Construction Details:

Built the hat out of an old trucker hat and a bunch of foam, duct tape, and floral wire, and overlaid it with fabric from the jacket. Used one of those big googly eyes for the button, sculpey for the gold hand and trim on the front, and hit the edges of the fabric on the back with a lighter. Kept it on my head with a bit of floral wire that I twisted up to tighten it, and covered the wire with my hair.

Chain is a lightweight yellow plastic one from Home Depot so it didn't pull down the collar, held onto the jacket by a plastic shower curtain ring.

Belts are simply fabric heat-and-bonded onto old leather belts, with a bit of extensions made from heavy cardstock.

Shoes are thrift shop Calvin Klein loafers sprayed with Rustoleum plastic-bonding paint and like a billion layers of Mod Podge. Couldn't get ahold of leather paint in time. Cracked but didn't actually flake off, surpisingly!

Personal Thoughts:

I could write a book on the personal significance that Jojo's Bizarre Adventure parts 1, 2 and 3 hold for me. Same can be said for this costume.

This was the accumulation of several years of vision and perfectionism and input from various awesome cosplay friends. I originally wore it at Katsucon 2011 for a brief Jojo gathering, but rushed it and wasn't happy with a bunch of little things... got hyped up to rewear it for Katsu 2013 but personal issues and artist alley obligations crowded it out... so when Chiara Scuro encouraged me to rewear something rather than go cosplay-less for Katsu 2014 I decided to go hard and finally do it justice with whatever skills and resources I had. Took the pants and jacket to luxuryvandal for tailoring, and she blew me away with her sewing skills and vision for Araki's manga aesthetic in three dimensions. Also got a bunch of guidance from her on contouring makeup.

Suffice it to say, it was a blast. I got a bunch of great comments from people at the con, and even from a bunch of cosplayers I've admired for years. I can't imagine a more satisfying cosplay experience.

Also my mom sewed the original gakuran. http://instagram.com/p/jVWP90u_ZF/ Thanks Mom.

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