These are some of those costumes that simmer for a while before coming to fruition. I believe I started reading NANA in 2007, and in June of 2009 I created a poll in my LiveJournal asking my friends which of the Nanas I was most like, because I was thinking of cosplaying from it and couldn't choose. (Haichi won, but a few people thought I should be someone else, like Junko or Reira, and even more people felt I shouldn't add yet another series to my cosplaying roster.) And then nothing came of it.

In June of 2011 Avian Firefly mused about cosplaying Nana K., but didn't know which outfit to do, since it's hard to pick one that's iconic in the same way some of Nana O.'s are. So then nothing came of it. I don't know when we finally talked to each other about doing it together (it may have even been--gasp--in person) but in March of last year, Avi messaged me the picture I used as my reference photo, and asked if I wanted to do those with her. Whenever any one of my girlies asks me something, the answers is pretty much always yes.

I tried my best to assemble this costume out of bought items--I was pretty proud of the wig, which I had to trim myself (it was about shoulder-length when I got it), but then when I finally tried it on with all of the accessories, it covered a lot of my face, and all of my earrings, so I'm going to try to thin it out before I ever wear it again. The orb earrings are either very cheap authentic Vivienne Westwood orbs, or rather expensive knockoffs, but I really like them and will wear them again. I bought both pierced silver hoops (and though I've had second holes since I was 13, I ended up having to repierce my left ear, which had closed--why just the left, I'll never know--which just goes to show the things we do for cosplay) and identical clip on silver hoops, so I could have multiple earrings including a cartiledge hoop on the right side. I bought a choker, the licensed NANA cuff ring, and a pair of boots off of eBay, a sheet full of lotus flower tattoos from Etsy, and thigh highs from Amazon that I had to remove lace ruffles and beaded bows so they'd have a plain top.

I tried to buy a plaid skirt (which was surprisingly hard to find--most plaid skirts have a very wide waist panel with the pattern going in a completely different direction, and then pleats) from Trash & Vaudeville, but they canceled my order without telling me, so Annalee was kind enough to make one right before the con. Likewise I had trouble finding a purple and white striped top, so Avi constructed one in about the same amount of time. About a week before the con I realized I had missed some of Nana's other accessories in the photo, but luckily I've been a closet goth most of my life, so I was able to substitute in close representatives, such as my bracelets and other rings I already owned. I'd say I'll buy more accurate ones in case I ever do this costume again, but honestly, now that I have the wig, I kind of want to do some of Nana's other outfits, like her red dress or her heart blazer, so it really doesn't pay. Avi and I got our matchy-match photos, and that's all I really wanted anyway.