DancingMad's costumes |
Cachalot's costumes |
Kefka's Light of Judgement!
Kefka kicks Shadow. Boop :p
Kefka poisoning the water of Doma... again! (Poor Cyan.)
This costume was entirely Cachalot's idea, as I hadn't even played FFVI when I got started on Kefka, but I am so glad she both convinced me to play (and finish) the game as well as make this costume. He's an awesome villain, one of my favorites and probably my absolute favorite in Final Fantasy, but boy he has crazy taste in clothes. His outfit is wildly inconsistent depending on what you use as a reference, and thankfully (or not), Yoshitaka Amano was rather vague in the details for Kefka in his original costume design, which is what I worked from:
References:
I should note that when I was working on this costume, Dissidia wasn't even out yet, so I was not referencing any Dissidia designs for Kefka-- purely Amano illustrations. And to get the costume looking like a brighter interpretation of his illustrations, I was working with a lot of acid silk dyes, Swarovski crystals, fabric paint, yards of otherwise-awful-for-costume shiny polyester, buttons, beads, pearls and a ridiculous amount of feathers.
The process to make this costume was so involved that I dubbed it the Palazzo Project:
It took about two months of work to complete this. There were just so many little details to work out, a lot of new territory for me in general. I saved myself a bit of time by modifying a pair of already-made red silk pants, but the rest of the costume is totally handmade by me. (Well, ok, except for the boot covers that Cachalot created for me XD They're over 5-inch Pleaser platform hooker heels! Rather painful to trounce around in all day...)
There were a couple poses that I learned worked really well with Kefka and I used them rather often:
Kefka's original purpose was to be part of an absolutely awesome FFVI group at Otakon 2009. As you can see, it was a great success:
We also wore the Kefka and Shadow costumes for a private (and absolutely gorgeous) photoshoot in mid-October in Cambridge, Massachusetts and then went on to the Tokyo Kid costume contest later that day. (Tokyo Kid is an anime shop in Harvard Square in Cambridge.)
I officially retired Kefka at PAX East 2010. The costume was a huge hit at the con, it was a gaming convention after all, and I got my picture taken more there than at Otakon 2009 easily. The best part? Got my pic with Wil Wheaton himself. Yep. While dressed as Kefka. WIIIIIIN.
As difficult as this costume was to wear -- about 2 hours to finish my makeup, the shoes were really heavy and painful, and the amount of fabric used made it very hot -- this remains my favorite cosplay ever. I wish I could wear it more, but I got a lot of great use out of it while I could. I have the costume in storage though so conceivably one day I could wear it again if the need arises. We'll see!