Honoka Kosaka (No Brand Girls)

Series: Love Live

First worn: Ikkicon 2015 – Austin, TX

Awards won: None

This costume is my “testbed” platform to test out new techniques and materials. It was meant as a test costume for a group of Love Live cosplayers before Love Live really became popular. Because of this, the costume does not look unified in any way and has never been entered in a contest. This costume is meant to be a casual costume that I can actually drive in and/or get dressed very quickly in a car. The picture is the first version of the costume, with substantial changes made since then.

The vest is made out of black Kona cotton, with a custom drafted lapel and collar. This part of the outfit was used to test out the use of bias tape binders, plus how to use them on angles that are not 90 degrees. This part also has custom embroidery designs that I was testing.

The inner part of the outfit (the white blouse and the flounce on it) were used as an experiment in how to genderbend a costume that had a bare midriff. The lessons I learned from doing it on this outfit were used later in Marine and Melodia.

The buttons on the outfit were 3D printed. This was an experiment in attempts at mass-producing buttons and processing them through finishing processes.

The skirt was an experiment in using stretch materials for a circle skirt, as I typically do not make skirts out of anything other than woven fabric. I have since replaced the stockings in the picture with test stockings that experimented with techniques involving precision piecing of spandex parts using a serger. These techniques were later used in Samidare and Naka’s stockings.