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WTF: Yami no Matsuei Cosplay

We love Yami no Matsuei! As a result, we love YnM cosplaying.

These costumes were worn at YaoiCon 2002, and we intend to

wear them again. :-)

[Skip to Muraki]

Oriya

For the Oriya costume, we used a Folklore pattern (a historical

pattern company) for the kimonos. We used plain black

broadcloth for the underkimono, a nice deep matte red for the

kimono itself, and (because we couldn't find the same matte

material in blue) a dark blue satin for the haori/overkimono.

Once we made the kimonos, we stamped and painted the two

outer kimonos with fabric paint for the floral designs, and when

that dried, we used our heat gun to puff the paint. (If only I'd had

the time to embroider the flowers... *Starherd gets smacked by

Kasra for mentioning embroidering again*)

The obi (sash) was fashioned from, of all things, Nascar Racing

checkered-flag print cotton. We certainly have the ability

to make one a little closer to that of the picture (with

rectangles instead of squares). Before I get smacked again

for mentioning embroidery or quilting, we could achieve the

same effect by stamping (or painting) with fabric paint. :-)

Our friend chose to cosplay Oriya because her hair was close

already, and we were able to get a simple pair of flip-flops for

footwear. Unfortunately, our lovely kimonos - which would've

been wonderful for the spring/summer conventions - were

pretty cold in San Francisco in October! She ended up wearing

a pair of cut-off sweatpants underneath to keep from freezing.

Stupid temperatures.

The set of three kimonos (two painted, one underkimono)

and obi (sash) for Oriya would be about $250.

Muraki The Muraki costume was made primarily from bought pieces - we were quite lucky to find a white tuxedo jacket at a thrift store - but the trenchcoat had to be made from scratch. I (Starherd, the wearer in the first picture) first puzzled out a pattern, then cut the pieces from white cotton twill (which has a great weight and feel for a coat). Finding the lining was actually rather difficult; I bought nearly enough for two coats of a really beautiful, terribly pale lavender material, which turned out to be discontinued later on. (I have one other coat with that lighter lining, but after that, all coats would have the slightly darker lavender lining that is currently available.) The sleeves are of particular note. On version 1 of the coat, (see top picture below), I used no interfacing and only one layer of material for the odd upper-arm cuff. Unfortunately, once I washed that, it lost all its will to stand. So, on version 2 of the coat (see lower picture), I used interfacing and a second layer of material. The resulting upper-arm cuff should stand even after repeated washings. What manages to be invisible in both pictures is the panel on the left sleeve of the trenchcoat. This can be done either by attatching a patch of silver material, or by attatching a piece of metal (as was done for Version 2 of the coat; the metal detatches for washing). The wig in the top picture below is cut and (badly) styled from a much longer wig (and with a little more work, would make a good Dilandau wig). We're currentlly inspecting options for a better wig; the price below would be for one just like that in the picture. The doll came from a flea market, but we've seen excellent dolls at the local Goodwill stores, too. Oh, and we found great, comfy, all-white shoes for the outfit, too - they're put out by Dr. Scholl's and are available at Wal-Mart. For both of the pictures below, the far picture on the right is the same as the picture to its left, but has had its contrast adjusted to make the lining, piping, and straps more visible. Also made for this costume was a chest-binding, which worked very well. It was constructed from 8-inch wide elastic, with Velcro closure. After re-adjusting the binding a few times, I found that it could be quite comfortable to wear, but I advise that one practice wearing such a thing before a convention so as to learn how to wrap it most comfortably. The Muraki Trenchcoat would be $120. The wig would be around $50. Chest-bindings unavailable until more 8" wide elastic is found.

Want a Muraki Coat, Oriya kimonos, or anything else

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