Rabbit - Steam Powered Giraffe

Why

Reference photo - Bunny Bennett as Rabbit

Rabbit is one of my dream cosplays, I have so much love for Steam Powered Giraffe, their music is great and their portrayal of their characters is truly mesmerizing, I had never thought mime could be cool until I learned about them. And Rabbit's amazing makeup and wardrobe over the years has been equally amazing, so when this design of the female Rabbit was released I knew I had to cosplay her. My boyfriend and little sister joined up as The Spine and Hatchworth, and suddenly we had the entire band. Best day ever.


How
Rabbit's main focus point is her head, with the makeup and headpiece. So I naturally started by practising the makeup a gazillion times to see if I could actually pull her off. I even made a mock-headpiece just to see how the makeup fit. The makeup I ended up using in the end was Temptu's Dura Pro palette in metallic. It's an alcohol-based makeup, which practically means it's hard to apply, and harder to wash away, but stays put like a tattoo once applied, something very nice for someone used to shitty creme makeup that wipes off after an hour or so.

I made the dress out of a modified shirt pattern along with a circle skirt which I then sew together. The bolero is lined with red faux silk and the arms are matte pleather. Instead of adding buttons to fasten the jacket I attached neodyme magnets for easy and secure fastening onto the dress and because I was lazy. The exhaust vent on her chest was made out of foam and worbla. The ribbon on her back was made with the same fabric as the lining, with only one layer of interfacing to get the "sagging" bow that Rabbit has. I also added a fluffy underskirt in red tulle for the skirt. The stockings are self made, however only because the ones I ordered didn't make it in time, so for NärCon I'll not be wearing the ones I made, but the bought ones. Shoes were my ever loved black London Underground steel-toed boots, which have already been used for so many costumes, and even more to come <3

The headdress was made with a base out of worbla, to make sure it fit my head. Then I made another

mock-up in paper, to make sure all the pieces fit as they should. For the back I bought tons and tons of cables, cable holders and other cables and wires. To be able to shape them I put strings of steel wire inside each of them, before I attached them to the headpiece. The whole piece was first spray painted with a layer of chrome silver, and then hand painted with acrylics to add the weathered metal parts and high/lowlights.

Finishing touches were adding blue LED lights into the headpiece, with two settings - blinking and fixed. I know there is only one known photo on Bunny's instagram where it actually glows, but seeing as I loved the idea and the thought of her blue matter shining through made me add the lights.

Thoughts

Apart from the makeup this costume is very easy. So the funniest part of this costume was all the shenanigans that were made during StorCon <3 I'll be wearing this costume again at NärCon, with upgraded makeup and a few new accessories and props. The best part about wearing this costume is no doubt being in-character and make silly robot movements and sounds while walking around the con! Also love photographing as more or less crazy characters - it's so much easier to find fitting poses and facial expressions!

Photos

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