Black Cat - Marvel Comics
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| Marvel's Black Cat, there appears to be 2 main version of this costume around one with white boots and glove with white fur cuffs and one with black boots and gloves with fur/hair down the side, this is the latter The suit originally started as a fancy dress grade cat woman costume bought from Argos, its wet look Lycra and is comfortable to wear. I lowered the neckline and put in a new zip and sewed in some large fake fur lapels. I originally tried it with a corset underneath, but the catsuit was actually a little baggy around the waist in that mode, so in the latter version I wore a PVC corset (from ebay) over the top, the PVC matched the boots and gloves nicely, and although Black Cat rarely wears on in comics etc, a lot of Cosplayers do wear a corset, probably because we haven't all got super heroine waistlines. I don't have a super heroine chest either, that's actually a silicone falsie. The boots are Nitelife brand, black PVC, about a 5 and a half inch heel with a 2" platform and while not exactly easy to wear, are about as comfortable as a 5 and half inch heel can be, and I can wear them and walk in them for several hours. Again the in the comic she doesn't really wear heels that often, but I though they went, plus although I'm tall, I'm rather long in the body, not the leg, so the heels balance it out a bit. For the furry bits I disassembled a cheap white wig into wefts and sewed them into a strip of black PVC fabric, which I glued on to the boots with Copydex The gloves where black PVC opera gloves from Honour, I shortened them and sewed the rest of the white wefts from the wig into the seem. I glued on black "Witch" false fingernails on the finger tips to give make cat claws The collar originally cam from Ann Summers, it had a little padlock on the chain, I painted a cicular badge gold and taped it top the padlock to make the gold cat collar Black cat sometimes wears The wig was from Ebay The mask started as a blank plastic robot face mask which I cut to shape, painted gloss black and held it on with a clear elastic strap. The mask went through a few iterations and versions in plastic and craft foam until I got something I was happy with. One issues is I wear glasses most of the time (take them off for photo's) and I had to have a mask I could still wear with my specs, so fitting around them and my oddly shaped face was tricky I wore the outfit to the Sci Fi London Costume parade. Its not one of the events listed here, I'm not sure its well known in these circles, basically the London Sci Fi Film festival http://www.sci-fi-london.com/ has been running a costume parade for the last 3 years to kick the even off, I've been to all of them and its a hoot, even in 2012 when it chucked it down. It was quite a day, slightly marred by several wardrobe malfunctions, the gold disk fell of the collar, the false finger nails came unglued, the lapel on my catsuit flipped around (didn't notice till I saw the pics) and my boots where a bit knackered after it, plus several hours of been in a corset and very high heels is rather hard work. But it was worth it, I was noticed, OMG was I noticed and the vast majority of people where very nice and complementary, though most didn't know who the character was. Black Cat really stands out, I think its the really strong contrast between the white hair and the black suit that grabs you, oh that and the cleavage. Me being supersized (Over 6'6" in those boots) sort of got me noticed as well The parade was around Stratford because the festival was at the Straford cinema, we walked around the town centre and through the shopping mall, practically bringing to a standstill as every one got out there phones and started taking pictures. Everyone in the parade deemed it to be a success, I will be there next year. Have to say the extreme heels and wobbly paving stones are not a good mix, it was only may “cat like” reflexes that saved me from a tumble a few times Winking smile I was worried about the costume, its probably the most OTT I've ever worn in public, but its sort of given me confidence to push the envelope a bit and not worry about costumes that just suit my age and body shape |
Progress Journal
18th May 2015
Update
a minor update turned into a complete speed rebuild over a course of a week, only part of the original that remains is the wig. Suit was a "Miss Whiplash" wet look catsuit from a fancy dress shop that was modified quite a bit, boots and gloves from ebay, gloves where shortened, furry bits where made from some very fluffy fake fur I got from a local fabric shop, mask was scratch built from Worbla and the collar made from leatherette and scraps of metal and an end of a can of drink.
Comments
Brilliant! You're crucifying yourself for no reason in the comments. you look amazing!
Awesome!