cos(WED): Bioshock Infinite's Robert & Rosalind Lutece, by Ginger Armadillo Costumes
Written by Riri (@lillyums)
This week's Cosplay Wednesday features Ginger Armadillo Costumes, a Seattle based group led by head seamstress, Anna. Anna and Grace are here to show their cosplay of the Lutece "twins" from Bioshock Infinite, Robert and Rosalind. We really don't see a lot of these twins!! It's refreshing to see cosplay from Bioshock Infinite besides our beautiful Elizabeth. In the game, these twin guide main protagonist, Booker, through his adventures in Columbia to find Elizabeth. These twins are incredibly super smart, considering they are like.. quantum physicists. Let's see how Anna and Grace created these cosplays and brought Robert and Rosalind to life.
Cosplayers: Anna and Grace of Ginger Armadillo Costumes (FB)
Cosplay: Robert and Rosalind Lutece from BioShock: Infinite
Photographer: Mae Catt
How long have you been cosplaying?
Pretty much our whole lives! It all started with Dorothy and the Tin Man at age five, and only went up from there. Halloween costumes (and the Renaissance Faire) were always the highlight of our year, until we discovered the joys of year-round cosplay. Our first official convention was Emerald City Comicon in 2010, and we've been almost every year since!
Why did you choose to cosplay this character?
Because we have a natural advantage! As identical redhead twins, it seemed outrageous to NOT cosplay the Lutece Twins at some point in our lives. (We had a lot of friends suggesting it, too).
Anna was particularly drawn to the historical element of the cosplays. Since BioShock: Infinite is set in an alternate 1912, it was the perfect opportunity to explore Edwardian fashion! Given how simple the outfits are, there was a lot of opportunity to add our own touches and details. We wanted to merge video game geekdom with historical fashion nerdiness to craft the best Lutece costumes we could. And that meant making all of the undergarments too!
The last consideration was that we needed costumes that could travel with us to San Diego for Comicon, so costumes that could be easily packed and did not require wigs were ideal.
How long did it take you to complete?
Anna started researching and collecting materials a couple months before SDCC. The majority of the hours put into these costumes were spent doing research - finding period-appropriate patterns, looking for the right fabrics, watching endless Edwardian hairstyle tutorials, and sifting through countless thrift-store shoe bins for the *perfect* shoes. And of course, carefully studying Claire Hummel's character designs!
Rosalind's undergarments--chemise, drawers, corset, and petticoat--were the most time-consuming, with more than 10 hours put into the corset alone. Being big fans of little details, many hours were spent painting shoes and making custom cuff-links and adding unnecessary embroidery. However, because time-management is hard, the majority of the outer layers were made in a frantic five days, with at least one all-nighter.
Any difficulties when constructing the costume?
Fabric shortages, long-distance fittings, getting caught up in the details and running out of time on the big stuff -- there were a LOT of difficulties considering it started out as "Let's make something simple and relaxing for SDCC."
We're pretty thrifty people, so we bought a lot of remnants, which is great until you run out of fabric and have no way to get more. Robert's cream wool jacket was a lucky thrift store find, and it came with a matching floor-length skirt which we thought had enough yardage to make Rosalind's jacket. It didn't. However, one of the best things about cosplay problems is the creative solutions! We never would have come up with a cool detail like a contrasting back panel for Rosalind otherwise!
And trying to wrangle Grace's Merida-esque mane of curls into a prim Edwardian up-do is always a challenge, but we get better at it every time!
What do you love most about cosplaying this character?
Feeling so very dapper! Most nerd girls don't get a lot of opportunities growing up to feel cool, and the Luteces are time-traveling, dimension-hopping, scientist-badasses and they are THE COOLEST.
And it's always wonderful to wear something that you're really proud of.
Where did you debut this costume? If you haven't... where do you plan to debut?
We debuted these costumes at the last San Diego Comicon.
What's next? Cosplay related of course...
Emerald City Comicon of course! Anna is working on remaking/improving her Nightcrawler and Kitty Pryde cosplays and Grace is working on Lilith from Borderlands, among other costumes. Oh, and the Luteces will definitely be back as well! Anna is busily adding more undergarments for Rosalind and fancier vests for both.
WOW! I am incredibly blown away by these details and how much they put into these costumes! Especially the undergarments, you guys got it down to the tee.
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