I decided to go to Otakon 2023 at almost the last minute, and the main reason I decided to go was to spend time with my friends. As such, my main motivation in picking my costumes was to match my friends. OPIB had picked these fanart versions of the Sailor Senshi as witches to do for their main group on Saturday. Since I had bowed out, Mars was originally taken by a friend of Stevie's, but when I changed my mind about attending, she said she'd be happy to switch to Sailor Star Healer so I could play my "traditional role". But honestly I would have been all right with any of the designs; in fact, I sort of wished Mars had had a flowy skirt like most of the other senshi, because that dress is VERY fitted, and I was not feeling very "fit"! But the feathers in her hair kind of make up for it.
Once again I have to say that without my friends, this con and this costume would not have happened; Alyce had said she would MAKE my costume happen even if it was last minute. Thankfully I was able to buy a red sheath dress as a base off of Poshmark, with Teren helping me look, so I just had to ship it to her and she made the white and sheer "overlay" on the top, and the black starry fabric overlay on the skirt. Patti and Steph had made Teren's earrings and pendant, and said they had enough time to make mine, too, as well as the aforementioned awesome feathers. Teren also found these near-perfect shoes on Depop, and while they were more than I was comfortable spending on shoes, I got them as a gift from an admirer. I brought my old deck of tarot cards because I thought they would make either cool props or inspiration for poses, or both. Honestly the hardest part for me was the makeup, but with a little time and patience, everything came together super well.
