How I Made My Apocolypse Moon Knight Cosplay Part 1: Design

​How do you tackle the difficult task of constructing a cosplay with limited reference photos? This blog post is Part 1 of my Moon Knight cosplay write up, and it focuses on my decisions for design and construction. Read the full post below.

I tackled this costume with the intentions of entering it in the costume contest at Edmonton Expo. With that in mind, I knew this had to be my best work. My first task was to create construction notes based on the VERY limited reference photos I had. I had a few concerns with the design and knew it would take some creativity and liberties to bring this to the physical realm.

Problem
My biggest challenge was the moon blades. In the main photo, you can see blades extending off of her back. In some photos we see only one blade, and others two, and then on top of that, by some magic they attach to the back. There's no actual defining photo of her back, which made deciding how to attach the blades 100% artistic freedom. I even tried tweeting @ the artist to no avail.

Solution
My solution for this was magnets. I built each blade and designed them to fit together as a single blade which could easily pull apart, and then re-attach. They attach to the back using velcro straps!
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Problem
My second issue with the moon blades is the blade design itself. In the main photo, they're shown to have sharpened edges and a flat top. In every other reference photo, the blades seem to have a curve or a centre line with angled edges.

Solution
I went with what I though would look best and imitated the main photo. I was lucky enough to have an additional reference photo that shows a blade flying out of her grasp, which shows the handle wrapped in material.
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​Problem
Another related issue was the pauldrons. In the main photo they seemed to be a single unit, with no joint or flexibility. This wasn't going to be possible in reality, solely for the reason that I'd need to reach behind to grab my moon blades. Other reference photos didn't help my decision at all, making the pauldrons seem fluid and part of the sleeve.

Solution
I felt clever with my design, trying to keep the pauldrons as a single unit, yet flexible, I attached them to the cowl using a strip of fabric. This allowed for a range of motion while keeping the pauldron fluid. I extended the cowl piece a little longer in the back and used that as a stable base to secure the moon blades.
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Problem
The capes and skirts and dangly fabric were a mystery as to what hung from where and even how. In the main photo it seems to loop and lay gracefully. It also shows a cape flapping behind her and maybe some fabric behind her legs? But that could be confused with dust or other characters behind her.

Looking at other photos she seems to not have a cape or a nice draping skirt. It seems to be a very extra circle skirt with slits. This was a nightmare to decipher. Fabric in comic books is so hard to pick out especially in high action illustrations.

Solution
Again, I decided to stay true to the main photo. I did the skirt draping, and i took some liberties with the butt flap, keeping it shorter and rather than draping it, letting it hang loose and adding a slight ruffle for dimension. I added a short cape that hung from under the pauldrons.
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Problem
Along the same lines, her body suit gave me some trouble. The knee detail lines seem to be dimensional, possibly implying thin armor, but it could also be a tight body suit and it's actually defined muscle or something. I also couldn't figure out why her chest symbol was more rounded then the others in the group.... oh yeah, boobs.
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Solution
I almost immediately decided that the leg details would be sewn in. Adding extra bulk to my body shape didn't seem appealing, and I thought it would make the overall appearance too bulky. The chest details I briefly considered lighting until I remembered I don't even know how to applique fabric. I figured this costume could only handle one experiment.
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Problem
Lastly, as always with blacks and whites in comics, I had the worst time trying to discern the colors of some of the pieces. Using my previous knowledge that Moon Knight's main trait is that he wears white so his enemies can see him coming, I knew I wanted more white than black. In a lot of reference photos, some pieces appeared grey in color.

Solution
I convinced myself that the grey color was shading. Especially when I found this photo, I knew I had my color scheme officially.

​I remember showing my Mom the finished costume and showing her the main photo as reference and she said, "but that's not white" while pointing at her skirt and I just went off on a tangent showing her other photos and how excruciating my decisions were, and just full on ranting.

She just stared at me, not understanding my pain and said, "ok."

​So now that you have a pretty clear understanding of the trials and tribulations I put myself through for this design, my next blog post will give effective construction notes, materials used, and other processes involved in this build!