Construction Details:

I made this outfit to wear for this year’s NY Sakura Matsuri. I basically started with the idea of taking Japanese print fabric and making a Western style dress with it. I wasn’t trying to emulate a lolita look or any actual Japanese fashion style but I did want it to be cute and pink. With this in mind, I went fabric shopping but wasn’t able to find a Japanese print fabric I liked locally for this project. I wanted a print with a distinctly Japanese flair but most of what I found was too subtle or dark for my tastes and there didn’t seem to be any good ones in pink. I actually ended up ordering my fabric from the west coast 10 days before the festival! ^_^;; I’d bought a tiny piece of this particular print in NYC last year but the shop no longer had it.

I fully lined the dress and made a petticoat to go under it since I thought it would look cuter if it was poofy. Plus, the designs on the fabric showed better with the petticoat to help spread the skirt out.

To give it another Japanese touch, I made a pair of sakura kanzashi (Japanese style hair ornaments) out of leftover dress fabric to wear in my hair. It was the first time I’d ever tried to make kanzashi and I think they came out decently. I wanted to have bangs with this outfit since I thought it would be cuter but couldn’t find the set of clip-in bangs I had for a couple of my old cosplays. Will have to get a new one if they don’t turn up.

Personal Thoughts:

I usually end up going for more serious characters when I cosplay so it was nice to be cute and pink for a change! :-D I’ll probably rewear this dress at cons for going out to dinner/later at night when I don’t feel like wearing one of my actual character cosplays. Might add more sakura accessories sometime since I still have fabric left.

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