Thoughts: 
When I first started playing Final Fantasy XIII, I planned to cosplay as either Sarah or Lightning; Vanille got on my nerves. Her accent seemed to be really inconsistent, she makes the weirdest sounds in battle, and I found her annoying! As I got further into the game, I started to get attached to her as a character; right about when she and Sazh broke off and fought together for a while. Sazh and Vanille are such an adorable duo! Her weird and random little mannerisms sometimes remind me of myself. After I beat the game, I knew that I REALLY wanted to cosplay as her even more! I won't spoil the ending for those of you that have not beaten it yet, but she and Fang play a VERY large role in the game's storyline. The ending of Final Fantasy XIII always makes me tear up no matter how many times I watch it - It's just SO good! It has ended up being one of my favorite Final Fantasy games. I was super excited to cosplay as Vanille, and this costume is a lot of fun to wear. It's one of my most comfortable costumes to date, and I plan wearing to many conventions and improving upon it as I go! I will probably make a few different weapons for her as well;  I had a lot of fun making her first weapon (The Binding Rod). 

This is currently my favorite costume. 

Construction notes: 
Wig: This came to me in a milkshake pink color, and I was really disappointed. I ended up custom coloring it with orange Prisma markers...and I'm actually really happy with it now! After wearing the costume for a few times, I re-styled the wig and made the curls more messy and accurate.

Beads and accessories: All of the little beads that are not black or white were hand painted with nail polish! It took me forever, and it probably killed a lot of brain cells that I needed. The center large "bone" looking bead was made from paper clay. The back plate ornament is Crayola Model magic attached to a cut-out piece of polystyrene plastic for durability, then painted and sealed with acrylic pants. The pouch was made from a printed calico cotton print that gives the illusion of a weird burlap looking fabric. The bracelets were found on the boardwalk in Ocean City, NJ, and the fat white braces are strips of vinyl painted white. The belt is actually Crayola Model Magic on top of a flexible black vinyl. I may end up making this again with a different method, since I'm not sure how long it will last, but it did come out looking pretty neat! I have learned that Model Magic is pretty darn flexible while making this costume. I'll be using it for a lot more in the future!

I found pretty accurate earrings for this costume that I'm really happy with. I also wear really pretty green contacts with this costume to complete the look. 

Fur, Shirt and Skirt: I bought the fur from Mendels.com, and it was really expensive, but well worth the price. It's super soft and realistic looking without being real fur. I pleated the fur and then attached it to a strip of brown vinyl, then added the vinyl flap with straps on top. It attaches around my waste with a vinyl strap and Velcro. The brown vinyl was left over from my Penelo costume. I used a pink knit material for the shirt and sewed a strapless bra into it. The Skirt is made of orange cotton (because that's the easiest thing to dye gradients into), and the front fabric flap is pleated yellow cotton with an orange gradient dyed in.

Boots: The boots were dark brown faux suede cowboy style boots from Target.com. I colored them with acrylic paint mixed with textile medium and they do very well with wear! No cracking with this method; I have had great success with it on multiple cosplay shoes! I hand colored some white fur strips with frown Prisma Marker to make them not such a bright white color, then attached them to the tops of the boots. These things are REALLY comfortable! I adore them! 

Weapon:  The entire weapon is a Wonderflex base covered in Crayola Model Magic. The acorn looking things have half of a foam ball as their base. It took me a long time to make this, mostly because of the dry times in between each application of clay and detailing. Neon Genocide braided strips of brown vinyl onto the handle for me. The weapon does not fold like hers does, but I'm really happy with how it looks, so I wouldn't want to fold it and put it on my butt anyways! The weapon is really light and really durable and flexible. I enjoy it very much!