Oerba Dia Vanille
Final Fantasy XIII

Inspiration:  I am a huge Final Fantasy fan and have been since I first played FF7 so many years ago.  Despite this, I hadn’t done very much final fantasy cosplay, so when 13 was announced I decided it was time, even if I would be one of thousands of Vanille cosplayers.  I very excitedly bought the game on the release date, played through it, and my decision was made.  Everything about Vanille was adorable, down to her high-pitched Australian accent (which I tried to imitate while in costume, however poorly).

Materials/Construction Details:  Beads, beads, beads!  Gravity defying beads even!  I took extra care to make sure my bead work was as accurate as possible.  I scored the Internet for hours looking for the right shapes and colors, though I still ended up painting a lot of the beads as well.  I used screen shots from the game while stringing to make sure the colors were in the right patterns and strands the right lengths, though it really seemed quite random when I was finished.

For the skirt I bought a cotton knit, dyed it yellow, and then gradient dyed it orange.  My first attempt at the gradient didn’t work out so well, so I had to do that again.  I like how it came out in the end though.  Various layers of fabric were then added on top…a pink wrap around, layers of beads, a small pouch and yellow scarf, and a fur cape.  The fur cape was cut in the shape of half a circle skirt, which gave it the pleated look when it fell naturally.  I backed the fur with dark brown suede just to make it look a little nicer on the backside.

Vanille’s necklaces, larger beads, accents on the belt, and the large teeth found on her brooch type thing were all made out of model magic and painted.  This was actually my first time using model magic and I highly recommend the stuff, but it is fragile.  The belt and bell shaped harness piece in the back were made out of craft foam, with brown leather twine stuck down between the cracks and then sealed.

I wore contacts for the first time with this costume and surprisingly, I hardly noticed I had them on.  I purchased green dolly eye lenses and they were quite vibrant.  I was very pleased with how they looked.  I also printed out the l’cie brand on tattoo paper and applied that to my thigh where Vanille has hers, which allowed for some entertaining pictures.

Wig:  The wig was purchased from an ebay store already styled for Vanille, so it needed very little work.  In my opinion it was one of the better colored options.

Prop:  I was hoping to make Vanille’s weapon, but there wasn’t time this year.  Maybe next year?  It’s such a weird looking thing.