Claude Kenni (Star Ocean 2)
creation: December 2000worn at: Anime North 2001, Akon 12, Otakon 2001
why claude?:Star Ocean is a game you either worship or completely despise. When I first played it, I couldn't figure out the battle system and hated the game immediately. Six months later, my sister hooked me on the game, and it became an addiction. It's a ridiculous game with an insane amount of weird little side quests, and the strangest characters ever. Plus, you can choose which characters become romantically involved with each other. I have more Star Ocean merchandise than I'd care to admit. Let's just say it's still my favorite PS1 game and move on. My master plan was to try to get the entire cast together. I should have known it wasn't going to happen when nobody wanted to be Claude, the main character. I love Claude but I really wanted to be Celine. So I made both costumes. At the time I made this, both Claude and I were 19 and blonde. I really like this costume and I'm proud of how well it turned out.
con notes: A friend of a friend borrowed this costume at Akon so that we could have Claude, Celine, and Rena, all together. I met another Claude at Otakon 2001. That was simply amazing. He even had a sword. Turns out this is the costume I've worn the most as of 2001 (later surpassed by Fina). It was also my first experience crossplaying.
construction: A lot of time and love went into perfecting this costume. I found a pattern for the shirt and pants on which the model was drawn in exactly the same position as Claude's picture. Freaky. ^^; The jacket was made from a modified pattern for a simple button down shirt out of high quality khaki colored fabric lined with brown. The patches were hand made (yes, that is my own ugly handwriting spelling out the name on the sleeves) out of a variety of fabrics and double-sided fusible material. The green stuff is similar to the material used for backpack straps and worked perfectly for what I needed. I even added working gold snaps to the jacket. The fingerless gloves were made without a pattern from the same material as the jacket, using red bias tape for the edging. I created a simple red headband and bought some bright red socks from Walmart for a whole $1. The shoes took a while to find, but I'm happy with them although they are two whole sizes too big.
