Asuka Langley Soryu - Neon Genesis Evangelion



Cost: $179
Time to Make: 16 hours
Timeline of Construction: March - May 2010


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Evangelion was one of the first Anime that I watched when I got into the thick of the con scene in the early 2000s and I found the series to be quite deep and memorable. I always liked Asuka as a character because of her intensity and fiery personality. For the last few years I've been interested in making her yellow sundress as a fun costume because it looked like a great opportunity to get some dress making experience and it looks very comfortable. A couple of months before AN I decided that my original plan to make Shinku wasn't going to be doable for AN so in March I went fabric shopping with Pan and we managed to find a beautiful light yellow fabric that was perfect for this costume.

The fabric for this costume was rather pricey at $18/yard so I had to make each yard count. I decided the best way to make the dress was to line it with cheap broadcloth since the main fabric was a little heavy, but a little see-through. I found an old dress pattern that was originally my grandmother's (the pattern was Burda 8860) to use as a basis for this dress. The measurements turned out to be a bit wonky and the fabric was awful to work with. It was hard to pin and slipped a lot so it was very challenging to cut and sew. I had to get some help fixing the dress from my mother. She also helped me plan out the crinoline for under the dress. I actually think I need to play with it a little more to give the dress more poof. The dress was a little rushed in the last couple of weeks before AN because I kept running into problems with my Zoey costume, which I had been working on at the same time.

As a nice favour to me, my mother made me a mama doll. I bought fabric for the doll back when I first bought materials for the costume, but I ran out of time to make it myself. The doll turned out wonderfully and I can't thank my mom enough for it! I love having props when I Cosplay and this was a great addition to my costume. It's a bit ironic that my mom made me that doll given the meaning of the doll to Asuka and her mom in the series. XD

Aside from the dress, I whipped up a choker necklace really quickly out of blue twill. I also bought a watch from an accessory store since Asuka wears a red watch. I wasn't that happy with the colour, though, and I later found an old watch of my mother's that had a detachable band that is made out of ribbon. I had ribbon left over from making the hair bow for Snow White so I quickly sewed up a watchstrap. The shoes were a great find on eBay and are wonderful mary jane shoes for the costume. Asuka does wear flat shoes and they're meant to be a little duller shade of red, but I think they complimented the costume nicely and were fairly comfy. For whatever reason the inner lining right at the toe of the shoes came loose a bit and actually cut into the pantyhose that I wore with this costume and hurt my feet terribly. Thankfully I fixed the holes with electrical tape when I re-wore the shoes with my Lisa costume and they were very comfortable to wear all day. I'm looking forward to wearing these shoes again when I re-wear Asuka!

I ordered my wig from Charissa-KIDS on eBay and it was a beautiful colour and looked great when I first wore it. Unfortunately, after one wear the wig became quite tangled and was a lot of work to straighten out. It was pre-styled with the pigtails. I decided to sell the wig in 2014 so if I want to wear this costume again I'll need to buy a new wig. I had a heck of a time buying the hair clips for the costume. When I first started looking in March there weren't many for sale on eBay. The first seller I bought a set from realized a week after I paid that they weren't in stock and had to refund my money. The next seller actually scammed me and sent me a cheap lanyard instead of hair clips. That was the first time that I've been scammed like that. (>.<);; Thankfully I got a full refund and the seller is now out of business. My local friend Amy, who sells an assortment of Anime stuff at cons, took pity on me and sold me a set of clips for a reduced price and I picked them up the day before I wore the costume at the con. She really saved the day since I was beginning to think that I was cursed and I wouldn't be able to get a set.

I experienced some major hiccups with this costume when I wore it. Since it was a bit rushed and the material was a pain to work with, I didn't quite get the right fit for the dress. It was a bit big when I debuted it at AN. I'm looking forward to fixing it up and doing a more in-character shot hopefully in a somewhat appropriate location (maybe by the waterfront) during the warm summer months. It was kind of nice to wear a costume that was so perfect for the hot weather that always seems to prevail during Anime North.

Events/Conventions this costume was worn to
Anime North 2010 (Saturday)

Photo Credits
Elemental


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