Evolution of Sailor Moon Costumes

The first Sailor Scout Naoko Takeuchi Created is Sailor Venus in manga Codename: Sailor V, which tells the story of a thirteen-year old middle school student, Minako Aino, who has the mission to protect Earth from Dark Agency, with the magical power of transforming into the sailor-suited beautiful Soldier of Justice, Sailor V. This is Sailor V in her Sailor Venus fuku look:

At the end of the manga, Sailor V has another mission to find the other four Sailor Soldiers and the moon princess, and then the Sailor Moon manga begins. This new pretty soldier has Usagi's hairstyle, but she is wearing the same goggles as Sailor V and a very slightly modified sailor scout costume.

This is the original five Sailor Scouts team in their sailor costumes:

In the early versions of Sailor Moon, she wears a red cape like superhero and a gun in her hand:

Sailor Moon’s hair is supposed to be yellow before transforming and silver after transforming:

In the original sketch Sailor Moon has the white boots, but she actually only wears white boots in the incarnation as Eternal Sailor Moon.

Now we have the final anime version of Sailor Moon, all Sailor Senshis wear the same pattern sailor suits:

At the July 6, 2012 event celebrating the 20th anniversary of Sailor Moon, Naoko Takeuchi announced that a new anime adaptation was in production and is scheduled to begin broadcasting in summer 2013 for a worldwide release. Do you think that the sailor scouts will have their new costumes again?

What Makes a Real-life Sailor Jupiter Costume?

Lita Kino, the 3rd Sailor Scout to appear to aid Sailor Moon in the fight against the evil Negaverse, She is the princess of the planet Jupiter and a member of Queen Serenity's royal court and she can call on the power of Jupiter to transform into suited Sailor Jupiter. This article describes in detail what a real Sailor Jupiter Uniform should looks like, hope this will be helpful for some first time sailor scout cosplayers.

As the sailor scouts wear the same pattern costume, the only difference between Sailor Jupiter's Uniform and other sailor scouts costumes is the pink bows and green skirt. Before you buy a sailor Jupiter costume or make one by yourself, please note that the costume is made of matte fabric such as cotton and it is not recommended that you use shiny satin.

comparison

1.    Top: You can use a one piece leotard to make the top of the suit. Over this is chest armor.

2.    Skirt: Sailor Jupiter skirt is attached to the leotard with a white, padded hip roll. The hip roll lies on the natural waist in the back and comes to a point at the hip line in the front.

3.    Collar: Sailor Jupiter's collar is a solid green with three white stripes. It attaches to the chest armor.
4.    Bows: The bows of sailor Jupiter costume is light pink, the front bow on her chest is stiff and is wide enough to cover Jupiter's torso. Cosplayers would do well to make this bow with heavy interfacing. The one on the back of Sailor Jupiter's skirt is slightly wider than her body, which allows the edges to be seen from the front.

front & back bows

5.    Wig: Sailor Jupiter wig is reddish-brown. You can pull it up into a high ponytail and loosely curled. The hair ties are green balls with silver trim.

6.    Tiara: Sailor Jupiter tiara is beveled and gold-colored with a light green, translucent gemstone in the center.

tiara

7.    Choker: The choker is a simple solid green ribbon.

green ribbon

8.    Gloves: Sailor Jupiter's gloves are elbow length and have three rolls of green vinyl-like material at the top.

elbow length gloves

So, have you got your own sailor Jupiter outfit?

complete sailor Jupiter outfit

Sailor Moon Cosplay Tips

We, the first time sailor moon cosplayer, want to learn from excellent cosplayers to avoid ruining our outfits and first show with some simple mistakes. So here I collect some good and bad things for reference.

1. Don’t stuff your bows.
The bows on the Sailor Soldiers' uniforms are big and fluffy and larger-than-life; so, obviously, an instinctive reaction when converting them to a real-life costume is to cut out a bow shape in fabric, and then fill it up with stuffing like a plush toy. However, this has the opposite effect; instead of being plump and perky, the extra weight of your plush-bow makes it hang down unflatteringly from your hips and chest (and tug on your costume), and it’s strange, irregular shape makes it barely even recognizable as a bow. The best ways to go are to use some kind of backing or iron-on interfacing; my personal favorite is when cosplayers utilize the enormous bows you see in Lolita fashion - they suit the look of the Sailor Soldiers’ bows perfectly.

