rinoa's outfits to date! Also, when Anime Boston announced they would be holding a formal Cherry Blossom Ball as part of their 2007 programming, I decided this would be the perfect time to make it.
I took some liberty with the design; the top is made from beaded fabric with an altered dress design to make it a bit fancier. The skirt, made from an eggshell cotton/poly blend, is a simple A-line skirt pattern with some extra gathering in the back. I found a wonderful matching fushia fabric which I used to make the shawl, and a pair of fabulous fushia shoes at DEB. I made Rinoa's ring necklace using a fancy gold chain and rings to add to the warmer color scheme, and found a matching gold bracelet and fushia earrings to compliment the outfit. I painted a hairclip gold to hold Rinoa's one and only updo, and restyled my platium wig from my other Amano Rinoa costume. A fushia flower and extra fabric from the top added small accents. Finally, I painted wings on my back to complete the look.
This was a lot of fun to wear to the ball, and very comfortable. Not many people recognized me, but I didn't mind - I was having too much fun being colorful!
Icon photo by Bruce O'Bryan, http://www.bruceobryan.com
United States