Houmei from Shining Wind

I performed a skit in this costume with for Anime USA 2011. Our costumes won Best Overall Craftsmanship.

I worked on it in a span of 3 months, and it was pretty frustrating at times. I've never made a costume with SO much fabric for myself before! The kimono has close to 12 yards of fabric if you include the lining of the kimono. I'm not used to such a lose fit, so I felt super frumpy walking around in it!

The details on the kimono (cranes, peacock, and swirly details) are all hand painted and/or pieces of fabric heat n' bonded to the kimono. All of the different gradients were done with several colors of floral spray.

The little red dress underneath was a pain in the butt, because of the shapes of the white trim....and brocade frays so much! I ended up having to melt the edges of the inside seams before lining it so that the seams would not fray apart.

The green coral head pieces are made from Wonderflex; They insert into the wig with little plastic combs. The crown is a combo of Wonderflex, Styrofoam, Paper Clay, and craft foam.

Major insane wig construction done by:
The base wig is from Arda wigs - the wig is awesome! I love it!



photo by PsychoticSmiley.com

my fan prop! (aka Buckwheat Jr.)