- 521Shares
This post is by guest writer Sarah Minazzo.
Black Lady, a.k.a. Wicked Lady, first appears in Sailor Moon Crystal‘s Black Moon story arc, and is the “evil” side of Chibiusa. The character and costume design follows through on this idea with an adult version of Chibiusa and a dark rendition of the Silver Millennium costumes (particularly Princess Serenity’s).
What follows are some ideas on how you can go about recreating her through cosplay, and some insight into her character as reflected in her design. Happy making!
Hair
The hair design is based on a combination of Chibiusa’s hair and Usagi’s hair; It’s still pink and has the rabbit ear buns like Chibiusa, but also has the long, thin falls like that of Usagi. This is to create a sense of Chibiusa being grown up in this form and to dispel the chibi cuteness usually associated with her. Even her rabbit ear buns are smaller to create that sense of proportion in being an adult.
In saying that, hair wise, you can get the wig already styled from a number of sellers; a simple Google search will reveal some possibilities. However if you’re keen on creating the look for yourself, you can buy the base light pink wig and falls in the same color from any good wig seller or website. You can read up and utilize any Sailor Moon wig tutorial and apply the same principles of styling to Black Lady whilst having a different shape for the buns. The buns themselves can be created with wire or foam and wrapped with wefts of hair.
Black Moon symbol
The Black Moon symbol is the antithesis of the more well-known White Moon symbol seen on the foreheads of Sailor Moon, Luna, and Artemis. This symbol represents where their allegiances lie for the particular person who bears the mark. This symbol is the opposite color and the crescent moon is facing in reverse.
Recreating the Black Moon symbol could be done a number of ways depending on what you’re comfortable with. It could be drawn on using makeup such as bodypaint or a makeup pencil. Could also use a plastic gem or similar and have it stuck onto your forehead via spirit gum.
Eyes
Despite being the evil Chibiusa, Black Lady’s eyes don’t actually change — they’re still as ruby as ever. The eyes are drawn smaller though again taking away the chibi look from Chibiusa and matching up to the rest of the teen and adult body proportions.
Contact lenses would be needed to recreate her eyes in a ruby or red color. Though for those of us less comfortable with wearing contacts or who can’t wear them, you can ask your photographer to tint your eyes in post. For the general manga eyes, white eyeliner pencil is your best friend. This will widen your eye to look bigger. Also mascara such as the recently released Miss Manga mascara would be of great benefit. There are lots of video tutorials out there on Youtube to show how to create this look step by step.
The photo above, with a different cosplay, is me blonde-ing my otherwise dark eyebrows using a combination of concealer, white eyeliner and yellow face paint crème. For Black Lady, her eyebrows are pink to match her hair so, depending on how dark your eyebrows are, you can either use a pink lip liner pencil or you will need to utilize a combination of concealer, white crème, and a pink crème to lighten and color your brows. There are makeup tutorials on this out there as well.
Lips
Again, the grown up motif is at work with Black Lady’s lips, but seduction and evilness also abounds. Note that the Sailor Scouts are seldom shown with such dark lip colors — they are usually shown with a light pink or peach set of lips which are often quite thin. The dark red is shown often on the villainesses of the show — Queen Beryl particularly comes to mind. Black Lady herself sports thick, dark pink lips.
It’s simply a matter of finding a similar colored lipstick or gloss and possibly consider the use of lip liner in a matching color especially to make your lips thicker.
Malicious Black Crystal Earrings
The Malicious Black Crystal earrings (along with the Black Moon symbol) represent her connection to Wise Man and the Black Moon gang. The crystals are elements from which Black Lady gains her power (and how Wise Man can control her). As such, this makes her earrings an essential part of her jewelry and an important component of the cosplay.
The Malicious Black Crystal itself is an elongated black diamond shape and is a commonly shaped bead, so it’s entirely possible to source this from any arts and crafts store that stocks jewelry items. You would also be able to source the earring parts like the hook and the stopper in the same jewelry/beading section.
Alternatively, because it’s a common shape of earring, you could simply go to a fashion jewelry store and buy a similar looking earring design and alter it if need be. The photo above is an example of what I did for my Queen Beryl cosplay — using similar looking earrings and adding to it.
Collar Necklace and Cuff Bracelets
The necklace and bracelets in design are a dark reflection of the Silver Millennium costumes and of the Sailor Scout uniform. The choker style necklace is a staple Sailor Scout accessory. It’s the polar opposite of the Princess Serenity costume, as Serenity wears loose, long-beaded necklaces. The bracelets are a reflection of the Sailor Scout gloves’ colored bands, but the design translates as symbolism for imprisonment in the form of cuffs (in this case, being mentally imprisoned by Wise Man).
For the collar necklace, you can make a choker and wear it over the actual collar of the dress. The choker could be made from black material (vinyl, leather, or similar) and then install sew-on Velcro straps or a clip on the back to close it up for wearing.
Alternatively, buy a preexisting thick, black choker from a fashion jewelry store. From there, it’s a matter of decorating the choker with the gems.
The gems could be sourced from an arts and crafts store. If the right shape isn’t available, you can look into creating the gems yourself by using mod podge and the appropriate molds, or use resin and the appropriate molds. The mod podge and resin kits again can sourced from any good arts and crafts store.
The crafting process for the cuff bracelets is almost identical to the choker. They are essentially smaller versions of the choker, but worn on your wrists and over the sleeve cuffs.
Dress
The picture above is the original art for Black Lady by Sailor Moon creator Naoko Takeuchi. There are some embellishments here you can consider using if you wish.
The dress has two components to it: the shoulder strap dress with the side spilt up to the thighs, and the transparent top.
The transparent top could be a thin, rose-colored blouse and worn beneath the dress itself. Then the dress itself is a simple thin-strapped dark red dress that could be bought and altered to have the splits and the inner purple lining. If you’re feeling really creative, patterns for this style of dress could be sourced from your local sewing and crafts store as well as patterns for the top. You could also make this all as one piece through altering the patterns available as well.
Footwear
The dark red heels are part of the adult anti-chibi motif that runs throughout Black Lady’s costume. These are a fairly common shoe style, so it should be fairly easy to obtain, especially if it’s in season. If you have trouble doing so, you can buy a black or white pair and paint the shoes using leather or shoe paint. Alternatively, you can use fabric and mod podge on the shoes.
Shawl
As you can see in Naoko Takeuchi’s concept art of Black Lady, the shawl completes the formal look of what Chibiusa aspires to be — a Lady. The shawl is a simple one. For this, you could use a thin, pink fabric cut to a rectangular shape and hemmed or just buy one that already exists.
Luna-P (Optional)
Luna-P is Chibiusa’s helpful companion, and in some versions a communicator device with a connection to Sailor Pluto. Luna-P is an optional prop and often accompanies Chibiusa, even when she’s evil.
Luna-P could be created from paper maché using wire for the base circle shape. You could also use a large ball or a foam ball. This would be painted, then add on the ears made from foam, paper maché, or another similar material. The face details could be merely painted on, or you could use sheet foam and layer it using the appropriate colors.
So there you go, some ideas to help get a Black Lady cosplay off the ground! If you do end up making one using some of the ideas in this article, we would love to hear from you and see the results in the comments below!
- 521Shares
- 521Shares