Construction Details:

Going top down, you can see about my wig styling below and the earrings are self-made tassels based on a tutorial showing how you can roll fringe up and save yourself a lot of money this way (they aren't as neat up close but look good enough, I also had to attach them to clip-on earrings since I haven't had pierced ears in a decade and they stayed on all day with only a tiny bit of slipping).rnrnI didn't realize how much fabric the cloak was going to take so it's a half-circle cloak instead of 3/4ths and I am considering going back in and adding that last fourth in. I like the fullness and how much it covers already but the tighter drape means that my ties (red yarn) kept sliding up and cutting rather painfully into my neck and I'm not sure how else to fix that problem.rnrnThe vest is a self-draped pattern made of red brocade with a red crepe lining, I wish I could have found a brocade with with the large, coin-like pattern I saw in some different colors but I found very few red brocades at all and am satisfied with the red, flowery one I have (the crepe was actually my backup incase I didn't find a good brocade at all). The collar is a shimmery, gold fabric flipped backwards and painted on, I blew up some manga screenshots in photoshop to create a painting template but unfortunately my reference was so blurry that I didn't realize until later on that I had made a mistake, the triangles shouldn't be attached to the black borders but free floating. I also wish I had made the trim smaller (it's two inches) but was afraid that if I made it any smaller I wouldn't be able to do as neat of a job. The black belt is leftover fabric from my Hajime cosplay (twill) and the white belt is the same fabric as the underdress, this time right side out.rnrnThe underdress is made out of what I believe is an ivory colored charmuse, I wanted a fabric that would drape well but was unsure how good the shiny fabric would look, especially against a shiny brocade, so I flipped it inside out so I could continue alternating layers of shiny then not-shiny fabric. The pattern is based off of Simplicity's 1551 (Lord of the Rings) pattern but I goofed and got the large of the two sizes when I really needed the smaller one. The sleeves actually came from another pattern, Simplicty 2852, and I re-drew the armsyche for the two to match up. Since the pattern was too big it was slipping off my shoulders and I made two little gathers in the front, also to mimic the gathers in the original garment and the entire thing was cut on the bias. If I was to do this over I would either use an entirely different pattern (perhaps a separate top pattern attached to a circle skirt) or perhaps alter the original pattern less so I would use closer to the original recommendation of 6+ yards. You can't tell but it's already a lot of fabric (2.5 or 3 yards), I could do a split in it if I could do splits! I also cut the hem wrong so it's a couple of inches higher than I would have liked, I made the cloak a bit shorter to compensate and keep the proportions similar.rnrnI also attempted to make her bow, arrows, and quiver. The quiver turned out nicely (fabric left over from my Antimony cosplay years and years ago over a cut up cereal box), the arrows are horribly basic, and the bow gave me real trouble. I realized right before I started making it that a full length bow would be too long for my suitcase so I tried to make it in two parts and attach with velcro, the velcro failed before I even got to the con and I had to hold it awkwardly. The bow itself is made of cardboard, newspaper, and masking tape (not amazing but it worked) and once I started posing with it I realized it was entirely too short. I've done real archery a handful of times and had thought Yona's bow was a bit small but tried to just make it match my own proportions and it turned out my gut reaction was right! I plan to do some real bow research before I remake this one in the future and make it in one piece even though it won't fit in my suitcase for sure.

Personal Thoughts:

I've been a fan of the Akatsuki no Yona manga for years and having the series turned into an anime was the perfect kick in the pants to actually make the cosplay. I really liked a lot of the details from the manga designs (such as the details on her collar, the screentoning on her vest, and the different colored cloak) so I based my construction on that and on her manga hair-length (it's been slowly growing back out since the beginning and I know a slightly longer cut flatters my face more).

How was the wig colored?

FW Ink-equal parts vermillion (red-orange) and sephia (brown)

Styling Notes

I had enough points to get a free wig from Arda and once I got it I realized the color looked horrible on me. After trimming and dyeing I started to straighten/put curls back which turned out to be a fight. I had to use hot water (before I dyed) and then a straightener afterwards. I then tried hot water with curlers and a round brush before putting the bottom of the wig back in curlers and heating it up with a blow dryer to get the side curls I wanted and some of the bottom curls. I plan to work a bit more with the wig to get the fullness I want in the upper and mid-layers, at this rate I might just put it up and point the blow-dryer straight up for volume.

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