Sailor Mars Costume Review

Something costumey for you today! I suppose since we are now in the run up to Halloween. Earlier this Dave from Otleyrun Fancy Dress wrote a guest post about getting high quality photos of costumes and outfits (it has some good tips, you can read it here) and we discussed the possibility of me reviewing a costume.

There is a lot of choice on the site and I was waiting for something really special to catch my eye, and oh how it did. They had Sailor Moon costumes in stock!

Now you need to understand that I have been a fan of Sailor Moon since I was a girl and I still watch the DVD collection on a regular basis, I have all the manga and I spent much of my teenage years drawing the characters. I LOVE SAILOR MOON!

So the chance to get my hands on a costume was something I had to jump at. The site had a few different costumes and my two favourite characters are Sailor Neptune and Sailor Mars. Overall I think I have a look closer to Sailor Mars so it made sense to pick that costume to review (costume tip number 1 - if you pick characters you look similar to you will have an easier job).

I was so excited waiting for my costume to arrive, and when it did I had to have a good look at it. I was pretty pleased to see that all the costume basics were covered including sailor dress, gloves, choker and tiara. The costume looks to be the super iteration of the outfit as the shoulders are the more pointy style rather than the rounded ones. The choker is a piece of ribbon with velcro on it, not exactly hi-tech but does the job and nicely matches the costume. The tiara is similar but since it will eventually be going under a big wig its not really something you'd be wanting to spend a lot of time on.

The main sailor dress was pretty good. Some of the stitching isn't perfectly straight, the stitching attaching the bow on the front needs a little re-enforcing it really needed a good press but overall it was pretty good for a costume. I'd say the quality matches that of most mass produced costumes you find, but the real plus of this one is the accuracy. Its near perfect. Its missing a few little accessories but the overall shape and style is spot-on. I will comment on the skirt as many sailor moon costumes you see have slightly longer skirts to *ahem* preserve dignity... bit sailor moon costumes are meant to be very short and this one seems to fall about right. I think if your slim you can get away with it, but I have a bit of junk in the trunk as they say so it comes up a bit short across the buttocks, but don't worry! I've got a great pair of pants to go with it when I wear it out so don't worry, most of my modesty will remain intact! 

I have to say though I was very very impressed with the gloves, they look a bit odd when you're not wearing them, but once they're on they look great! Just the right kind of shape.

I ended up with a size M of 10-12 which was a risky choice but the fabric on the bodice is stretchy and I didn't want it to be baggy. I think it looks okay just.

Now I am only posting one picture as I'd like to save a full reveal once I have a whole costume put together. I still need a few accessories like the long wig, a brooch and shoes etc. but as a costume its nearly there. I think if you weren't such a costume pedant you could definitely get away with it as-is bur you know me, I've got to do it properly.

I am DEFINITELY looking forward to MCM Expo now. My other costume is a secret and I am making that one from scratch so it is great to have a second day costume that I don't have to spend a ton of time sewing too!

Anywho, see you around!