Carbon Costume

Annie Porter (played by Sandra Bullock) is one of the main protagonists of the film Speed.  With the help of police officer Jack Traven, she is responsible for keeping the passengers on her city bus alive by driving them through downtown Los Angeles and maintaining a speed of at least 50 miles per hour.  Annie wears a grey tank top, combat boots, and a floral dress.

Mitsuha Miyamizu (voiced by Mone Kamishiraishi and Stephanie Sheh) is the main female character in the anime movie Your Name (Kimi no Na wa).  Mitsuha lives in a small town and begins switching bodies with a high school boy named Taki Tachibana who lives in Tokyo.  Mitsuha is an adventurous girl who feels confined and restricted in her hometown of Itomori.  She performs duties as a priestess at her family’s shrine, and her father becomes mayor, which further strainst heir relationship as she feels more restricted than ever.  Mitsuha can often be seen wearing her school uniform, which includes a red bow and dark grey skirt.  During the epilogue, Mitsuha wears peach-colored capris, low yellow heels, and a star necklace.

Megamind (voiced by Will Ferrell) is a one-of-a-kind villain. It might be that he was based on both Batman and Lex Luthor. Or maybe it’s that he isn’t actually a bad person. Either way he’s in a league of his own. And his fashion choices are no different!

Getting a look like Megamind’s takes a little bit of DIY but it’s worth it! The first DIY part of the costume is altering the cape so that it attaches to the underside of the leather shoulder guards. You can also add a silver “M” to the front if you can find one at your local craft store.

Next you will need to alter the navy body suit by painting a blue lightning bold on the chest.

The last bit of DIY should be done right before you want to debut your cosplay. You will need to enlarge your head with a prosthetic conehead. Once that is in place you will have to paint it with light blue body paint that you will have need to apply to your face and neck. Then, using black body paint, you will need to paint on his goatee and eye brows.

Voila! You’re ready to rock out to AC/DC and take over a whole city … then become its hero.

If you haven’t seen Grease by now, you’re missing out. Not only are the songs catchy and the lines almost infinitely quotable but the costumes are iconic. And perhaps none are more so than those of the Pink Ladies. Rizzo, Frenchie, Jan, and and Marty are sort of the girl gang of Rydell High. They more or less pair up with the T-Birds, the school’s unofficial greaser representatives. Of course there’s Sandy Olson too, though she doesn’t join until much later. And, alas, she never gets that iconic Pink Ladies jacket.

You can get one, though! In fact a Pink Ladies Jacket is more or less the one piece you absolutely need in order to pull of this costume. All of the girls change their clothes throughout the movie but that is one thing they are almost never seen without.

To finish off the look you could choose a classic ’50s A-Line dress, pearls, heels, and hair bows like Frenchie wears. Just make sure you get one of these ’50s hairstyles going too.

Or you might prefer the more daring look of capris, flats, and a button down like Rizzo wears.

No matter how you style it, as long as you’ve got the jacket and the attitude, you’re a Pink Lady through and through!

Originally written by Robert Heinlein in 1959, Sony adapted the novel Starship Troopers into a 1997 film that tanked in the box office only to gain a cult following. The film follows Johnny Rico (played by Casper Van Dien who later went on to make several cameos in other Starship Trooper films) as he graduates high school and enlists in the army. Unlike military service in America today, however, military service is required to gain full rights as a citizen, prompting Rico to join despite his parents’ protests. Rico and his friends go on to fight Bugs and Arachnids, members of an insect-like species that have been fighting humans for control of new planets since the beginning of off-Earth human colonies.

The most unique piece of the Starship Trooper uniform is the helmet. It’s modeled on just about any other military helmet of course. But the specific styling is what really sets aside a Starship Trooper. Unfortunately a premade unit is pretty pricy. There are a few other options though. You can get a 3-D printer file for it here. Or you can find craft foam tutorials like this one on YouTube.

From there, the rest of the costume is fairly easy. Grey tactical pants and, a black t-shirt and a chest protector The chest protector listed above is very close to the version the Troopers wear but it has white detailing. Black acrylic paint will cover that up since the protector is made of nylon. And of course you’ll need your trusty laser rifle.

In the movie Your Name (Kimi no Na wa), Taki Tachibana (voiced by Ryunosuke Kamiki and Michael Sinterniklaas) is a high school student in Tokyo who suddenly begins switching bodies with a teenage girl named Mitsuha Miyamizu who lives in a rural town called Itomori.  Taki is hardworking and kind, though he can sometimes be a little too blunt.  He works at an Italian restaurant while in high school, and dreams of becoming an architect.  As a student, Taki wears grey slacks, a short sleeved button down, and a dark navy blazer.  He also wears a bracelet that Mitsuha gave to him.  During the epilogue, Taki is seen searching for a job as an architect wearing a dark suit, blue tie, and a brown messenger bag.

Curtis Everett (played by Chris Evans) is often cited as the hero of the film Snowpiercer. It’s not a term Curtis would apply to himself, though. Haunted by what it took to survive shortly after the world ended, his every action is motivated by a need to atone. In the end he makes the ultimate sacrifice to save the innocent and end a system of brutal oppression that has spoken broadly to audiences in the years since the movie’s release. Director Bong Joon Ho pulled no punches in crafting the world of Snowpiercer and it shows in the depth and grit the movie submerges viewers in.

The first thing you’ll want to do is use a distressing technique like this one to make sure all your clothes looks dirty. Curtis has been living in a train car with little food and even less water – for drinking let alone bathing – for seventeen years. Washing clothes is not a priority in the tail section.

Once the clothes have been distressed properly you’ll also want to apply some black Duck Tape around the shoulder seam of the wool coat’s right shoulder. The tape is only around the back of the seam, however. A very clear shot of the layout can be seen in the scene where Curtis confronts the guards in the tail section and discovers they have no bullets.

Before doing your cosplay you can also make black cherry Jell-O and use extra pectin make it firm like the food bricks in the movie. Adding in some orange coloring or orange Jell-O might get the color closer to what we seen on-screen.

When you’re ready to put your cosplay together, layer up the tops and then apply the makeup to your face and hands to replicate dirty smudges. Any that gets on the clothes will add to the gritty condition they’re supposed to be in. Keep your hatchet handy and your food bricks ready and you’re ready to go!

Jillian Holtzmann (played by Kate McKinnon) is the quintessential mad scientist type. If there is trouble to get in – as long as it’s scientific – Holtzmann is there. Whether it’s ghosts, laser technology, or nuclear theories, Jillian Holtzmann is up for it. It puts her in the line of fire more often than not. But if it keeps her friends safe, that’s where she wants to be.

For any Ghostbusters costume you’re going to need a few things: a tan jumpsuit, a Ghostbusters patch, a name tag, and a proton pack. You can go for a more screen-accurate pack (top) or an inflatable one that is more affordable (bottom). You will also want a pair of sturdy boots that you can run it but also walk over debris in. After all, those proton packs do some serious damage and not just to ghosts.

When cosplaying Jillian specifically you’ll want a long blonde wig you can style after her hair. You’ll also want two pair of yellow-lensed protective goggles and a green protective gloves. Finally you will need reflective safety tape and fabric glue to keep it in place.