Ayla from Chrono Trigger
Inspiration
I'm gonna be real. I made this costume about 80% because Laura wanted me to, and about 20% because I just wanted to wear a fur bikini.
Production
This would never have been made were it not for the opportune find of an old fur coat that had quite a resemblance to Ayla's fur bikini from Chrono Trigger. I liked the idea of working with real fur, so the project became 'Ayla in Real Life' - that is, attempting to make Ayla look less comic-styled, and more like she'd exist in the real world.
The bikini was straightforward - I glued and sewed the fabric on top of a bra for the top, and made a pair of underwear and Ayla's wrap by sewing the fur for the bottom.
The shoes were glued around water socks, with quilting batting to reinforce the sides. The tail was sewn and stuffed and wired so that it had some life when you twirled it, but I ended up removing the wire (since the scarf wraps around my neck, it was quite uncomfortable).
The log was made from, well, a log - but I glued bark from a different kind of tree to simulate the knobbly texture. I built the broken nub of the branch onto the log base, as no tree has a branch growing inward as the animators drew it.
Application
I wore the costume to a "cosplay in the park" event for a test, and didn't properly curl the hair for that test (not enough time) but for the second wearing, I spent the 4 - 6 hours that were needed to curl and style the wigs (I had two layered on top of each other).
Photos by Stephen Orser.
