“I cast Prestidigitation, shoot sparks out of my fingers, cast Minor Illusion and put myself in a dope outfit, and start walkin’ down the catwalk with all the style and panache I can muster, which is, I should note, a fuckin’ lot.”
Hail and Well Met everyone~! If you’ve come here from either my Instagram or my Twitter, hello! Thanks for stopping by! Welcome to Part 1 of my multi-part series in which I finally explain, from head to toe and in excruciating detail, how my Wonderland Taako costume came to be. You probably found me because of this very costume and I have been holding off for forever on writing these posts. But this costume is very much a labor of love and very special to me, so I’d love to share my process for it. So let’s start from the very beginning.
I started listening to The Adventure Zone podcast in the summer of 2017. Ever since then, I have done over a dozen or so different Taako looks for the last couple years. I wanted to have a new costume to debut for Katsucon 2018. I don’t remember exactly how my thought process went, but toward the end of 2017, I galaxy-brained and came up with the idea to do a look inspired by the “catwalk” scene during “The Suffering Game” arc of the podcast.
Being totally audio-based, I have always taken that opportunity to take creative liberties with my take on Taako. They never really describe him in the show (other than a few signature pieces like his hat and Umbra staff), so I felt I could do whatever the hell I wanted with him. I took this costume to finally make the ridiculously elaborate costume that I have always wanted to make.
✧Inspirations✧
Sakizo
Ah Sakizo, the OG Elaborate Cosplay Goals. I have been following Sakizo’s illustrations for years now and have always loved them. I’ve been wanting to do a cosplay of one of her gorgeous designs for the longest time, but was conflicted over which one to do first and was also unsure if I had the ability to pull off that amount of detail. I figured with my Wonderland Taako design, I could pick and choose elements inspired by Sakizo that I already know I can do. Here are a few of her illustrations that I was looking at while designing my Taako. That first one, as well as her Romantic Jewels Gentlemen series, were especially influential.
Figure Skating Costumes
When I say Wonderland Taako was inspired by figure skating costumes, I really only mean one lol. 2016/2017 were the years of Yuri on Ice. I love the anime to pieces, but it also really made me appreciate figure skating as a sport itself. I actually kept up with the 2017/2018 competitive season and it was then that I first saw Shoma Uno’s costume for his Turandot free skate program, as made by Satomi Ito. I was absolutely FLOORED the first time I saw it. I thought it was GORGEOUS and it heavily inspired me to do the all the filigree appliqué and rhinestone details that are on my costume. Thinking back on it now, this costume may have also influenced me into making the bodysuit out of velvet.
Please feel free to click on the link to the free skate program and watch it to see this stunning costume in motion! Shoma is a beautiful skater and is one of my favorites!
Lindsey Stirling’s “Swag”
Lol I lied. As I was typing this entry out, I remember exactly what my thought process was when this costume idea came to me. I was listening to Lindsey Stirling while at work one day. Her track “Swag” came on and it reminded me a lot of the music in “The Suffering Game” arc. From there, I imagined Taako stomping down the runway and vogueing to this track and that is where I galaxy-brained this costume into existence lmao. “WHAT IF I MADE A COSTUME OF THAT VERY MOMENT. THERE’S NO DESCRIPTION OF HIS ‘DOPE OUTFIT’. I CAN LITERALLY DO WHATEVER I WANT. WHAT IF I MADE IT EXTRA AS HELL, LIKE SAKIZO LEVEL OF ELABORATE. WHAT IF I HAVE IT READY FOR KATSUCON.”
I should probably bring that runway image I saw in my head to life with a video one day maybe ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
✧Design✧
I tested out a few different ideas with this costume before finally settling on it being a bodysuit. When given the opportunity to literally do ANYTHING that you want, the amount of options can be a little daunting haha.
Here’s the first sketch of it when I was coming up with the design. I’m really into poofy sleeves and poofy shorts. Anyone who goes through my previous Taako looks can see that lol. As you can see in my little notes on the sides, I had come up with multiple options for how this costume would look.
I then switched to sketching out this design digitally with my tablet. It was just a lot easier than just having to draw the same thing over and over again on paper. It was also easier to mix and match each design elements because I had them all sorted into layers. You can also see that I had some different ideas with the waistband in the beginning stages of this design too.
I did ultimately settle on it being a bodysuit. I’ve made several of them by this point, so they’re really easy to me. I actually prefer making a form-fitting bodysuit over something tailored tbh. The spandex is so much more forgiving lol. I also had about a month or so to get this elaborate costume done in time for Katsucon and I knew I could get a bodysuit done really quickly.
The color scheme I will actually talk about it my next post in this series, but what I can say now is that I knew I wanted it to be red or in that spectrum. Red is a color my mind just tends to associate with Taako for whatever reason.
And that’s it! Thank you so much for sticking through to the end if you did! I know this turned out very lengthy! I will be talking more in detail about specific design elements of this costume in my posts after this. I don’t really have a set uploading schedule for these posts. I guess whenever I get around to finishing each of them. I can guarantee though that they will be posted on Taako Tuesdays~! I will be talking about a very important inspiration for the costume’s design for my next post, so please look forward to it! Until next time!