Sailor Chibimoon Costume Bows

2. When cosplaying with a group of Sailor Soldiers, make sure everyone is working from the same pattern. Even if individually your costumes are all beautifully-made, if they’re all of wildly different styles, your group photos are going to look disorganized and disjointed. It’s easy enough to assume that costumes that look so similar in the series will wind up looking similar in real-life, too, but even the smallest differences in things like skirt/belt placement/length/shape, collar cut, sleeves, etc. can add up and rob your group of its unity.

3. Wear makeup. But don’t go crazy with “anime” makeup.
Wear foundation, wear a little blush. Try powder on top of the liquid foundation. Powder reduces glare and kills the shiny face syndrome. There are some tutorials you can find on YouTube that teaches you how to look like an anime character. These videos are usually made by people with incredible makeup experience, but for most cosplayers, who aren’t professional makeup artists, the result is flat-out creepy. Those who try going for the white eyeliner/giant anime eyelashes/”cheek lines”, etc. usually end up falling into serious Uncanny Valley territory. Remember, you’re trying to represent a “real-life” version of the character and some things just don’t translate well when applied literally. Giant anime eyes are one of those things. Rather than trying to make your face actually look like an anime character’s, consider going for colored/themed eye shadow or lip gloss that matches your character’s color scheme - it’s a nice way to add some flair to your cosplay and highlight your features without coming off as creepy.

4. Pay attention to your shoes.
Remember to make or buy boot covers or get a paint made specifically for shoes, if you don’t, your perfect Venus heels will flake everywhere. The shoe-paint in particular is a very important point. I have seen the most gorgeous boots ruined because the paint has flaked off, which usually doesn’t start to happen until you’re already in costume at the convention.

lovely boots

5. Research the accuracy of accessories like tiaras, earrings, sword, wands, and etc. Little things like those always catch people’s eye, especially when they’re done well.

Sailor Mercury Mizuno Ami Costume accessories

6. Double check your character outfit resources before you start making your props/costume. There’s nothing worse than being 3/4 of the way through a costume when you realize that the character you could’ve sworn wore purple pants actually usually wears blue, or that the earrings you spent $50 on actually don’t have the right number of points/beads for your purpose after all. No matter how well you think you remember a character, always, always, always double-check. Good resources for double-checking things like costumes and magical accessories.

7. Know your own weaknesses. If you’re not good at making Sailor moon cosplay props or costumes, then find a good store to buy your sailor moon suit,wands or brooches from them. There’s nothing worse than a beautiful costume with an ugly cardboard brooch hanging off it. It’s important if you know you can’t make something yourself, don’t settle for some crappy stand-in. Find someone who can make the perfect props/shoes/jewelry/whatever, because one little thing that seems “off” can ruin an entire cosplay.

Princess Serenity Tsukino Usagi Brooch

How to Make Your Sailor Moon Suit

Sailor Scouts

Sailor Moon is a popular Japanese anime series about a team of teenage school girls who transform into warriors with the destiny of saving the planet Earth, and later the entire galaxy. Usagi Tsukino is the main character and leader of the female warriors. She is one of the most immediately recognizable and iconic anime characters worldwide. And her costume is versatile for women and girls in that you can make it as fun, cute, and flirty as you want. With time, patience, and the right materials you can transform yourself into one of these heroines.

The following steps describes how to make the costume of Usagi Tsukino, however, you can always change it up and dress up as one of the other members of the group. This is also a great idea for a group Halloween dress-up idea for girls. First of all, please find a picture of Sailor Moon for reference when you're creating this outfit.

1. Dress Start with a plain white bodysuit and a navy blue school-girls uniform skirt. Depending on your preference and want for accuracy, you can make it as short as you want. You can make a naval collar like Sailor Moon's from dark blue fabric. Make two large bows out of bright red ribbon. One bow should be glued or sewed on the chest onto your naval collar. The second bow will be attached at the small of your back near the top of the skirt.

2. Accessories Find a gold locket and attach it to the center of the front bow. You can find cheap tiaras at your local toy store in the "dolls" aisle. Put red wristbands at the ends of the gloves. For added details paint small moon designs at the front ends of the boots, on your locket, and tiara. Complete the costume with white elbow-length gloves and red knee high boots.

3. Hair If you don't already have long, long blonde hair, obtain a wig or extensions. Tie the hair into two long pigtails, securing each one with red hair ribbons.

You can complete your sailor scout costume with red socks, boot covers and a tiara. If you are not good at handcraft, My suggestion is to buy an affordable Sailor moon suit with necessary items included.