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Anime Expo - Sunday - David and Kimberly
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Go inside this big Poliwhirl and you'll find an origami
puzzle of paper products, covered in thin foam and fabric, held together
with hook and loop fasteners so that a human can get in and out.David Ramsay
& Kimberly Johnson built this contraption, and many other costumes
large and small. They presented a couple of Pokemon on Saturday at Anime
Expo, then hauled Poliwhirl down an elevator to a panel room to share their
costuming secrets with the world. |
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{"I get a kick out of it. it's fun. It's also fun
to mess with people who don't know what you're doing," Ramsay said about
his costuming habit. It's more of a life now for them, since they have
a costume-making business. "When you enjoy a hobby so much that you want
to do it 24 and seven, that's it," he said. What about the secrets of costuming?
First, satin is a hard material to work with and other cloth should be
considered. "It is high maintenance and easily wrinkled," he said. |
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Then there's the question of underwear, to keep various
male and female parts from bouncing out of control or, as Johnson put it,
"advertising." Instead of panty hose, they recommend dance tights (like
the Danskin brand) because the tights don't run. The pictured dance belt
holds male parts in place under a tight-fitting uniform. Johnson said that
brassieres need to match the color of the costume so they don't show. |
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And there are shoes, often the last part of the costume
that gets finished and the most likely to be ignored. Ramsay and Johnson
emphasized that worn, dirty sneakers don't fit most costumes, so costumers
need to make sure they have the correct footwear. Odd colors can be created
by chasing down cans of leather spray paint, and inexpensive shoes can
be located with some looking, they said. |
