Good Lord, I technically started this costume ten years ago. It all began with Bev launching her jewelry business in December of 2007 and advertising it in LiveJournal, and me asking her if she could make me Rei's earrings. I don't think I was seriously planning a costume yet, but 1) I always want to support my friends' businesses and 2) "all of Rei's costumes", you know. Then in February of 2009 I made an LJ post asking people what their dream cosplay was, and a long-distance friend and I figured out we could technically do a photoshoot "together" if we picked an artbook image where all the senshi were depicted in separate panels, and somehow decided on this. (I think she had the yellow fabric for Ami's dress already, and the corresponding image of Ami is one of my favorites.) I bought the red velvet fabric off of eBay, and despite having it for so long I never got around to doing anything with it (I had toyed with the idea of cutting it in half to make it thinner and longer, or at the *very* least hemming the unfinished edges). And then I got engaged in March of 2009, and that was pretty much the end of side projects for a while.

Once wedding madness was over, other, time-sensitive cosplay projects took priority, and real life kept getting in the way. I had no idea what to do about the sparkly top, and it took until 2011 for me to find a place that let you customize bodysuits (activewear4u.com, if you want one for yourself), which had a black glitter fabric that was close enough. My aunt bought it for me as a Christmas gift that year. But then I wanted to wait until I lost weight to take pictures in it. And then, I dyed my hair black for Otakon 2012, and wanted to wait until it was brown again, and that took three years. And *then* I had to wait until I lost weight *again*. Finally when I hit my "fighting" weight (which is still about ten pounds heavier than my "ideal" weight, but is at least acceptable), I had had enough of waiting. I told David Ng it was time. The image doesn't show what Rei is wearing from the waist down; since the only sparkly top I had found was a leotard, I decided to carry that theme throughout. I had ballet tights from a prior Halloween costume, so I went back to Discount Dance Supply and ordered myself a short, sheer wraparound skirt and a pair of black ballet flats.