When we were first introduced to Kirara all I could think was "I really wish I wasn't so much like her". Considering how I've now cosplayed her that has obviously changed but it's the truth. I was staring down someone who would do anything for her goal, even if that means spiking a kid's drink and sabotaging his kit while he's busy being sick. I hated that her plan seemed so... underhanded yet strategically sound. Oh sure, she didn't actually win, but still. It's something I would have considered doing in the same situation (other than probably not spiking a kid's drink with ex-lax since I'm pretty sure that's a crime). And then the episode ends and we figure we'll never see her and her cute outfit again as she was just the villain of the week.
But we do see her again. A lot. She manages to achieve her dream of being an idol without any further drink spiking and she proves to actually be a good person who helps Sei and Reiji along the way and gets to spend lots of quality time with
Everyone's Boyfriend Ricardo Fellini. She isn't even really taken in by his suave charm, she's annoyed by him and especially by how he doesn't recognize her out of costume (he grows on her). By the end of the show I loved her as much as I loved Rinko and Miss Baker. And her outfit was waaaaaay cuter.
So I decided to be a Gunpla Idol for A-kon. It was a weird outfit to put together though. The top is a strapless bra from a bag of bras my friend gave me (I don't want these any more but I figure you might could use these for costumes and dear god she's been so right). I used craft foam to change the shape of the bottom of the band then covered the whole thing in white rayon lycra. The shorts and gloves are made of the same lycra. The pink detailing is craft foam covered in broadcloth and then glued on. The ruffles and butt cape are made from white broadcloth. The butt cape attaches to the shorts with velcro and attaches to me with a bit of spirit gum. The stockings are actually pantyhose which are made to look like thigh highs (I love you whoever decided to make that a thing so I don't have to jury rig those myself any more). There's no ruffle on those because the ruffle would have been hella unflattering and uncomfortable for walking. I didn't do the star on the torso since I was going to be doing Haruka right after and didn't want remains of spirit gum or irritation from that to show while wearing him.
But that stuff I'm guessing you don't care about, the star of this costume is the wig. Or should I say Dat Wig? I literally had someone come up to me and go "OMG I saw your wig progress online! It looks so good!". Which was weird, soooo weird, but also cool. Originally I was going to use a wig I have for lolita and order a long weft from Arda to make the pigtails from. I ordered the wrong color but when I got it in I thought they just didn't have one to match (they do have one that matches the original bob wig I was going to use as a base I just ordered Dusty Rose instead of Rose Pink because I'm an idiot). So I ordered a long Luka wig from the eebs and honestly the color is probably a better match anyways.
Step one (after waiting impatiently for a month for it to get here) was to cut it short and shape the base. That pic is after the initial cut, after that a friend let me borrow her razor comb while we were watching Sailor Moon so I could make the back look like less of a train wreck. I've since been brought over to the side of the razor comb (also because srsly you can get them for a few bucks on the eebs. Yes I get everything from eBay).
I'm pretty sure that in the show it shows that this wig (because it is a wig for Kirara too, not her real hair which is purple) is actually put up in pigtails and then she takes them down sometimes for formal occasions. As someone who does lolita a lot and knows about wig comfort and making it so you can wear these things for long periods of time, put them on quickly, easily care for them and travel with them I knew that if Kirara existed in real life she would have several wigs. One wig would be the long and down one for formal events and then a short one with clip in curly pigtails. Because once you put a wig in pigtails you never take it out of pigtails (it is SUCH a hassle) and it's harder to travel with such a precisely styled wig and they're harder to wear too.
This is the wig Kirara would wear in real life. It is also, very sadly, sold old and removed from Bodyline's website so I don't think they'll be restocking it. Also I didn't want to drop $50+ on a wig and shipping for Kirara which wouldn't actually match the show even though it is literally the wig Kirara would have bought (Bodyline is a well known cosplay/lolita/punk company based out of Japan which offers pretty decent product for a reasonable price).
So for my purposes I new I wanted detachable pigtails and they needed to jut out from her head in a really crazy way. So I made a headband with antennae out of worbla and bolts and wore that under the wig. The pigtails slide on to those antennae which also means they have some movement despite being solid shapes. The pigtails themselves are shapes cut out of... this weird heat and form fabric I got in Austin awhile back. It was $5 for the whole roll so I figured why not? It's basically like fabric with plastic woven which you can heat with a heat gun or hella hot water and shape like worbla. I patterned the shape on newspaper then cut them out of the heat and form fabric. I really wish I'd made them bigger/longer but I was worried I was going to run out of the wig fiber I'd harvested from when I cut it. I actually had fiber to spare. :/ I originally tried using fabric glue and modge podge to get the fiber to stick but ended up going with hot glue and that worked best. the ends were then reinforced with gel and the whole of the pigtail sprayed with a LOT of hair spray. It took about a day/The Great Gatsby and all of the special features on the Blu-ray. The stars are made of card stock and spray painted gold. Because I know the show has them yellow but pssht please gold looks way better in real life. When in doubt go for metallics.
Series: Gundam Build Fighters
Construction Time: ~5 days
Cost: ~$60
Materials and Construction:
$27.57 Wig
$4.32 2 yd White Broadcloth
$1.08 1/2 yd Pink Broadcloth
$3.12 white faux stockings
$3.94 razor comb
$8.75 pink weft from Arda
On hand:
White strapless bra
white shoes
white rayon lycra
craft foam
hot glue
contacts
heat and bond
gold vinyl
velcro
hair spray
weird thermoplastic
gel
cardstock
Debut: A-kon 25 (2014)
Final Appearance: Still in Rotation
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