Character: Mermaid
Series: Original Design
Debut: Nan Desu Kan 2004
Status: Active
I love this costume for so many reasons, mainly because it's not anime! Don't get me wrong; I love to cosplay anime characters, but it was so nice to do something that was wonderfully different. I also get a lot of attention in it. ^.~
This costume was made for my senior thesis exhibition and was on display for a while at my school's art show. I drew the inspiration for the costume from Mariko Mori's Empty Dream.
The design for this costume is actually quite simple. I found a stretchy irredescent, "scaley" fabric for the tail and a sheer irredescent fabric for the fin. I added boning to the fin to give it a realistic look and to give it some support. The bra was made by covering some bra cups with satin, and gathered in a way that made it look shell-like. I used a light purple sequin trim to connect the cups in the middle, and a sequined elastic over some regular elastic for the back strap. The bellydancer sleeves were made from white kid size tights that I cut apart and dyed purple. I added the light purple trim to the tops of the sleeves and added rhinestone embellishments on the sleeves and bra. The crown was inspired by Sarah Brightman's La Luna crown, which I had actually made prior to the mermaid costume, and finally found a good excuse to wear it!
My makeup and body jewels were done by my good friend Laura for the main photoshoot.
When I was designing the costume, it actually had more detail than I actually created. I drew fin details on several parts of the tail, the sleeves, and fin 'ears'. If I ever feel adventurous enough, I may add these in at some point.

Photos graciously taken by Laura