By Kamui Shirou
With Justin as Mana and Kandygirl as a backup dancer
Worn at: Anime Expo 01 (debut)
General: Yay for my Malice Mizer obsession. @_@ It's kinda long story how I got into the band, but just know that I love them. :P So of course, I wanted to do a costume of my favorite member (now ex-member ;_;) Gackt! I saw a picture online of a photo shoot in the illuminati outfits, drooled, and immediately decided to do the costume. ^_^;; It wasn't until Justin suggested it again to me that I actually decided to start making it, since I would have a lovely Mana to match. ^_^ This costume is definitely one of the better quality costumes out of my collection so far, since Justin aided me with putting it together (after much disagreement ;P).Outfit: Originally, I wanted to do the photo shoot short shorts version, but was talked into doing the concert version. The basic idea was the same, except with pants, feather boa, and a spiffy cape. Although I was very intimidated to work with vinyl, having heard HORROR stories about it, Justin was able to show me a method that made it very easy to work with! The vest was pretty easy to sew and I was able to hem the edges and it came out totally professional looking! The cape pattern was eyeballed by Justin and I, and the feather boas were purchased from JoAnn's. There's actually two boas twined together; one ostrich and the other marabou. The pants were borrowed from Matt (sankyuuu!! ^__^), and I will be making a pair of pants in the near future.
Wig: Instead of butchering my hair like I'd originally intended, I purchased a wig and watched in awe as Justin styled it for me. @_@ It was a generic short brown wig before, but now it's styled awesomely into a generic Gackt hair style. I'm looking forward to styling a wig of my own in the future, it looks like a real challenge!
The Group: I was a bit frightened when Justin talked my sister into being a backup dancer (and the fact that she agreed ^_^;;). I've never gotten so many STARES and really weird comments in any other costume... *cough* but I can see why. ^_^; Justin made an ADORABLE Mana and my sister looked... skanky. We got a lot of pictures taken, including that 30 minute long J-rock photo shoot at AX 01 (seen below) in which all the cosplayers baked and died in black vinyl, feathers, pleather, makeup, etc... ^^;
| Coming soon! |