Rinoa Heartilly (Original wedding dress design) - Final Fantasy VIII
Complete
| *This costume is now retired* ~I'll be waiting for you. If you come here, you'll find me. I promise.~ Squall: "Even if you end up as the world's enemy. I'll... I'll be your knight." Rinoa: "Squall, you're the one who gives me the most comfort. Comfort and happiness." gaming_goddess persuaded me to join herself and Frederica_la_Noir as brides for the Grand International Cosplay Ball. I had to push back my Belle cosplay so thought I might as well as I still wanted to wear a big poofy dress. Vic suggested I choose Rinoa and I couldn't pick anyone else tbh, Squall and Rinoa are cannon so it's "realistic" enough to suggest they get married eventually lol I had planned to buy a base dress then embroider pale blue feathers onto it to personalise it to Rinoa. I didn't want to use real feathers on the dress as that would make it too similar to Yuna's wedding dress. In the end I went with a blue sash that had feathers attached to the trails as I had no time or skill to embroider them. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I bought an ivory wedding dress from ebay which fitted well apart from the bust where I had to take some steps to keep it from slipping down (see journals). I decided I didn't want to risk ruining the dress by embroidering directly onto it so came up with the idea of using a sash and putting the feathers on that instead. That way the dress could be used for other things also. I had a good idea in my head of what I wanted to do and Chibi offered to draw up a design as I'm not good at that sorta thing ^^' I posted her sketch in my journal. In the end I ran out of time to embroider the feather design so I sewed on real feathers instead. It's not the look I had planned but it gets the same idea across I guess. More details on how I made the sash are in my journals. I used the wig from my other Rinoa cosplays and styled it slightly (see journal). The ivory/cream shoes used for my SeeD Ball cosplay seemed the best option to wear, you hardly see them anyway as the dress is floor length. I got a veil from ebay and a tiara from Claire's Accessories. The tiara has frosted gems and a pretty vine design =) I also picked up a baby blue garter from ebay, no-one can see it but it's goes with the wedding theme XD I shall wear Rinoa's chain and ring with Squall's Griever ring on it also (see journal for reasons) and the bracelet from my SeeD Ball cosplay. I tried fingerless satin gloves to match her arm warmer design in her regular outfit but it didn't look right to me. Make up is generally the same as usual except I shall be swapping the brown eye-shadow for a blend of pale blue and white. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I wore this cosplay to the Grand International Cosplay Ball in 2010. I had a lot of fun with my fellow brides and when the 3 of us were together we drew a fair bit of attention! I had quite a few compliments on my outfit, people seemed to like the idea and I was told I looked beautiful ^-^ The sash tried to swivel around at the waist a bit and I had to keep making sure the dress was in place properly at the bust a lot but otherwise I had no issues with this costume. There's prob a fair few who still think it's a daft cosplay idea but screw them, I had fun =D October 2011- Had a private photo shoot with aeb to get some more photos of this costume in natural light before retiring it. |
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
Total cost: £0.00
Sash
This prob ended up more complex than it needed to be... I found a baby blue satin sash on ebay but when it arrived I realised it was a lot smaller than I first thought so I ordered two more and pondered how to get them together without obvious seams. In the end I used one sash for the main waistband which is held closed at the back with snap fasteners and then used the other two as the "trains" of the sash which attached to the waistband again using snap fasteners. It looks a bit of a mess at the back where everything joins together but I hoped to cover this up by attaching a brooch I planned to make in a chibi wing design using fimo clay. I unfortunately ran out of time to do this so pinned a feathered comb (which I had bought for my hair because I thought it was a slide/clip not a comb) at the top instead. I also ran out of time when it came to embroidering the feather design onto the trailing ends of the sash so I decided to carefully hand-sew white craft feathers onto it as a replacement, it still followed the design I wanted just in a different way. I think the sash came out ok but I'm not entirely happy with it so will possibly remake it if I wear this costume again.
