scarlet costuming :: yuuko ichihara

i really love this manga. it's lush, beautiful, and available in my town. which meant i actually got to read it, unlike some stuff.

yuuko is also a bit psycho and tremendously feminine, which made the character all the more fun to cosplay!

::the wig::

i've wrangled in two different wigs when i've donned this costume, and of the two, the human hair one, without the accuracy, was my favourite. the accurate wig, with the styro-ball of hair at the back, the bow, and the perfect, long strands in front and back, drives me INSANE. the hair gets hung on everything, and even though i made it all from scratch, including the base wig, built out of black wefts, i loathe wearing it.

the human hair wig, which i already had, looks much more natural. not accurately, however.

::the mini-tophat and plackards::

this is my all time favourite piece that i've ever made, mainly because i adore miniaturized things. the hat's made of black taffeta, golden grosgrain ribbon, and my own secret hat-making recipe..and the bird's courtesy of the floral department of the local craft store, painted with watered-down acrylics, and additional turkey and coque feathers added on.

the plackards are off-white satin, the same as the rest of the costume, and lined with white cotton. there are three, the longest measuring about 5 feet. the design was traced in Illustrator (ditto for the umbrella's design), and painted on. the Illustrator files are in my tutorial/file collection, if you're interested.

::the umbrella::

people love this thing, and i do too. it's so darned girly, and was interesting to make. i learned that painting on satin: sort of fun and suprisingly easy.

this started out as two el-cheapo umbrellas, and some off-white satin scraps and a ton of ribbon and paint. to get the look i wanted on the shaft of the umbrella, i used brown electrical tape and brown satin ribbon, carefully lain over itself in quarter-inch increments,

if you try this yourself (covering an umbrella), always cut on the bias. also, invest in a curved needle.

::the riding crop and thigh-his::

electrical tape, a dowel, and a strip of leather. toss in another of my hand-made 7-coloured embroidery floss tassels, and there's the crop.

the thigh his were a bit more dicey. they started out as a pair of wide-weave off-white fishnets (i was very lucking in finding them. they were perfect!). i hacked them off at the crotch, folded the golden coordinating grosgrain ribbon strips over, and stitched them. i added hooks for my garter, and used clear plastic straps (aka, the invisible straps they sell in lingerie departments) to keep them up without looking odd.

:: the jacket and overskirt::

i found a fantastic fabric: a black snakeskin stretch cotton, heavy weight, with a nice shine. the overskirt is plain, with an fastened waist, and the jacket is fitted. the collar's a lavendar cotton, and the 'sleeves' are ribbon trimmed satin. there are two large golden grosgrain ribbon bows (with beweled centers) on each arm.

i lost count of the buttons on the sleeves and the torso of the jacket, but each was fabric covered, and painted golden.

the collar's ruffled, lined, and has a large, coordinating bow.

:: underskirt, miniskirt, and bustle::

my off-white satin find made me very happy. i didn't quite have enough, so the inner, never-seen part of the skirt hidden by the black overskirt, is made of a white cotton. there's something like 7 yards of fabric in this skirt, and at least 12 yards of hand-made ruffles with the ribbon stitched on.

the miniskirt was made from black taffeta, and the bustle, well...that was fun to make. hah! it's the same off-white satin, with tulle as the infastructure, and lined in white cotton. the bottom is gathered, trimmed in ribbon to coordinate with the underskirt's ruffles, and a big, golden bow with a beweled center.

photo credits: kiantewench and myself