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Now there's something you don't see every day...unless you live at
anime conventions. The colorful costumes worn at events such as Neko-Con
attract many of the fans. They also lead people to spend weeks working
on their costumes - and it's not just for the Saturday night costume contests.
Amy Fraga, Neko-con's cosplay coordinator, made her costume even though
she couldn't participate in the contest. |
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Fraga's character is a slightly-mad female writer from Child's Toy
who always wears elaborate hats featuring squirrels. The cityscape on the
hat was made from foam blocks, hollowed to make room for the lights Fraga
found at a craft store. A collection of AA-cell batteries underneath the
hat's rim powers the lights. The contraption is held together with duct
tape, painted black. |
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After seeing the Unico anime, Taliesh Alexrod liked the Toby character
so much that he made a costume. The fabric is $50 of felt from Wal-Mart
- and isn't as warm as it looks. Alexrod chose felt because it matched
the gentle Osamu Tezuka characters. The hair is Alexrod's, staying in place
after applications of several layers of hair spray. |
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Unless you can buy an art book of a copy of Newtype with detailed character
designs, it's hard to tell how to make your costume. This Nadia costumer
said she took the design by carefully studying a cover illustration from
a tape box. Others said they take their tape and view their character's
scenes, over and over, until they've figured how to create the costume. |
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Most of this costume was custom-made, especially the vest and wrap
that extends from the waist to cover the lower legs. Those pieces were
covered in gold-toned trim hand-applied by the costumer. But, the slacks
are ordinary pants of the correct color. The blouse is a modified dress
shirt, changed to give the effect of billowing around the shoulders. And
the boots, not visible in this shot, came from a military surplus store
- but they were a size too small, forcing the costumer to slit them so
he wouldn't cut off the circulation to his feet. |
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