X-Men: First Class - Bookends of the Same Soul

_{I want you by my side.
We're brothers, you and I.}

X-Men: First Class

as Charles Xavier
as Erik Lehnsherr
Photography: Deep Dive Cosplay
Location: Malibu, California

Beach divorce! D;

Making these cosplays was a labour of love. We have so much love for X-Men: First Class that we've been planning these cosplays for the past year or so. In fact, if there's one thing to know about things we like, it's that XM:FC has pretty much been at the forefront of fandom for us since the movie came out in 2011.

How We Made the Jumpsuits
Describing how we made these cosplays is almost a journey itself. We scoured the local shops/country/world and internet for the perfect materials. We made at least 3 separate trips to the LA Fashion District and one to NYC to search for fabrics to match the XM:FC jumpsuits, and nope, don't even live in those states. After 50+ hours of shopping for materials and several months later, we got all of the fabric we needed to make the jumpsuits. We were very happy with all the different fabrics. We managed to get the same texture, weight and color for the yellow and a similar raised checkered fabric for one of the blue fabrics.

I made all the patterns for the jumpsuits from scratch with a total of 60+ individual pieces. After about 50 more hours and a dozen trial and errors, I devised a way to do the pleather ribbing and sewed every single one of those individual pleather ribs on Erik's jumpsuit. D; Then after a lot of blood, sweat and tears, we sewed all of the pieces together for each of our jumpsuits and made them to be as functional as the ones in the movie, such as by making the stretchable pleather side panels, usable zippers, and adjustable wrist and ankle pieces.

We sculpted all of the original molds and poured the resin casts for all the buckles, pressure knobs, etc. Wigs were also cut and styled by us.

We both learned a lot from designing and making these jumpsuits, from creating functional pleather ribbing (that stuff ate up yards and yards of fabric) to never underestimating how much pleather piping in random places can make life difficult.

The Photoshoot
~venntus and I were planning to do the photoshoot for these cosplays on a beach to match the movie, and we were fortunate to find a nice stretch of beach to stage the beach divorce scene at the end of the movie. ;D

Only a week before the photoshoot, we debuted our cosplays at San Diego Comic Con 2013 and were fortunate enough to make it into Hall H to see the X-Men: Days of Future Past panel. So excited for the next movie! It looks amazing! *O*

All in all, after making these cosplays, I have major respect for the original costume designers/makers of the jumpsuits (as well as James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender). Initially, I thought it would be quick, but after patterning all the pieces and constructing it, I learned that the jumpsuits can be deceptively simple. I learned a lot from gathering materials to patterning, sewing and casting resin to make this cosplays. It took 200+ hours to make Erik's jumpsuit, and I would do it all over again.

Related:


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Deep Dive Cosplay