The First Universal Law of Cosplay clearly states that everyone's gotta do an Utena character at some point in their costuming career, so here's mine. I chose this character because I like big poofy dresses that make swooshing noises and which scare the crap out of people when you attempt to board elevators with them.

The bodice (jacket) part of the dress was the hardest part of the costume to work out. I had to experiment with several muslin mock-ups before I came up with a pattern which would dart correctly, yet allow for the tabs and skirt at the bottom. The skirt was also difficult, as it had a gazillion yards of fabric and had a cartridge-pleated forepart in front (made of a slightly darker fabric than the rest of the skirt. It's a subtle detail which is often overlooked when people make this costume.)

The neck ornament I made from gold braid and friendly plastic, into which I set a painted wooden gem.

The epaulets I made using strips of craft foam covered with stretchy gold fabric, hard styrofoam balls and DMC embroidery floss (for the tassels.)

The crown I made by cutting out a crown shape of 1/8" thick craft foam and gluing a layer of gold-foil tagboard over it. It created a mirror-shiny crown which looked like real metal. (I had to sew the crown onto the wig to get it to stand correctly, but the foam and foil were easy to sew through.)

Anthy Himemiya
Version 2