CHARACTER || Rosalie Lamorliere

SERIES || Rose of Versailles (Berusaiyu no Bara)

TIME || 150 hours

COST || $350

DEBUT || Anime Central 2005

WORN || Anime Central 2005, Ikasucon 2005, Reactor 2005

AWARD || Craftsmenship Merit, Anime Central Masquerade

WHY || Upon viewing the anime of Rose of Versailles, it quickly became one of my favorite series. The rather small character of Rosalie became one of my favorites, due to her sweetness and loving disposition. I had been thinking about cosplaying her "going away" outfit that she wears when leaving Oscar's household. However, after I bought the artbook of manga images I quickly fell in love with Rosalie's pink and purple ballgown.

HOW || First, I began by making the petticoat. It was my first time working with tulle, but otherwise very simple. Then, I made a tiered skirt pattern out of a modified version of the petticoat pattern. When the panels of pink fabric were cut out, I cut a scalloped edge onto the bottom. I finished it off with pink lace at the edge and then layed the panels out flat to paint the design along the bottom. I sketched out a design based on the artwork in the image and traced over it on the fabric with purple fabric paint. When all the sections were done, I sewed them together and had to play with "hemming" it from the waistband.

Skirt and petticoat finished, I went on to make the dress pattern. It was very different from any pattern I could find, so I had to make a lot of it on my own, including the sleeves, which took a few tries to get right. After sewing the base dress, I added satin baby blanket trim along the bodice for the ribbon detail. Then, I painted designs on it freehand, sprinkling tiny beads over the wet paint for a sparkily effect. (Method picked up from Dizzy Lizzy.)

Next was the giant back bow. The bow itself was a modified version of the sailor senshi fuku bow from Lynnleigh's tutorial. I double interfaced the fabric for additional stiffness. The tails were made of my own design. The designs on the bow were mostly freehand painted on.

To finish it all off, I sewed crystals across a bit of the front of the gown to give it the shoujo manga sparkle. The shoes were ordered and custom dyed to match the pink underskirt. The flowers were found in the perfect color, just cut and arranged to suit me carrying them around.

The wig was originally an Alicia XL in golden blonde. I cut additional bangs in the front and shortened some at the sides to cover the ears. The rest of the fibers were put in curlers and heated using a travel clothing steamer. The bangs were also curled this way. After dry and cool, the curlers were removed and the curls arranged. The ribbon was placed on the wig and sewn into the netting.

IMAGE CREDITS || Character reference image scanned by Bunnybeth. Costume photos by Kelli and Al/EBK of Cosplay.com, as marked.

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