Queen Akasha's Skirt + Armband Sleeves

I hate you. I hate you so much skirt and sleeves. You have made things much more difficult.

Also people who don't really look at the reference photos that can be zoomed in on. Thank you. Grawr.

I can see that there is a slight sheen and sheerness to her damn skirt.

See that background? That means it's sheer

I'm a little perplexed by this material. It's black but it's also a dark purple. So I'm starting to think that it's layered with a black and a dark purple. Great. That must give it the somewhat navy appearance to some people. Or maybe I'm crazy.

On cosplay.com's forums someone linked me a tutorial because they're awesome like that. They used chiffon in the belly dance skirt tutorial and it really looks like the material I want/need. I almost wonder if I could find chiffon here in Hangzhou since they've got a great silk market apparently.

I really need to learn more about fabrics and costuming. Such a terrible noob...

My next cosplay

is starting to seriously look like Queen Akasha from Queen of the Damned as played by Aaliyah (RIP).

I've been weighing her against Erza's flight/swift armor from the Oracion Seis story arc. One of my friends is apparently attempting Vampire Hunter D so that added to my already insurmountable like of Akasha. It'd be hilarious to fight each other in the hallways. Anyway,

The fight between Akasha and Erza was sort of decided on a few issues. Time contraints of course, resources another duh, finally difficulty/skill. I'm happy with how Aisha turned out for my first cosplay. I'm definitely revamping her wig and reattempting the damn leg band (it fell off at the beginning of the con so I decided to forgo it for the con and just re do the damn thing later). I'll also have to rework the breastplate to sit firmly on my breasts/chest without me constantly adjusting (oh what hell that will be to remold that fucker).

Anyway for Erza and Akasha it was beadwork versus swordwork. I know nothing of making props but I am well aware of many a tutorial to help me out. It might be simple enough but her twin swords for her swift armor might be a bit challenging especially if the only time I'll have to work on this is on campus.

Akasha could be cheated a tiny bit with a belly dancer skirt (to save me time for beadwork). The rest will all have to be done by me. (I once found a costume selling for 2k and it wasn't even accurate. What the eff? At least movie accurate, I know the book is different but I do love the portrayal of Aaliyah. Fantastic).

So for Akasha I've been doing a bit of researching. I'm torn between two skirts because from the reference shots I've scoured the internet for show her black main outfit as this somewhat transparent yet solid black fabric.

http://www.missbellydance.com/Belly_Dance_Satin_Full_Skirt_p/skc10.htm

http://www.missbellydance.com/Belly_Dance_Chiffon_Full_Circular_Skirt_p/skc18.htm

The first is satin and the second is chiffon. Both seem to be somewhat see through, though the chiffon is clearly more so. I almost wonder if I should just buy both and decide when I can see for myself. Then I could use the loser skirt for the arm sleeves. Though it would likely have to be the chiffon... Fuck that'd be about 100 bucks right there. It'd probably be best if I checked out the silk market out here in China and Jo*Ann's for chiffon like material. This might become difficult really quick... Eff...

I'm going to post on cosplay.com's forums and I'll return with some results hopefully.