_________Van
_________Costume Stats
Character Name: Van Fanel
_________Reference
Series: Escaflowne
Specifics: main outfit
Cost: $150
Time: 25 hours
Started: April 2008
Completed: May 2008
Debuted: Anime North 2008
_________Information
My friend Becky was planning to cosplay Hitomi from Escaflowne, so she asked me cosplay as her Van. I've always wanted to do Esaflowne cosplay, and Van is one of my favorite characters, so I agreed. :3
_________Misc
I made the shirt out of red twill. I also lined the shirt with the same fabric so that all the lines around the collar are neat looking. I hammered eight eyelets into the shirt, and used a thin white cloth ribbon for the lacing. I didn't make the split in the shirt go down as far as it should, because, uh, I'm a girl. :3;;; Regardless, I think the shirt looks pretty accurate. :3
I made the pants out of a stretch-cotton and altered the pattern I used for Katara's pants. (I could have bought pants, but khaki pants that fit me and that don't have pockets are impossible to find.) This was my first time making a pair of pants with a proper fly. It took my a couple hours to get the fly to work properly. It came out well, but it's a tad too short for my liking. That's what I get for using my jeans as a point of comparison. XD;;
I wanted my gloves and boots to be made out of a matching faux-leather, but since that was out of the question, I made them both out of a chocolate-colored twill. The gloves were made using the glove pattern I used for Tai's gloves. I interfaced the insides so that the gloves would be less flimsy. Sadly, I fail at making gloves, so despite three attempts, the gloves look pretty sad. D:
The boots were made over pair of boots I bought second hand. They were originally knee-high, so I cut them down to size. I made boot covers out of the twill, and hand-sewed them (with pliers) onto the base boots. I made the tops of the boots from some false-suede I interfaced.
The belt is also made out of interfaced false-suede. The golden "ends" of the belt were made out of cardboard (I was fresh out of sheet metal) that I carefully cut, reinforced, and painted gold before gluing it to the belt. I hammered two gold eyelets into the cardboard, and then ran a keyring through the holes to complete the belt.
The wig started out as a short curly wig with a center part. I moved the center part by re-parting the wig where I wanted it and carefully pouring carefully ~175 °F over the old and new parts. I also used ~175 °F water to straighten the wig. I had to straighten the wig twice, since the first time, I didn't like the way the front bangs fell. After the wig was dry, I used curlers and hairspray to put some volume into the wig. There's, like, 1/4 can of hairspray in the wig.
And that's about it. :3
I still need to start finish the sword. ~_____~
And before you ask: I don't plan to make his wings. I'm tempted to make them, but I'd want to make them accurate, and I have neither the time nor money to make two six feet long wings... I also lack a place to store them. D:
Our friend Crimson surprised Becky and I at Anime North with an Allen costume! The three of us thus have a mini Escaflowne group! :D
_________Images
Anime North 2008
