Carbon Costume

Shuichi Saito is a major character in Uzumaki, the horror manga novel by Junji Ito. He is a resident of Kurozu-Cho, the city cursed by spirals. Shuichi is the first person to catch on to the curse, because he has the ability to sense spirals. The chain of events begin when his father becomes obsessed with spirals. Upon his father’s death, his mother becomes terrified of spirals, leading to her death and leaving Shuichi an orphan. He often saves his friend and eventual girlfriend, Kirie Goshima, from the curse. In the end, the two find the City of Spirals underneath the town, and they become intertwined together forever. Uzumaki received a 2024 anime adaptation on Adult Swim, now streaming on Hulu.

In Sailor Moon, Sailor Tin Nyanko is one of the Sailor Animamates. She wears a shiny black top with matching skirt, long gloves, tall boots, and a long black cat tail. Her choker and top are adorned with jingle bells, fitting since her last name Suzu translates to “little bells”. Like the other Animamates, she wears Galactica bracelets.

Schrodinger (voiced by Ryoko Shiraishi and Laura Bailey) is a major antagonist in the anime series Hellsing, which means he is often at odds with the vampire Alucard.  He is often playful and teasing werecat, but that does not diminish his cruelty.  Schrodinger wears a Nazi youth uniform, which you can recreate with a short sleeved yellow button down, long black shorts, and knee high socks.  Add some accessories including a black tie, white gloves, a black belt, and a white and red striped arm band, and a leather strap over your right shoulder.  Finish your look with a blonde wig and animal ear headband.

Barbara Thorson (played by Madison Wolfe in the film) is the protagonist of I Kill Giants.  Barbara is a bit of an outcast with a small social circle.  She wears a rabbit ear headband that makes her standout and hunts giants in her spare time.  In the film, Barbara wears several different outfits, but her red hoodie with blue jacket stands out.  Pair your tops with distressed black shorts layered over grey leggings, stripped socks, and white sneakers.  Complete your look with glasses, rabbit ears, and some protective gear if you’re planning to spend your after school hours slaying giants.

Annabel Lee Whitlock is one of the two main chracters of the webtoon Nevermore.  She and Lenore Vandernacht find themselves in Nevermore Academy after they die and Annabel Lee is willing to manipulate other students in order to ensure she and Lenore will receive a second chance at life.  Annabel Lee has long blonde hair and wears her uniform at Nevermore Academy, which includes a white blouse, black tailcoat, and a grey skirt with a petticoat.  She also wears black boots and carries a brown briefcase.

Suzume Mizuno (voiced by Tomoko Akiya and Colleen O’Shaughnessey) is a character in the anime and manga series Zatch Bell!  She is a schoolmate of Kiyomaro Takamine, who she has a crush on.  Suzume is a bit of a klutz and not a great student, though she has good knife skills.  To create her look, you’ll want to start with a short brown wig and white headband.  Then, build your school uniform with a blue skirt, a sailor uniform short-sleeved shirt, and a light blue tie.  Lastly, you’ll need dark blue loafers and white socks.

Michelle Jones-Watson, better known as MJ, is a character played by Zendaya from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in the Spider-Man films. She is a recurring love interest of Spider-Man.

To dress like MJ, you could go for a couple different looks. One is a black animal print dress with a black denim coat. Another, which would make a great duo/ couples costume, is a white long-sleeve shirt with an image of Joan of Arc printed on the front, a black contrast-stitch denim jacket, black jeans, and black converse sneakers.

A new film in the Joker series is releasing October of this year, called Joker: Folie á Deux. This film is new in that it is actually a musical, and features singer Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn.

To dress as Harley Quinn in this film, start with the makeup. Her makeup uses black eyeshadow or black cream makeup that is smudged around the eyes in a clown-inspired shape. For lips, she wears a cool red lipstick that you can also smudge around the edges with your fingers. For the outfit, wear a black coat for an easier more low-effort version, or you can take on her red blazer one. For the red blazer, take a ruffled/ peplum red blazer as the base. Cut the sleeves to right above your elbow, leaving an extra inch 1/2 or more to turn under and attach the ruffled pleated fabric, which is two pieces at two different lengths. If you want to take on the diamond/ argyle pattern, use red piping or cording to sew or glue on in similar shapes. Even further, add light distressing at the edges and on some of the piping with watered-down paint and/ or sandpaper.

For the top, take a muslin or cream corset-style top as the base. Using black fabric paint, paint on the argyle pattern (Tip: use a pencil and tape or a cut out piece of paper as a stencil to make the edges clean). To mimic the pointed shape at the bottom of the corset, take muslin fabric and attach it underneath and fold it in the similar draped pleats as in the photo. Lay the fabric flat on the ground and run sandpaper across the edges to create the raw edge.

Wear these with a black leather mini-skirt, black argyle patterned tights, and any black shoes to finish off the look.