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[tsau-mia]

I'm doing halloween as the animated series catwoman, and I was wondering how other people go about hiding unsightly lines/bulges and other things under the suit. How do you make yourself look good without feeling like you're revealing too much of yourself?

Here's the image I'm working from, and the bodysuit needs to lie pretty flat against my body.

http://www.almtalkies.com/home/wp-co...-2010-JUNE.jpg

[naive_charm]

I use a combination of things... Spanx/bodyshapers, push up bra (because leotards can make your breasts look flat and undefined), and sometimes a waist-cincher corset. Look up the cosplayer Bellechere's Deadpool costume as an example of what an underbust corset can do under spandox!

[glitter bomb]

All the advice naive_charm gave is great and probably how most people solve it. I personally can't stand wearing things like spanx or shaping corsets, I find them painfully uncomfortable. So even though I can control my shape more extremely with those methods, I tend to use other tricks so I can be more physically comfortable and enjoy wearing the costume. The main ones:


I tend to make catsuits that skim the body, not hug it. When you make a bodysuit that is actually skintight then every tiny bump on your body is revealed and magnified. When you make a bodysuit that is cut very very close to your body, but grazes over it instead of squeezes it then many of those little bumps or even bulges are invisible.

I also tend to use heavy weight lycra or coated lycra so that the material has more structure. This means that it still looks good and smooth even though the bodysuit is not skin tight. Whereas thin lycra could sag or ripple if the bodysuit isn't squeezed on you.

Another trick is to add more structure to the bodysuit design. Think like, the difference between how a corset creates the illusion of a smooth, bulge-free torso, as opposed to a plain knit tube top which shows every tiny bulge in the torso. So Instead of just a 2-seam design -- with a front panel and back panel -- I'd add in princess seams in the front, a waist or hip seam to shape the area, as well as shaping across the back and butt. The seams can be decorative or purely functional, depending on the character design. But shaping the bodysuit to your form, as opposed to stretching it across your form, creates a smoother and more flattering shape.

Finally, the placement of accessories and trim can do a lot to hide bulges. For example, a wide hip belt can hide a belly bulge or muffin top, so place the belt where it most flatters you, even if it isn't exactly where the character wears it.

[glitter bomb]

oh, and here's the great costume that naive_charm mentioned: http://www.cosplay.com/costume/264104/

As you can see (and as BelleChere explains in the description) the corset under the bodysuit creates that crazy anime/comic hourglass curve. It's a pretty fun effect. I think it's a really smart (and hawt) way to represent the va-voom! characters. I just personally refuse to do it. I could probably get down to a ridiculously tiny waist with a proper corset, but I figure the Divine made me this way -- with my ribs where they are intended to be, and my organs comfortably positioned, and the ability to breathe deeply. But if you're ok with the foundation garments you can really flatter your figure combining that with some of the tips I mentioned.