Shinobu
Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no Yaiba)
Photographer
Brian Boling
Why I chose to make this costume:
Kimetsu No Yaiba is an incredible manga and anime and I want to cosplay so many characters from it! The Insect Pillar was an inevitable costume choice, as everything about Shinobu Kocho is my aesthetic, down to the purple color palette and big sister role.
How I made this costume:
For once, I did not make the costume nor the prop, because there are fantastic ready-to-wear options and I really wanted to just enjoy the dress up process.
My absolutely beautiful costume (uniform and custom printed fabric haori) was sponsored by DokiDoki Costumes. They even gave me a Shinobu wig that looked really nice out of the box. I might style it a tad for a future wear but I wanted to do a shoot with it as is. Totally works!
My sword was bought on eBay from another Chinese company, Cosjoy. Well made for the price and smooth, safe delivery.
However, I did go into creative overdrive with the photo set and designed it myself, from the flowers, butterflies and lanterns to the shoji screens, bamboo floor mat and tea table. I tried to choose items that I could reuse for other photoshoots in the future!
Thoughts on this costume:
It was a bit jarring to just wake up and put on a costume without having agonized over a sewing machine for days beforehand? I definitely “bond” with a character way more when I make the costume but sometimes it’s really nice to be spoiled by a finished outfit! I did all the bonding during the photoshoot instead. I really enjoyed creating the flowery set for the photoshoot and posing as Shinobu! She really comes to life in motion so there was a lot of haori flipping and half-jumps. I also tried my hands at editing special effects, which I’m a newb at.
