Pai Mei
Kill Bill: Volume 2
Pacific Media Expo 2004, Anime Expo 2004
Award: Max Callahan's Judge's Award for Presentation



FUN FUN costume! i loved Pai Mei so much in the movie! it honestly was my favorite part of Kill Bill: Vol. 2! everything about him! just so great. i decided afterward watching the movie that Gordan Liu was so bad ass as Pai Mei that i needed to make my own costume one day! i was thinking for PMX, but wasn't too sure due to time constraints... (PMX being scheduled the weekend right after finals week for me). i got crazy enough to decide to make the costume and construction took me from Thursday-Saturday before i went to the con on Sunday morning!

here's my schedule of how and when i made it.
wednesday: thought of costume. looked for pics online, made fab estimates and pattern search through my collection.
thursday: had a final. drove to L.A. fabric district, bought my black and my creme fabric for $1 per yard for everything! yay woo! $15 total for all my fabric! i had leftover gold fabric from my Sora costume which i planned to use for the collar. arrived home. drew pattern for pants. made creme pants. drew out pattern for creme chinese top/shirt. went to work. after work went to joann's to buy white tassle material. then cut out fabric for the creme top/shirt.

friday: took my last final! woo! out of school! went to a local wig shop and got white wig. went home and finished the rest of the creme top/shirt. went to work. home and styled wig. prepared crepe hair for eyebrows and prepared hair from wig for beard. made eyebrows and beard. drew pattern for black robe/vest~thing. (if you can tell, i'm horrible with names of stuffs).

saturday: went to work. made vest and tassels. used wushu belt for the black belt. used old pre-maid white over-socks? for socks.

sunday: went to PMX and had a rockin' time freaking out people i knew pretending to be an old man! haha! i thought that was the best part! especially friends who just know that Pai Mei rocks... but didn't know it was a girl they knew who dressed up as an old man!

thanks so much to Jason... a.k.a. Udonboy for being in my skit last minute! i actually talked to him Saturday night on AIM and asked him if he was free Sunday to go to the con and be in my skit! he dressed up as an awesome Neo (from The Matrix)! below is a cool picture from www.fansview.com of Pai Mei about to do the 5-point palm on Neo! i also pulled out his eyeball earlier too! but i don't have a good pic of that! ^^




10-24-04 extra notes! if you are attempting to make this costume... you should have some experience with basic costume construction. 2nd... you should have some knowledge on basic theatre make-up. sticking cotton balls on your face is not going to make a convincable beard. i really suggest you study the entire costume and basic construction before purchasing anything.

as it says above... i made the entire costumes with patterns i either drafted myself or altered from previously purchased patterns. if you don't know what a pattern is... o_o then i have no idea how you make costumes. the costume itself is basic sewing, which is why it was constructed in such a short time. i've had basic training in theatrical make-up and that's how i was able to do my make-up, beard, and eyebrows. i made my beard and eyebrows on my own out of crepe hair. *as it says above*

i don't really know what to say about the wig... except it was styled with lots of pins and tons of hairspray. if you're having a really difficult time styling it, have a girl who you know is good with hair, or go to a wig stylist. p.s. -- white wig caps will hide bald spots of the wig. (another basic costume tip.)

that's all i'm ever going to say about this costume! please do not email me regarding questions about this costume. i'm surprised that this costume gets the most emails, because i consider it a very easy costume. if you need more help on construction, please visit cosplay.com or another forum where people give advice on costume construction, wig styling, and make-up. thanks!


EXTRA PICS taken at Anime Expo 2004 -- all photos awesomely taken by Dean! *_*




cool CGs that dean made for me XD