Carbon Costume

On Superstore, Amy (played by America Ferrera) has been a longtime employee of Cloud 9. Now that she is store manager, her look has evolved to be more polished and clean, so that she fits in with other store executives (even if she still changes her name tag every day). Amy can usually be found wearing business casual clothing, sensible heels, and a blue blazer.

On the sitcom Parks and Recreation, April Ludgate (played by Aubrey Plaza) is the sardonic parks department intern who eventually learns to follow her passions thanks in part to her mentor and boss Leslie Knope.  April also marries resident goofball Andy Dwyer in a unique wedding ceremony.  April often dresses in layers, wearing blouses under her sweaters or a hoodie or jacket over top a simple t-shirt.  April and Andy also roleplay occasionally as Janet Snakehole and Burt Macklin.  April makes the transformation primarily by wearing a black pillbox hat and using a long cigarette holder, and she will sometimes complete the look with a vintage black dress and pearls.

In Future Man, Tiger (played by Eliza Coupe) is the leader of the human resistance fighting against the genetically perfected Biotics in the near future.  When Josh Futterman beats the Biotic Wars video game, Tiger travels back in time to find him in the hopes of saving humanity from their impending doom.  Tiger’s most distinctive feature is her purple hair, and she is often dressed for battle in leather armor.

Komari Koshigaya wants to be recognized as a mature person. She is a smart girl, but doesn’t like that some of the younger girls look older than her. However, Komari still takes care of the younger girls around her in their countryside. Komari spends time with her little sister Natsumi, and her friends, Hotaru and Renge, in Non Non Biyori Repeat.

In Midsommar, Dani (played by Florence Pugh) is sent reeling from a devastating loss. As she attempts to deal with her depression following the death of her family, she embarks on a trip to attend a midsummer celebration in Sweden with her boyfriend and his friends. As the commune becomes increasingly less welcoming and more terrifying, Dani finds herself pulled into a brutal ritual with no way to escape. Dani’s clothing changes significantly throughout the film, beginning with comfortable hiking clothes before she dons the embroidered dresses typical of women in the commune. Once she is chosen as May Queen, she is completely adorned with flowers from head to toe. The variety of costuming provides ample room for interpretation.

In Breaking Bad, Lydia Rodarte-Quayle (Laura Fraser) is the kind of person you want on your team. So long as you can keep a close eye on her, of course. She was crafty and cunning and always out to make sure she protected herself and her daughter above everything else. What’s not to love?

Lydia’s fashion sense also makes her a popular cosplay choice. Chic pencil dresses, a voluminous and detailed wool coat, and sleek black heels make up a signature look along with understated makeup and long brown hair. The real detail however are the red bottoms on her heels. That’s a trademark style which means proper Rodarte-Quayle heels will set you back a pretty penny. But good black stilettos and a YouTube DIY video will have you feeling in high fashion in no time!

Yubaba is the main antagonist in Spirited Away, an animated film created by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli. She is the owner and employer of the Bathhouse. She tricks the bathhouse workers by stealing their names and only freeing them if they can remember it. Some of her other powers include fire breathing and flying. Compared to her identical twin, Zeniba, she’s considered the evil one. Our protagonist, Chihiro, finds her much more intimidating. Yubaba is extremely overbearing, but she can be seen as a doting mother to her giant baby, Boh. She embodies greed because she obsesses over gold, valuing money more than her own family.

Most Regalia / Shinki (weapon-sidekick-people) belong to one master alone, but Nora’s developed a reputation as “The Stray.” Yato is one of many to have utilized Nora’s weapon form, but has since, to her ire, acquired a Regalia of his own. (Keeping a Regalia to himself is an entirely different challenge, given Yato’s careless, narcissistic personality, but that’s really not Nora’s problem.) Suffice to say, she gets jealous easily, yet is undeterred by others’ conflicts of interest.

Nora / The Stray wears her kimono folded the way of a corpse, and wears a hitaikakushi on her head like the ghosts of old Japanese mythology. We can recreate this ghostly headdress using a white headband and a small, folded cloth napkin, since it’s not something readily available, given its taboo nature. Additionally, we’ve used a large, striped shawl-scarf in place of the traditional obi sash worn around the waist of a kimono.