 PRINCESS LENNA CHARLOTTE TYCOON Final Fantasy V Amano Artwork |
| Costume Stats: |
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Costume Completed: 2008 Debut: ConnectiCon 2008 |
| Convention History: |
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ConnectiCon 2008 Providence Anime Conference 2008 Anime Boston 2009 |
| Performances: |
| Performance Showcase: PAC 2008 |
| Photo Castmates: |
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Faris Scherwiz: Natalie |
| Photo Credits: |
| Steve Downie |
Construction Notes:
I first played Final Fantasy V when it was released as part of the Final Fantasy Anthology in the late 1990s. Despite the terrible translation the game was a lot of fun to play, though my love of FF5 was rare at the time (and arguably still is). Faris was my favorite character, but when my fellow cosplayer Natalie told me she was planning to cosplay Faris, I was so excited to share the love of this game I decided to make Lenna to match her! I began with a store-bought purple tank leotard, which I altered into a halter design and edged with gold trim. I lowered the back, and added buttons to better secure it. I then used an opaque lilac cotton to make a mini skirt, and covered it with a layer of floor-length sheer lilac silk, knife-pleated at the waistline and trimmed with gold fringe at the hem. I then spent six weeks hand-beading a block pattern along the fringe's edge and gold vines twisting up the skirts length, bead by individual gold bead. Finally I added a sash of gold brocade and a string of glass red, gold and blue beads to the skirt, which wraps around the waist and fastens using snaps. The sleeves/train of the dress was purple silk that was box pleated and fasted to the leotard at the neck and shoulders and then left to drape down the back.
I had never made armor before, so I dove into a brand new world and used Wonderflex for the first time to make Lenna's chest plate, arm gauntlets, and headpiece. I had no tools available to shape the plastic, so instead of a heat gun I held the pieces over the burner of our oven on high until it became soft and then slammed it on my forearms. This is a terrible method - NEVER DO THIS. I then painted all of the armor with a gold finish and glued and sewed plastic and metal beads onto it as accents. The gauntlets were also wrapped in gold wire and threaded with glass beads. I made a pair of matching earrings out of additional beads, and bought a pair of dyeable white shoes and dyed them metallic gold. Similar to the gauntlets, I added gold wire and glass beads in a design which wraps up the calf and fastens in the back. Finally, I decorated a store-bought sword with plastic gems and leftover fabric to match the outfit. When this was made it was a rare costume and i was really happy with how it came out; Lenna still is not often cosplayed and I still really love this design; I'd like to revamp her at some point, especially the armor pieces!
Photoshoot Pics:
