Cosplay: Dark Lady (2016)

And we're back into convention season! This upcoming weekend, I'll be cosplaying at Emerald City Comic Con, but in getting my thrifty cosplay together, I realized that there were some costumes I never posted about from the last round of cosplay events. So, let's play catch up!

Growing up as a child, I was a fan of Sailor Moon. Now, at that time, the only version I could easily find is the now-out-of-print DIC dub, and so I got to know the evil, magically-adult version of Rini as "Dark Lady." In the original Japanese, she was known as "Black Lady," but this was changed in the first kids' version of the show for American political-correctness. And even though I know it's not her actual name, I still think of the character as "Dark Lady," and I went into this cosplay with that in mind.

This costume was put together for International Sailor Moon day, a small but passionate event full of a Sailor Moon themed artists' alley, games, triva, and cosplay contest. It was basically a very intimate mini-con!

In order to transform myself into Dark Lady, I knew I would need a Sailor Moon-esque styling, but getting those buns looking correct is pretty challenging on a cheap wig. I ended up finding some fabric that was the same bubble-gum pink color as the hand-me-down wig I planned on using, and so I made the base for the buns using painter's tape and newspaper. 

I wrapped these cores in the pink fabric and then wrapped some of the hair from my wig over the fabric-covered cones. The result was supposed to look like this:

Gravity pulled the buns down somewhat, but mainly I thought it was a success. The next challenge was Dark Lady's Victorian-Punk style jewelry. At a Goodwill, I found some shoes on sale ($2.99) that had rhinestones that looked like Dark Lady's necklace. Thus, with the help of some hot glue, extra black fabric, and a little creativity, shoes became a necklace!

Also at the Goodwill, I found a belt for $1.99, arm bands for $3, and I bought some hot-pink tights for $5. I paired these with a knit black dress I already owned.

I also wanted to bring my camera with me to International Sailor Moon Day, but a camera can be a distracting detail that ruins cosplay. A plan soon emerged: Rini (and thus Dark Lady) has a little robot-cat-ball sidekick in Sailor Moon. Using left over paint, markers, and poster-board, I made a "cosplay" for my camera and an extra prop for myself.

All together, the cosplay for this small event came together well, and I had a ton of fun taking a trip down memory.

In the name of the moon, I really enjoyed the event and this casual Dark Lady cosplay! ~ LK