Top 10 Sustainable Cosplay Tips: 9) Reuse

9) REUSE!

If you're serious, plan ahead! Make costume pieces that you can reuse for other looks. Narla is wearing the recycle tea stripe corset with the same blouse and her recycled muslin coat from a photo shoot the year before and to the right, is "The Lovely Black Dress" in it's prior form, as a resized prom dress from the Salvation Army and a bustle made out of faded out and redyed curtains.

This doesn't mean never make something that doesn't match your current collection! However having a long term plan such as "I like to do victorian clothing in shades of brown" helps have a wardrobe you can mix and match. Just like in regular clothing, you can build "a wardrobe".Here's the wardrobe basics for regular fashion....Wardrobe basics checklist. Here's some examples of dual duty clothing items we've done:

1. Knee length pleated navy skirt: Erza Scarlet OR Sailor Moon's school outfit OR generic sailor suit skirt
2. Long gored skirt in dark red taffeta: Both Madame Red basic and the under skirt for her evening gown
3. A well fitting men's suit: Black Butler Grim Reapers, anybody from Psycho Pass, Men in Black, Agents of Shield (slap a patch on it and a funky prop), and many more! This is a great basic!
4. Red hakama and White Under Kimono: Kikyo OR Akane, Sailor Mars, pretty much any character who wears a miko outfit..just switch out the wig. Speaking of wigs...
5. Long black wig with straight bangs: Sailor Mars, Kikyo, Hellgirll, Himura, and a ton of long black haired characters!
6. Long black gored skirt: base for many a steampunk outfit just changing out tops and bustles
7. "The Lovely Black Dress" ie black prom dress in the top right photo: Was a steampunk prom dress, a regular prom dress for someone else, the Lovely Black Dress from Warcraft and basics for Blind Meg from Repo
8. White ruffle sleeveless shirt (didn't make it tho...): this is my go to for hot weather steampunk, this shirt also is the top for my casual Erza Scarlet (hey why make it from scratch for hall cosplay if thrifting works just as well!) and the under shirt for many of my steampunk outfits in the winter as well.