As a big fan of the movie Pacific Rim, I was overjoyed when my wife suggested we dress as Sasha and Aleksis Kaidonovsky, the Cherno Alpha pilots. This would be a simple costume, I thought. Why, it's mainly a coat. How detailed can a coat be?
Clearly, I forgot these were coats in a Guillermo del Toro film.
The coats themselves are olive wool and three-quarter-length. The have oversized brown fur collars with grey mottling. They've got oversized lapels with a slightly more brown wool lining, and cuffs with buttoned straps. The buttons themselves seem to be a collection of ornate brass and dark brown plastic. The have trench belts, though they are not trenchcoat length, and two large pockets below the waist. Each epaulet has a brass star near the seam.
Aleksis and Sasha both have red patches sewn underneath their left lapel. There is no clear shot of these patches in the film, but I imagine this patch from TooSmallMargin is pretty close (I'm also adding their skull logo patch, because it looks cool.)
Aleksis has a star medal on his right lapel, which closer inspection reveals is just a gold sheriff star with a dark brown button pasted over the center.
Both coats have "Cherno Alpha" in Russian, written down the left sleeve.
The backs have two different patterns. Sasha's coat is a two headed eagle, while Aleksis's is a skull and cross. Both are made out of what must be thousands of gold safety pins.
Seeing as how Robert Maillet, the actor who plays Aleksis, is a good foot taller than I am, there's little point in screen accuracy. Instead, I'm going for emotional accuracy, nailing the the details we like and eschewing the ones we don't. We are not, for example, trying to recreate that amazing saftey-pin art. But I did give Aleksis a proper medal instead of a slightly modified sheriff star.
The rings were bought on ebay, and spraypainted gold. The Cherno Alpha medallion was made through Shapeways, and similarly painted.
I free-handed a stencil for the back, and used more of that trusty gold spraypaint. I did the same thing with the Russian "Cherno Alpha" on the sleeve, but kept the paint light for a worn & faded look.
The coat itself was a Denmark (I think) trench I got at an Army surplus store. I gave it a fake-fur collar, new lapels & cuffs and replaced the buttons with buttons bearing the Russian two-headed eagle. I added some brass pins from an old steampunk costume to give some business above the patches.
The whole outfit is finished off with a black tank top, grey Dickies cargo pants, and some custom dog tags that say "Aleksis Kaidonovsky, Pilot, Cherno Alpha." I still need to do some styling to that wig, but all in all, I'm pleased with the costume.
Clearly, I forgot these were coats in a Guillermo del Toro film.
The coats themselves are olive wool and three-quarter-length. The have oversized brown fur collars with grey mottling. They've got oversized lapels with a slightly more brown wool lining, and cuffs with buttoned straps. The buttons themselves seem to be a collection of ornate brass and dark brown plastic. The have trench belts, though they are not trenchcoat length, and two large pockets below the waist. Each epaulet has a brass star near the seam.
Aleksis and Sasha both have red patches sewn underneath their left lapel. There is no clear shot of these patches in the film, but I imagine this patch from TooSmallMargin is pretty close (I'm also adding their skull logo patch, because it looks cool.)
Aleksis has a star medal on his right lapel, which closer inspection reveals is just a gold sheriff star with a dark brown button pasted over the center.
Both coats have "Cherno Alpha" in Russian, written down the left sleeve.
The backs have two different patterns. Sasha's coat is a two headed eagle, while Aleksis's is a skull and cross. Both are made out of what must be thousands of gold safety pins.
Seeing as how Robert Maillet, the actor who plays Aleksis, is a good foot taller than I am, there's little point in screen accuracy. Instead, I'm going for emotional accuracy, nailing the the details we like and eschewing the ones we don't. We are not, for example, trying to recreate that amazing saftey-pin art. But I did give Aleksis a proper medal instead of a slightly modified sheriff star.
The rings were bought on ebay, and spraypainted gold. The Cherno Alpha medallion was made through Shapeways, and similarly painted.
I free-handed a stencil for the back, and used more of that trusty gold spraypaint. I did the same thing with the Russian "Cherno Alpha" on the sleeve, but kept the paint light for a worn & faded look.
The coat itself was a Denmark (I think) trench I got at an Army surplus store. I gave it a fake-fur collar, new lapels & cuffs and replaced the buttons with buttons bearing the Russian two-headed eagle. I added some brass pins from an old steampunk costume to give some business above the patches.
The whole outfit is finished off with a black tank top, grey Dickies cargo pants, and some custom dog tags that say "Aleksis Kaidonovsky, Pilot, Cherno Alpha." I still need to do some styling to that wig, but all in all, I'm pleased with the costume.
