Schala
Chrono Trigger
One of my very favorite games of all time is Chrono Trigger; there's excitement and adventure, heartbreak and happiness...and lots of sidequests and multiple endings! However, my favorite character isn't one that you can play...the regal and mystic princess of Zeal, Schala. Her story has always tugged at my heart, and I am thoroughly enchanted with how lovely and kind she is. I've wanted to cosplay Schala before I even knew what cosplay was, but I've always been faced with a tough dilemma...I have never, EVER liked Schala's game art by Toriyama. She just looks so drab and dumpy, and when you're the princess of a magical floating kingdom, I think you should look the part, not dress like a sloppy scullery wench! By contrast, however, I've always loved the way her game sprite looked. She's all purple and silvery-blue, with long flowing robes, gold jewelry, and an intricate hairdo...very much an elegant, ethereal figure and how I've always pictured her to look. So when I finally decided to cosplay this character so near and dear to my heart, I decided to base my Schala costume off of her game sprite.
Of course, 16 bit pixellated images do not provide much detail, so I did my best to combine her design with the artwork version, while adding a few personal touches of my own as I often love to do with my costumes to make them unique. I made my dress style like hers, but chose a rich jacquard instead of something plain. I also chose to keep it one piece, as her sprite appears to be wearing a dress, as opposed to making the top separate as it appears in the game art. I added lots of details, from paisley lining to jewels on her yoke, and to add to the flowiness of the dress, made a train out of a sheer fabric with tiny rhinestones on it. There are over eight yards of fabric in my Schala dress! As for my wig, I wanted her hair to be long and flowing like her sprite's, and silvery blue. I accomplished this by custom dying a white wig various tones of blue, and then styling it. Overall, I'm very happy with how my Schala costume turned out, and although the wig is a bit heavy and all that hair gets in the way, the outfit itself is fairly comfortable!
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