Rings
Although it's not exactly delicate wedding jewellery I shall wear Rinoa's chain and ring with Squall's Griever ring on it also. I believe Rinoa wouldn't be without this on her big day as it's an important symbol of her and Squall's relationship. A note on Squall's ring: "Squall's ring features a profile of Griever's head along with one wing along its side. Rinoa Heartilly expresses interest in this ring later on in the game and eventually ends up possessing it where she wears it next to her own ring through a chain around her neck. Eventually Squall allows her to keep it. The ring, as a symbol, is a tangible manifestation of the circle; it represents infinity and eternity, divinity and life. The ring also represents power, dignity, sovereignty, and strength. Thus, to bestow a ring is to indicate a transference of power. As is exemplified by the traditional wedding ring, the object is also binding, as with husband and wife. "
Sash design by Chibi
Drawing/ design by Chibi. http://www.cosplayisland.com/overview/Chibi I had a good idea in my head of what I wanted to do with the sash and Chibi sketched a design for me based on this. This helped as normally things in my head don't turn out so well in reality plus I'm rubbish at designing lol The sash is going to be made out of baby blue satin and the feathers shall be embroidered on (white thread). I could make the brooch from Fimo but my sculpting skills really are poor so I have a plain hair slide I can cover with feathers to use as a back-up.
Getting dress to stay up lol
As mentioned in my first journal about the dress the top part is slightly too big for me as it seems to have been made for a lady with a more generous chest than mine ^^' I was worried it would be difficult to take in so went a different route. First I got a triple gel bra from La Senza to fill up the gap in the bust area. This bra requires the straps to fit properly but I had to remove them due to the dress being strapless so to stop the bra moving all over the place I used some double-sided body tape to keep it secure. The material of the bra and the lining of the dress slide against each other, there isn't any grip so the top of the dress still slipped down a bit. I just used more of the body tape to hold the dress in place just above the top of the bra. And ta-da dress stays put and looks like it fits me nice and snug =) I made sure I did the "jump test" to make sure nothing slips down or falls out XD
Wig styling
I'm using the wig I use for my other Rinoa cosplays but I wanted to style it into some form of up-do for a more formal look. I was concerned about wefts showing or the wig being awkward in general but I managed to style it pretty easily. I left some feathering at the front to frame the face which includes 2 of her brown highlights and tied the rest of the hair into a ponytail at the base of the wig before clipping that up. I won't be using the clip in the photos, I'm getting a plain white or cream/ivory barrette then adding some white feathers to it.
Dress
I bought an ivory wedding dress on ebay which is made/ designed by Antora Bridalwear. It's made of duchess satin and has a nice simple, plain design. The shop tag attached says it should be sold at £390 but I got it for £75! In general it fits well apart from at the bust where it slips down due to my lack of boobs >_< I'm either going to get a good bust-enhancing bra or get it taken in a little at the top. I'm looking at getting a petticoat to poof out the skirt a little and a sash which I shall embroider a feather design onto to symbolise Rinoa.
A wedding idea for Rinoa sounds awesome ^_^ cant wait to see this
Gutted i wont get to see this hun xx
Looking beautiful so far! ^^
Lovely dress so far.
omg this looks like it going to be truly amazing
the dress is gorgeous!
Thanks everyone, just hope I get the adjustments done okay x
I cant wait for pics of it all done, your going to look gorgeous.
The progress is looking so cute ^^!!!
This is beautiful can't wait to see the thing altogether! xxx
8D the ball's getting close darling! So excited it looks fabo so far! :) xxx
Thanks for the support everyone, it's much needed as I'm uncertain how well this will be received, some people will think it's daft ^^' Freddie- I know! We need to find us some grooms at the ball heehee.
Lovely work! And that sash is so beautiful ^^!!!
beautiful :D
Gaaah this is so good n___n xxx
Ooooh...pwiddyful. O,O!<
You looked lovely! The feathers on the sash especially worked really well.
You look so pretty!! Looking forward for more pictures :D
Stunning. Thats the perfect way to describe this! :3
Yay it turned out beautifully!
You look wonderful hunnie
This was a really nice idea! :D The dress looked gorgeous and the three of you looked wonderful together :)
Great idea, wonderful design (very Rinoa) and beautifully put togther. Well done indeed.
Thank you everyone ^^
You look fantastic!
Stunning!!!! You look so amazing!!! great work ^^
Stunning :) simply stunning! was all good fun at the ball with you and GG. xxx
This is beautiful! <3 xxx
You look absolutely beautiful *hug*
*blushes* thank you for all the lovely comments. Freddie- Deff was fun! x
you look soooo pretty and the pictures are beautiful
Very Nice you look amazing. Rinoa was my fav always in ff8. and you look perfect cosplaying her, couldent do better :)
I only wish I'd seen you in this in person!
Me too hun, it was a shame you couldn't go, I wanted a dance *pout*