Gastly - Pokemon
Worn:
March 2010
June 2010
Status: Retired
Why Gastly?
I've always thought that Gastly was an awesome Pokémon. And I had considered making a costume for him. I did a search online, only to find one Gastly cosplay, and the only image of it was the icon for it on Cosplay.com. So I thought that since Gastly was so under-loved, I'd go ahead and make the costume for him.
I went through about ten designs before finally deciding on one that I actually liked, and wasn't going to drive me insane to make. I went through punk, goth, emo, even corporate styles until I finally decided on what is shown in the pictures. It's comfortable, dark, has the goth/emo feel to it, and a bit of corporate like I wanted (in other words, the dress pants), and to show that it's a guy. But I couldn't really decide on how to have the coat. Having it buttoned up would make me too hot in it, and the idea of having my chest showing with the coat open unnerved me a bit. But if I have the coat the right way, I can wear it in public without being in trouble. They can't take me to jail for indecent exposure if nothing's actually showing.
With positioning the coat in the right way, I can hide the bottom edge of my binding which makes my stomach bulge a bit, and is just plain unsightly, but is visible in some of the pictures. Because you've got to taken into consideration, I'm a girl, I'm too big to do open chest binding like A - small C cup girls can, so me having the bravery to do this has got to count for something. How many big-chested girls do you know of willing to show off that much of their chest? And not be trying to blatantly hide it. Though I do admit, I hate the bulging. But I can hide that with the coat and tie.
The gloves I'd had since October and wore a few times previously for casual outfits (so not really cosplay). I'd gotten them at Claire's around Halloween, which was a prime time to get something like the ones I bought. The tie is from Ardene, bought as is. Coat I got from Value Village, and didn't need any modifying at all as it matched the design that I'd come up with for the costume. Dress pants I wear on a regular basis... shoes I've had for about seven years. And believe it or not, but the wig is a Halloween wig. I seem to have some good luck with finding good quality Halloween wigs, even if they aren't as high quality as the ones that cost $65. If it works, you use it. In the end, I'm really very happy with how Gastly has turned out. Though some things have been dropped from the initial design: triple chain in blue, silver, and black, and the purple and black wristband. There was also supposed to be a belt, but I thought better of it.
Photography
Morgan Brady
March 2010
June 2010
Status: Retired
Why Gastly?
I've always thought that Gastly was an awesome Pokémon. And I had considered making a costume for him. I did a search online, only to find one Gastly cosplay, and the only image of it was the icon for it on Cosplay.com. So I thought that since Gastly was so under-loved, I'd go ahead and make the costume for him.
I went through about ten designs before finally deciding on one that I actually liked, and wasn't going to drive me insane to make. I went through punk, goth, emo, even corporate styles until I finally decided on what is shown in the pictures. It's comfortable, dark, has the goth/emo feel to it, and a bit of corporate like I wanted (in other words, the dress pants), and to show that it's a guy. But I couldn't really decide on how to have the coat. Having it buttoned up would make me too hot in it, and the idea of having my chest showing with the coat open unnerved me a bit. But if I have the coat the right way, I can wear it in public without being in trouble. They can't take me to jail for indecent exposure if nothing's actually showing.
With positioning the coat in the right way, I can hide the bottom edge of my binding which makes my stomach bulge a bit, and is just plain unsightly, but is visible in some of the pictures. Because you've got to taken into consideration, I'm a girl, I'm too big to do open chest binding like A - small C cup girls can, so me having the bravery to do this has got to count for something. How many big-chested girls do you know of willing to show off that much of their chest? And not be trying to blatantly hide it. Though I do admit, I hate the bulging. But I can hide that with the coat and tie.
The gloves I'd had since October and wore a few times previously for casual outfits (so not really cosplay). I'd gotten them at Claire's around Halloween, which was a prime time to get something like the ones I bought. The tie is from Ardene, bought as is. Coat I got from Value Village, and didn't need any modifying at all as it matched the design that I'd come up with for the costume. Dress pants I wear on a regular basis... shoes I've had for about seven years. And believe it or not, but the wig is a Halloween wig. I seem to have some good luck with finding good quality Halloween wigs, even if they aren't as high quality as the ones that cost $65. If it works, you use it. In the end, I'm really very happy with how Gastly has turned out. Though some things have been dropped from the initial design: triple chain in blue, silver, and black, and the purple and black wristband. There was also supposed to be a belt, but I thought better of it.
Photography
Morgan Brady