Cosplay – Valerie from Josie and the Pussycats #LoveIt

On April 20, 2013, I attended DC’s first comic book convention, also known as the Awesome Con . For this historic occasion, I decided that I would dress up as Valerie from Josie and the PussyCats. Unfortunately there are very few web sources that explain how to successfully execute this costume.  I am here to change that and share my experience with altering the leotard, shoes, tambourine and my make-up.

Let’s get to it shall we.

Leotard:

What you will need: Leotard, silk scarf, tape, white paint or spray paint, scissors, sponges, and blow dryer.

I ordered my leopard print leotard from Amazon.com, because it was long sleeve and it came with the cat ears and a tail. I cut off the heart with scissors. While outside, I taped a “V” shape in the center, placed cardboard inside the suit and spray painted it white. DON’T DO THIS! Why? Once the paint dried the fabric in the front no longer stretched, as a consequence, once I put on the leotard half of my chest was exposed.  Not to worry, I simply bought a white silk scarf ($5) from a local boutique and thread it through the “necklace” part of the leotard to cover up my goodies. If I could do it over again I would have placed a plastic bag on my stomach, then put on suit, tape the “V” shape while I was standing, sponge paint the center and use a blow dryer to dry the paint. That way, once the suit had dried it would have dried in the appropriate place, making the silk scarf obsolete (if that is how you choose to wear it).

Shoes

What you need: old canvas shoe, acrylic paint and varnish

When it came down to the shoes, I wanted to pair this costume with a high top (because that is my style). If you would like to wear a flat, H&M  has a lovely leopard print flat for an economical price. For me, I thought this was a perfect time to re-purpose an old shoe I have had for 10 years. It’s simple really. First you clean your shoe (I chose to clean them with cleansing wipe), paint the whole shoe white, then paint the design on the shoe, wait 24 hours then spray with varnish and finish it off with a new pair of shoes strings. To help with your design just Google Image your favorite leopard print design or follow the same pattern as your leotard and go to town.

Tambourine

What you need: tambourine and a printer

I bought a tambourine for $2 at my local party store and printed out the logo and glued it on to the tambourine

Make up

What you need: black and gold eye shadow, mascara, white eyeliner, nude lip stick

I am far from a professional make artist, so I found a YouTube you can watch to recreate this look. Click here

I hope this tutorial helps! I wish had two more friends who wanted to complete the pussycat band but I would choose Waldo, Sally and little Spider man any day.

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