1990's Comic Book Catwoman

Geekymagic

New Member
As an actor and performer I've always made my own outfits and costumes but this was the first time I tried to go super accurate with the costume. It's also my first foray into using/coloring/manipulation liquid latex. Below is a full account of the process, and a list of resources we used.
10534092_10203620365087397_3584137887813102330_n.jpgHere is where it all started. 9 months ago, my wife's best friend, Dawn, came to us and said she wanted to do a superhero/villain costume party for her 30th birthday party. She said she always ALWAYS wanted to be Selena Kyle. Naturally the mind turns to one of the many recent/semi-recent variations of the costume. (I don't include the Halle Berry Catwoman costume abomination. Just my opinion.) When I asked her which one she showed me the above picture. This Catwoman costume existed for a series of comics in the early 90's. I remember seeing them as a kid but didn't have any of the comics of my own. My first stop was to acquire as much information as possible. I spent the following 9 months with my wife planning, discussing, designing the costume, as well as acquiring as many of the comics containing this Catwoman as possible.

I began looking for already made purple catsuits. I came across the morph suit we would use at Milanoo.com. The color was almost right but needed to be darker. These suits can be acquired many places but Milanoo had the best pricing and even offered custom sizing for $9.99. They also had the option to have a removable hood. We found out later that this would be a huge beneift. We also had the option of having the hands and feet as separate pieces. Here is the link:
HTML:
http://www.milanoo.com/product/purple-lycra-spandex-unisex-zentai-suit-p2908.html

Since the color wasn't quite right, I began looking at liquid latex. I called the guys at Monster Makers and they gave me a ton of great advice as well as told me what latex products work best. I purchased all of my liquid latex/dyes from them and they provided some great advice. If you have any questions about using/properties or want advice on mask making, call these guys. They are great and knowledgeable.
Here is what we ordered from them. The gallon was WHITE latex, and we ordered 2 quarts of the "Bat Black" latex. This ended up being way more than we needed but the price was right. We also ordered two 2 ounce bottles of latex colorant. Red and Blue. As a side note, you can also use Water Based Acrylic Paint. Just remember that it will add to the total volume.
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I found an instructable online on how to make a latex bodysuit, and how to make custom knee-high latex boots. I won't go into a huge amount of detail but I will include the links because the instructions are quite comprehensive. Just make sure you pay attention to the little details mentioned.
Bodysuit
HTML:
http://thekinkycrafter.wordpress.com/kinky-couture/latex-catsuit/
Boots
HTML:
[URL]http://thekinkycrafter.wordpress.com/kinky-couture/latex-thigh-high-boots/[/URL]{/HTML}

Here are some of the pictures of us painting her in the costume. As you can see from the time frame in the photos. This took several hours. You have to wait for each coat to dry before applying the next. Now, when it's all said and done, you have to make sure the coats are even. 
(NOTE: LEAVE AREAS FOR VENTING/BREATHING!!!) If you don't, your person costumed will overheat. We did NOT latex inside the groin area and under the arms. This allows for temperature control. DO NOT latex the zipper in the back. This sounds obvious but it is easy to do. We used small brushes to get the fine details and foam rollers for the whole body. 
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As you can see, she has boobs, Catwoman has boobs. Spandex suits remove boobs. In order to add a sense of femininity to our costume, we cut the cups out of a bra and pinned them to the inside of the suit BEFORE we latexed. The liquid latex will seep through the bodysuit and cause the bra cups to stick to the costume permanently. 

When the boots and suit were completely done using the instructions shown above, we gave them a light coat of vaseline. This causes the latex to become supple like leather, and not crack or stick to itself. It also prevented the suit from becoming shiny and looking more like leather instead of rubber/vinyl.
Here is the suit almost finished.
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For the gloves, she bought black spandex evening gloves and glued black costume fingernails onto them. She then painted the nails silver. I'll post that picture when I post the final pictures later.
[B]
The Hood!!!

This was a CHALLENGE
[/B]
Getting the hood to look right was the hardest part and the whole costume hinged on it. I made a mold of her face using plaster strips, and put clay inside. When I pressed a styrofoam head into the mold, it created a clay mold of her head. I then put the spandex hood over top, drew the design, and then latexed.
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The hood has 6 coats of latex on it. This makes it difficult to put on, but in the end it makes it stronger than the rest of the costume to hold it's shape.
The ears were made by sewing two triangle pieces of spandex together and cutting a thin piece of plastic to place inside. The kind of plastic work portfolios are made out of. When those were sewn onto the helmet, we added the last coats of the latex so that it would not only hide the seams, but also keep the thread from ever pulling out. 

Catwoman's hair comes out of the back of the hood. We cut a slit across the back of the hood, almost ear to ear and pulled her hair through. This was the last thing done to the hood. She will be dying her hair and curling it before debuting it at GenCon in Indianapolis.

Here is the finished product, without the hair dye
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A friend of mine made the whip by hand. Cost of whip was $120.00 and was the most expensive part of the costume, however, he went to extra detail to get it as close to the whip used in the comic book.
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Total product cost around $300.00 for everything, and 4 weeks of actual work. Let me know what you think and if you have any questions.
 

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This is so awesome!!!! That is my favorite Catwoman costume. It really looks excellent, and you wear it well.
 
Below are some of the pictures from GenCon yesterday. My friend wore the costume for 16 hours straight and it didn't wear/give at all. We were very proud of the way it came out. Thanks to everyone on here that has commented or messaged showing support. Thanks
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