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Yukari Hayasaka from Paradise Kiss,
Created by kitkatwombat, 2022
Loan Courtesy of kitkatwombat Cosplay
Photography Credit: @allthingslaurenstudios
A merger of pop culture and fashion, each borrowing aspects from one another, cosplay shows us media in a new light. Cosplay illuminates the power and impact of fans, allowing the world to see the care that goes into these creations. The meticulous detail and techniques used are not only inventive but also show the dedication people have to the craft.
This is particularly interesting with cosplays of 2D media, such as comics and animation, where the cosplayed article of clothing cannot be shown from different angles and depths. Cosplayers face the unique challenge of extrapolating this information into their costumes, leading to multiple variations of the same outfit, each with its own unique flair. Such interpretations of 2D media of anime and manga also entice us to see the different approaches cosplayers take to the same design, which is a true testament to their creativity.
We keep these fan communities in mind while curating at MOPOP. In searching for ways to support the upcoming Asian Comics: The Evolution of an Art Form exhibition, we sought to showcase the versatility and importance of cosplays to Asian comics and engage our local community. The MOPOP curatorial team sent out an open call, receiving multiple impressive submissions from across Washington State. We focused on cosplays based on anime and manga, tying our selections to the overarching exhibition theme. While going through submissions, kitkatwombat’s cosplay wowed us not only with its theme, but also with the intricacy of its techniques, the attention to detail, and the research that went into creating it.
The creator of this outstanding cosplay, kitkatwombat, talked to MOPOP Curatorial Assistant, Shuprima Guha about her creative process, as well as her interest in anime and manga.
Created between January and March of 2023, this intricate cosplay brings together details from the Paradise Kiss television show and manga, combining the two to create a cosplay that is both true to the original and inventive in its design. kitkatwombat's Yukari Hayasaka cosplay has previously been shown at the 2023 Sakuracon Cosplay contest in Seattle, and will be on display at MOPOP until January 2026.
For those who may not be familiar, could you provide an explanation of who this character or person is? And what motivated you to bring them to life?
Yukari “Caroline” Hayasaka is an average high school student who finds herself involved with a group of fashion school students. After bumping into a handsome young man named George, she is roped into becoming a model for the fashion student group’s brand, Paradise Kiss. This event shocks Yukari into reconsidering everything about her life and leads her to pursue a career as a model and enter an exciting, albeit toxic, relationship with George.
Paradise Kiss is the first manga that I read that is under the demographic of “Josei” (works aimed at a primarily young adult woman audience) and I immediately fell in love with how raw, emotional, and dramatic the story is. The beautiful art and Vivienne Westwood-inspired fashion throughout the volumes elevate what is already a heart wrenching story. Paradise Kiss depicts the early years of young adulthood in a realistic light: messy and heart-wrenching but ultimately full of hope. In the most pivotal scene in the manga, the characters all band together to work on a runway show. Yukari Hayasaka, the protagonist, dazzles the audience wearing a blue ball gown.
As the Paradise Kiss atelier creates the dress for their fashion school final project, the manga shows only small previews of the garment. Finally, on the day of the fashion show, the full dress is revealed in a stunning full page spread. As I was reading the manga for the first time, I was taken aback by the gorgeous dress and immediately knew that I wanted to someday recreate it.
Tell us a little about your introduction to Anime and Manga. What were some elements that really stuck out to you, and have changed the way you view content?
While many of my peers started watching anime and reading manga as children, I only started consuming it in college when my now-husband, who is a lifelong anime and manga fan, introduced it to me. I was previously very skeptical of anime and manga because there are some works that I knew portray women in a less-than-flattering light. It was only after I watched Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun that I changed my mind. It is a slice-of-life romance with a hilariously eccentric cast of characters. The stakes are low and every episode puts a big smile on my face.
Since completing this first show, I have grown an appreciation for anime and manga from a variety of genres. I have learned to look past the sometimes grotesque depictions of characters and instead focus on the stories. While I choose the majority of the characters that I cosplay based on my initial response to their character design, I also decide to cosplay characters only after watching their story and personality unfold. As my tastes in anime and manga have changed, I have also been inspired to challenge my own self-image by cosplaying different types of characters.
What inspired your design for this cosplay? Could you share some insights into the techniques, materials, or skills you used to create this cosplay?
To recreate this cosplay, I used a combination of references from both the manga and the anime adaptation. I had an idea in mind of the exact kind of fabric I would need. I knew that I needed an extra wide fabric, and a lot of it, since in addition to the ballgown-style skirt, the dress has a voluminous train. While visiting my in-laws in Puerto Rico, I was lucky enough to visit a historic fabric store called Olazábal and was able to find a lovely jacquard fabric that was a near-perfect color match to the anime version of the dress and was also almost 100 inches wide. Most standard fabrics are between 50 and 60 inches wide, so I considered myself doubly lucky.
Then came the hard part of actually making the dress! I spent several weeks researching methods for making ballgowns and searched for a pattern for the bodice but was unable to find one suitable for the reference I used. Instead, I drafted a custom pattern using my dress form, crafted a mockup, made adjustments, and then constructed a corseted lining using industrial zip ties and spiral steel for boning. I could not find trim for the dress in the correct color, so I bought a cute white trim and created a custom fabric dye with Rit DyeMore to recreate the green.
For the ruffled underskirt, I made a satin underskirt, created ruffles from long strips of satin, and sewed them row by row. For the beading, I replicated the flower design as a stencil and then stitched 6 different sizes of beads onto the skirt, bodice, and sleeves following the pattern. It took me almost three months and over 50,000 beads to finish the pattern on the bodice, skirt, and puff sleeves. Surprisingly, this did not scare me away from beading and instead inspired me to add beads to many of my cosplays moving forward. I also used three black wigs to create Yukari’s floor-length braids and finished the look with faux flowers.
How has other forms of media shaped your cosplay practice? Does Anime and Manga play a role in how you create your cosplays style?
I have primarily cosplayed from anime, manga, and video games so far. While 3D video game designs tend to be very intricate and textured due to the nature of the medium, 2D anime and manga character designs are more streamlined.
Video game characters are designed, modeled, and rigged to work within the game’s world. As games become bigger in scope, their characters also tend to get more complicated. Some characters in the games I play can have seven or more layers of clothing at once! As a cosplayer, I have to balance the desire for creating a cosplay that is accurate to the source material whilst being something that can be worn comfortably for hours.
One uniquely challenging part of creating a cosplay from anime and manga is that your references are all typically 2D; to bring it into the real world you as an artist often have to make a lot of assumptions about fabric texture. References often don’t have seams or closures, making it so that recreating a design 1:1 is impossible or results in an unwearable garment.
Since characters from anime and manga tend to be more simplistic and lack detail, I like to add personal touches that help bring these animated characters to real life. I do this through fabric choices and embellishments. While this dress from Paradise Kiss is already quite intricate in the source material, I was able to elevate the design even more by using a jacquard fabric rather than a plain solid for the majority of the dress. For other anime cosplays that I’ve made that have simpler character designs, I have enhanced the designs with embroidery, beading, piping, and even by using different textures of fabrics within the same costume.
Check out MOPOP’s Special Exhibition Asian Comics: Evolution of an Art Form on view in the museum from March 7th, 2025, until January 4th 2026.
Originally curated by Paul Gravett with a team of more than twenty international advisors at the Barbican Centre in London, this unique exhibition is making its second North American stop at MOPOP.
