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Teren and I really took off with the concept--she bought Her Universe's adorable Captain America retro button-front dress that she wore to my birthday the following year (to which I wore the Stark Industries jacket, also from Her Universe.) I'm not sure when we found the gorgeous art Kelsey Michele did of the Avengers as evening wear, but it seemed perfect for us--most of us don't crossplay (I'm not sure I could, convincingly) and there was no way I was going to be able to afford an iron suit. Alyce offered to make our dresses (she had already made herself a Winter Soldier dress, since she and her sister had done these versions together earlier), and I can't gush enough over what a feat of engineering my dress is--in order to make it look similar to armor, she used metallic lamé and padded all of the gold parts, removable sleeves to create that perfect "80s shoulder pads" look, and the "stomacher" is actually a corset that goes over the base dress and laces up in the back. The original image didn't feature sunglasses, but my friend Pete (who cosplays Tony Stark with me from time to time) agreed that they'd make a neat accessory, so I borrowed his. I found a great arc reactor on Etsy by Volt1987, and while any old barette would have probably been fine, I felt the need to go the extra mile, and ordered a custom barette that says "Iron Man" from Amazon. Lady Terentia found me a pair of white gladiator sandals on eBay, and I actually painted them red and gold myself! I know that doesn't sound like much, but it's probably the most work I've done personally for one of my costumes ever, and it took me most of the summer. I reserve the right to be proud of them.
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