Cos-Blog

Orihime!

Okay, so I’ve done about 4 1/2ish versions of Inoue Orihime. I say 1/2 because I just had to add a sweatervest to make a different version. I am pretty sure she’s the character I have the most versions of, at least right now. Ahiru (from Princess Tutu) is in close second!

I am going to split the versions into 2 sections—the Orihime cosplays I was able to piece together from clothes I had/bought and ones I had to make parts of. This post is for the easy ones.

BACKSTORY: Like Naruto, I got into Bleach early on in my college career thanks to the anime club at my university. I really loved Orihime off the bat but I didn’t really think about cosplaying as her because I am not uhhh….as well endowed as she is. But in the end, I cosplayed as her anyway. For a long stretch of cons I would bring some version of Orihime. She was pretty much my IT cosplay between 2005-2007 because she was fun to cosplay and I had a good number of friends who cosplayed from Bleach too. The last time I wore a version of her was at Comic Con 2008 because of the Tite Kubo panel. That’s also when I met Orihime’s North American VA, Stephanie Sheh. (As well as Michelle Ruff—Rukia’s VA. They really liked the wig. 8D)

CONSTRUCTION: Easy for both of these versions because I just pieced clothes together. I used my real high school uniform skirt and just found a white shirt and added a small red tag for ACCURACY. For the casual!Soul Society version I found a pink shirt and used iron-ons to make the design. Found grey knit pants and sewed red lines to the side….painted some shoes yellow. Really simple!

I found the hairpins on eBay. The wig was bought from someone on Cosplay.com. My friend Ann was the one that found the wig and pointed me to it. It was REALLY hard to find a nice orange wig back in 2005. Nowadays there are a lot of eBay sellers and wig websites that sell great wigs for cosplay in all colors imaginable. I think cosplay has grown as a hobby since ‘05. Unfortunately I’ve just worn Orihime so much that my wig is getting ratty. I’ll buy another one someday if I get back into cosplaying as Orihime. I have at least one more version planned. xD;

For more Orihime photos go here~

School outfit: http://www.acparadise.com/acp/display.php?c=9993

Soul Society Casual: http://www.acparadise.com/acp/display.php?c=9992

So my last blog was about my easier Orihime costumes. This one is for the two that I had to put more effort in. xD

BUT even still, I was able to buy black and hakama (the pleated pants) so that saved a LOT of trouble.

CONSTRUCTION (shinigami!disguise): For the shinigami!disguise outfit I used the Simplicity 4080 pattern for the hakamashita and juban. I first wore it to Anime Expo 2006. When I first made the hakamashita (black top), I had used a really light cotton and sort of messed up on the collar. But! I found a much better, heavier, darker fabric later on and redid it. The armpit slit things look better as does the collar! I am much more pleased with it.

Now that I have a basic shinigami outfit, I can pretty much cosplay as any of the shinigami. I did cosplay as Hanatarou…er….once. I need to wear that again!

CONSTRUCTION (arrancar): The puffy sleeve top+cape thing was about two patterns fused together and altered a bit. I…can’t even remember what patterns I used so I fail. ._. It wasn’t too hard. I have a zipper going down the front so it is easier to put on. I need to fix the collar if I wear it again—it’s pretty messed up.

For the shirt, I knew I couldn’t accomplish that fitted-ness with the materials I chose for the top/cape and I was out of time so a white spandex-y underarmor shirt worked the best. (Got it at Wal-Mart. It can also be bought at any sporting goods store.)

The keyhole-apron thing was pretty much made from scratch. It took me a while to get it fitted right since I used no pattern for it. I had to factor in what my waist size was when wearing the hakama.
In the end I attached my apron to the white under armor so it would stay up. -_-; That is also something I’d re-do if I wore this again.
Arrancar have ungainly costumes!

For more shinigami!disguise photos, go here: http://www.acparadise.com/acp/display.php?c=9994

And for more arrancar ones: http://www.acparadise.com/acp/display.php?c=13501

One of the prettiest photos I have of shinigami!disguise Orihime~

By Jason, 2007

Photo by Jason

2007

Photo by Sheri

2007

30 Day Cosplay Challenge: Day 7

The character you have cosplayed that is most similar to you (if none that you have cosplayed, then one that you will cosplay)

I think most characters that I choose to cosplay have at least one trait I can relate to in some way or another, and that’s probably why I choose them. But it’s very hard for me to say who is the most similar to me since my personality isn’t exactly like any one of them. (If it was, I’d probably be a very annoying person to be around, hahah.) Basing this on comments from friends, I bet many would say Ahiru since some have told me that. I suppose it would depend on who I’d ask. If I had to pick, I’d probably say Orihime. Maybe Ahiru too.

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