First worn: AniMegaCon 2012
=[ I don’t really want to talk about this….. just kidding. ;p This was a dream costume. I’d been wanting to do Cosmic & Funny from IDOLM@STER 1, and Starry is the IDOLM@STER 2 version of those costumes. I knew from the moment these were first revealed that I wanted to make it (a trailer was released for “Little Match Girl” with Yukiho, Makoto, and Chihaya in these costumes). I knew immediately though that they’d be much harder to make than Cosmic & Funny, and I was pretty intimidated. Flashing lights are easy. Chasing lights are far more complex. I kind of wrote these off as a pipe dream, but the other girls in Angel Hearts were interested in making them too, so we decided to go for it.
This is by far the most time and effort I’ve ever invested into a costume. I’m usually busy and my attention span is short, so I rarely spend more than 3-5 days on a costume. I spent over 7 months researching and testing for this costume. As the only member in the group with any electronics and engineering background (I studied Electrical and Computer Engineering for a little over a year at Caltech), I took it upon myself to figure out the lighting part of these costumes. Even at my level I knew that wiring and programming a marquis pattern was SUPER easy — the question was how to incorporate it into something you can wear and DANCE in. Pre-made strip lights and other commercially available options didn’t suit our needs in numerous ways and also would have been very expensive. I was very frustrated and thought, “This is so easy, it shouldn’t even be this expensive! If only we could make our own circuits!”
At this point I emailed an electronics hobbyist and blogger to ask for help, and she kindly recommended I Google “e-textiles” and “soft circuitry”. A whole new world opened up to me, and I found out yes, we CAN make our own circuits! With conductive thread and Lilypad Arduino controllers that are easy to program, we could sew the circuits and LEDs ourselves! We could make a chase pattern that was 100% accurate, and it would be a LOT cheaper than any other option available! (Although… still not cheap. TwT)
I’m going to break right here to say, even without the lighting these costumes were NOT easy. We made these space theme outfits using metallic spandex and clear vinyl — completely unforgiving materials. The outfits also had plenty of weird shapes and gravity-defying pieces. Add several hundred hand-sewn LEDs and you have a construction NIGHTMARE. Everyone had to make changes to their outfit to cut back on the number of lights, because there were just too many. It’s not even a time or money issue, we were also worried about the power needed to run so many LEDs at once. SPEAKING OF WHICH, we had a small hiccup when I realized the LilyPad Arduino could only handle a maximum of about 50 lights, and if you wanted more you’d have to use drivers. I freaked out because I didn’t know how to build or use drivers, but my dad (who is also an electronics hobbyist!) told me, “Oh that’s easy! Don’t worry, I’ll show you how.” In the end, my dad built controllers and connected them to the LilyPads for all five of us in the group, so he helped us out a lot! <3 Couldn’t have done it without him! He also helped us figure out what kind of batteries would be most efficient for each of us so we could run our costumes for as long as possible. To cover up the LEDs, we used clear cabochons which we covered in silver spray-glitter. My dad suggested we drill holes in the backs of the cabochons so we could literally fit the LEDs inside, and he rigged up a makeshift drill press. Some of the other girls bought drill presses just for this! Yes, we ARE crazy.
The final hurdle was a personal one. This was actually bad timing for me, because I was in school at the time, in a notoriously difficult program with a high work load. I’m embarrassed to say my grades suffered because of Starry, and I almost didn’t make it. I even told everyone I was going to quit, but my parents said no way! You worked too hard for this, and we know how much this means to you! We’re going to help you finish! TwT~~~ And my parents and I did NOTHING but work on Starry for two weeks straight (well… besides me going to school and doing the minimal amount of homework I needed to in order to pass). While my dad worked on the controllers, I sewed my costume and laid out the circuits, and my mom hand-sewed all my LEDs (you can really count on her for tedious work, goodness)! I programmed the controllers, and we soldered them to our costumes AT the convention (taught a few people how to solder, hehe).
We were all sleep deprived, but in the end ALL FIVE OF OUR COSTUMES WORKED. I’m really proud of my team for being able to make these work with little to no electronics knowledge. The biggest achievement was being able to stand on that stage together, all lit up, and make it through the dance routine without a hitch. We were so relieved and happy that we managed to pull it off! The bonus was that we won Best in Show at AniMegaCon 2012.
Making Starry was a somewhat traumatizing experience for us, but I think we would all agree that it was worth it. I would love to be able to wear this costume more, but aside from it being a pain to wear, I’m not sure how long it will last (since metallic spandex just degrades over time). It didn’t even occur to me until later, but it’s kind of sad to put so much work into a costume that won’t last. It just wouldn’t have looked as cool in a plain material though. Certainly I wish I could’ve had more time to do a better job on this costume (had to skimp on a few of the details), but at this point I’m not sure it’s worth going back and fixing. All things considered, it turned out pretty well, and we accomplished something truly unique!
Someday I’ll try to motivate myself to finish the in-depth Starry tutorial and report I started writing years ago. Until then, feel free to message me with any questions about these costumes! π