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[Nouns]

Alright.
I'm planning on cosplaying Allen from D.Gray Man but I am going to have his first version innocence arm.
It'll move and all that cool stuff.

But my main problem is his costume and hair. I will need to have everything complete by May 20th. (Fanime) So does anyone have any suggestions on what wigs to use and any good patterns someone sewing illiterate like me could follow. And any backup plans in the event I can't get his costume done?

[yamimagic]

Firstly, may I point you in this direction: http://www.cosplay.com/showthread.php?t=79133 (Lots of browsing, I know, but you might find something there to help)

And yay~ the world needs more DGM cosplayers About the coat, I'm afraid I can't help too much, although a backup could be preparing his "casual" outfit (the white shirt, black vest, red ribbon getup) in case you don't finish.

What's your experience with styling wigs? Amphigory has some pretty good ones, although from what I can tell, they'd need some pretty hefty styling to really get the look right. (Then again, I'm a perfectionist. You may think differently...)

Best of luck~

[Nouns]

Ph, Thanks for the link!

Yeah. If anything I was almost thinking of using my Tsuna school outfit haha. //fail.

Yeah. I've never had the privledge of styling a wig since I'll only really use Kanekalon, and being of tight budget, I am a little hesitant from fear of messing up then throwing pretty much 40-70$ down the drain. Yey for perfectionists!

Thank you for all the advice and help. Hopefully see you at Fanime!

[yamimagic]

Not fail. The school outfit should be fine. Throw a waistcoat and a red ribbon on and it'd work. I seem to recall that Namimori's uniform has a vest, although I don't remember if it's a pullover or a waistcoat. If you need a waistcoat, Simplicity's Project Runway inspired pattern is pretty good. A little expensive, but I've personally gotten enough mileage on it to make it worth it. Otherwise, you could check out this tutorial to draft your own pattern, although I haven't actually used it so I can't say how effective it is. Your choice though.

Well, the only bit of advice I could give you for the wig would be to buy a slightly cheaper wig to practice. I definitely know what you mean about being afraid to mess up, but sometimes you just need to take a chance. I also will only use Kanekalon or similar, so I understand money being a concern. Try working on a slightly cheaper quality wig to get the basics down before starting the real thing. Allen's (first uniform, while he still has his hat-hair from always wearing that hood during fights and before his hair begins to really spike IMO) hair should be relatively simple enough to style.

Check around for some tutorials online. I remember FightingDreamersPro's youtube channel has a tutorial video to style a Gokudera wig that would probably help a lot for this.

And now that I think about it, you could probably alter a double-breasted coat pattern into the first uniform coat. (Afraid I can't give you any good patterns for that though.)

Hope all of this makes sense and helps. And maybe I'll see you there; I'm in need of a moyashi to tease/yell at/threaten (And sorry for the kinda-sorta rant; I'm a little on the verbose side...)

[fotoshop_cutout]

Hmmm, I have to agree with yamimagic about the casual get-up in the case of the rest of the costume not being ready.

As for coat patterns: I'm really very glad that it was addressed somewhere because I've been looking for a pattern that would allow me to do the coat. Other than that... wig? I'm in a tight spot for that as well, but I have noticed that plenty of people say that even if you're on a tight budget, spend what you have to for a quality wig. Unless you think you'll wear it once and shove it in the back of your closet. :/ I don't know if it helps or not.
Wigs.com is expensive (extremely so) cosworx is also good quality, from what I've heard.

[yamimagic]

With wigs, yes it's good to spend the money on a good quality wig, rather than throw your money away on something crappy. However, that doesn't mean you should break the bank. There are plenty of sellers and stores out there that sell quality wigs for good prices. Rule of thumb I usually follow is that for a medium length wig (say just past the shoulders), I'd be willing to pay around $25-40. For the wig I'm looking at for my Kanda costume (40+ inches), I'm looking at around $40-50.

Other stores include the ebay sellers cosplaywig and zhenna0036. As far as I can see, both stores have fairly good reputations. (And in fact, I'm looking at some of their wigs for my other costumes so here's hoping...) And after doing some further looking, I've found a couple prestyled wigs that might be good.

Here is a wig that was styled to look like Allen, although I personally think it looks nothing like the character, but to each their own.

Here's another wig that could pass with some light styling here or there.

Another passable wig with styling, and maybe some slight extensions in the back.

...I found a few other wigs, but it seems I can't link to them because cosplay.com has blocked the ebay seller for spamming. Bummer... (It's professionalonly, if you feel like checking them out.)

(Why there seems to be a shortage of good wigs in pure white is beyond me; I've always thought of his hair as white, not silver, but the internet seems to disagree with me here. >.> Maybe they're there and I'm just not seeing them.)

If this is all completely over your head, I'm sorry. Tell me so and I can try to back up.

[orca_sora]

DGM is a hard series to cosplay well, as those uniforms are insane to make on your own. I went with Allen's civvie clothes (the wing-tip shirt and vest look) first, as the coat did not get finished in time for the con I first wore him to. There are a lot of weird angles and details on the coats, though, that if you're going to tackle yourself you need to allow for plenty of time to get it done. A friend made my coat, and I was with her for a lot of the process, and there was a vow that whatever future versions we did, we'd commission XD

That's not to say not to go for it! Just be prepared to spend some long hours, so if you're in a time crunch, do the civvie clothes (it completes the effect anyway when you eventually do the coat).

As for his wig, really, his is easy. I see a lot of folks choosing styles that are a bit "curly bobby" that really aren't accurate. Your best bet is to get a long wig and then trim it.

[CCKip]

I'm also looking for an Allen Walker wig for my cosplay as well, one that needs minimum styling, hopefully none because I'm only now learning how to sew and I'll be doing Allen's casual outfit to start with, since at these starting points of sewing.
Anyway, I saw two on ebay, but I'm hesitant on spending 50 bucks for the one I really like...the other one is only 40 bucks, it looks very similar to the one I like though, so I'm thinking of getting that one *frets*

The only thing I've got for my costume so far is the tutorial to making a posable Timcanpy *-* I'm waiting for my mom to take me out to buy the supplies I need for it though
I'm also looking for a base to make his boots, does anyone know of a pair I could use to make them? I'm still looking for those right now, but so far I can't find a pair I like -_- My number 1 rule is they must be comfortable o-o Cause my feet start hurting a lot if I'm walking around for a while. It's not as bad as it use to be, though

Btw - yamimagic, that pattern...for the vest, it's perfect! That's exactly what I needed *spazzes* When I saw it I started jumping up and down screaming 'That's what I need! That's what I need' XDD

[orca_sora]

Originally Posted by CCKip

I'm also looking for a base to make his boots, does anyone know of a pair I could use to make them? I'm still looking for those right now, but so far I can't find a pair I like -_- My number 1 rule is they must be comfortable o-o Cause my feet start hurting a lot if I'm walking around for a while. It's not as bad as it use to be, though

While this is out of stock, my boots are THESE, and I just used white bias tape and white duct tape for the trim. Just glue the bias tape to the edge of the cuff, then use white duct tape (keeping in mind you need to add some length so it will move with you) for the line down the front. Photos are in my gallery.