Construction Details:

Subaru's ceremonial robes are based in part on Shinto priest garb, so I did a lot of research and worked very hard to make sure the design of the costume was as accurate as possible to how it would be traditionally worn. The outfit is four garments that I patterned myself and made entirely from scratch - kimono, a sleeveless gi (to allow the blue of the kimono to show through at the sleeve gaps while still having the white collar layering), joue, and hakama. The joue is fully lined, while the kimono, hakama, and gi are all french seamed. The majority of the hems on all the garments were finished by hand, including all 136 inches of my hakama hem since I didn't trust my machine's blind hem stitch to not pucker the fabric horribly. In total there's approximately 850 inches of hand-finished seams in these garments. The sleeve cording was dyed to match my fabric; I ended up doing about 12 dye tests of different color recipes over three days and made three attempts at dyeing a full length of cord until I was satisfied with the color. The cord is woven through the sleeves through 96 buttonholes, 48 on each sleeve. The pentacle and om on the back of the joue was also done by hand; I had attempted the outline of the star by machine, but because of the thickness of the embroidery thread not all of the stitches were catching, so I had to go over the entire thing by hand anyway. There is one single fastener on the entire garment - just a sew-in snap to keep the top corner of the joue collar in place - otherwise the ensemble is worn traditionally with himo ties, etc. I also wove my own waraji-zori out of a wire structure and hemp, erring a bit non-traditional in favor of durability.

Personal Thoughts:

Not sure if I should be amused or distressed by the fact that I worked myself sick making the costume that Subaru works himself sick in...

Styling Notes

The wig was purchased from TaoBao (unfortunately I don't remember which store) and originally came down to my shoulders. It's also SUPER thick, with somewhat stiff, pin-straight fibers which made styling a little difficult. I clipped aside the parts that would be the ear-tails, so I wouldn't accidentally cut into them as I cut the wig to the short, layered style that Subaru has. The gentle curl inwards had to be heat-treated in, and there was a lot of fluffing and back-combing done to add volume and achieve the 90's bang poof and shape all the way around. Bangs were thinned out a lot, and the last thing I did was trim and thin the eartails to the right length.

Wig Review

Same Subaru wig as my previous costumes, but really pining for a new one at this point!

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