Completed May 2003

I was enamored with Rydia’s strong will and spunky personality ever since I played FFIV back on the Super Nintendo. I drew her in my 6th grade notebooks and always secretly wanted to be her for Halloween, but no one would have recognized me. Actually, I was a pretty boring Halloween person as a child. That’s certainly changed. I’m making up for my missed Halloween opportunities, I guess.

Inspiration
When given the oppurtunity to cosplay for the first time at a convention, the first costume I knew I wanted to do was Rydia. I had only seen one other cosplayer do an Amano-esque costume, and I thought it looked cool. So I decided to go for it instead of doing a sprite version.

Construction
I had my friend help with the construction of the main costume. I did my shoes and wig, as well as made my whip and did any beading/tassels on the costume. I ran out of time on the leggings, and was too lazy to ever go back and make them. This costume is sentimental to me, being one of the first I worked on and my favorite character. I doubt I’ll ever wear it again, so I guess it’s doomed to rot away in my closet forever. Seriously, where will all this crap go when I die?

Photos by R Williams, E Smith, charmedseed.net, Kyle Johnsen