Character: Mari O’Hara
Series: LoveLive! Sunshine
Version: Miracle Wave
Awards: Best Craftsmanship AnimeFest 2022
Debut: A-Kon 2022
Build Thread
Mari was the first costume I selected to build as conventions began coming back in 2022. I selected her because the costume was cute and flashy while still being really comfortable to wear. I’ve really loved the Miracle Wave outfits for a while so I went for it.
I chose to pull inspiration from both the anime and live versions of the outfit. I really liked the texture of the fabric in the live costume so I found a fabric with a nice diamond texture to try to mimic that. For the other white portions of the costume I used a stretch twill with a gold metallic finish to complement the gold lurex in the skit fabric. I used a pink matte mystique spandex and holo foil velvet for the pink details. I drew the Aqours logo and had that printed on a spandex at spoonflower for the tee.
For the jacket pattern I used a free bomber jacket pattern from Mood and made some modifications. I appliquéd all of the pink details and the name on the back with the help of heat n’ bond and stabilizer. I used the same appliqué method to add the design on a pre-purchased tee shirt.
The skirt is a simple box pleated skirt with a V shaped waist band. I patterned out the waistband and used it for the skirt and to alter a pre-bought petticoat to wear under the skirt. I used a criss cross waist band legging pattern to make my biker shorts so that all of the pieces had that V waist.
The remaining accessories were all patterned by me and made with similar techniques to the above. One neat little fact is that because the fabrics for the leg warmers are all stretch and I used a velvet for the top details they don’t require any elastic or tape to stay on. The velvet grips the tights I wear with the costume and keeps them up all on it’s own!
Overall I am really proud of this one and it was a great choice for getting back into the swing of things. I need to make more idol costumes with sneakers, that’s my takeaway lol.
Photos from: Photo Persuasion, BossCos, AnimeFest