Farnese cosplay colors and opinions?

I feel so awkward making this as my first thread, but after lurking around, I realize there isn't a better place to ask.

I'm a cosplayer (I do a lot of JoJo primarily, but I've also cosplayed Judeau before) and I want my next project to be short-haired Farnese in her traveling clothing, but I'm having trouble deciding on a color scheme! I've seen it pinkish and maroon the most, but I also seem to remember coming across pictures that have it as green or darker red or even blue.

Is there any preference for color that you all as fans have? I'm a bit worried about some of the pinkish shades clashing with my coloring or making me look washed out, and while I'm used to cosplaying from JoJo which is a series where messing around with the colors is entirely canon, I'm not so sure how Berserk fans would feel about that sort of thing.

In fact, is there anything that you'd particularly like to see me try to include or avoid? I really want to try and do Farnese justice since I don't see many people cosplaying her.
 

Grail

Feel the funk blast
Hey there Hanyaan, welcome to the board! :guts: I've seen your Judo cosplay and thought you did an impressive job. I'm glad to hear that you're interested in trying out another character!

Regarding Farnese's outfit, I've seen her traveling cloak shown as both a lightish magenta and a medium blue (as shown on the cover of volume 24). I'm not entirely sure which is considered "correct," but I think that blue would make for a better choice, if we're going on aesthetics alone.
 
Thank you so much for the pointer! I like blue a lot.

And thank you so much for the compliment~! I'm a bit worried about the time frame I've given myself this time around (I'm shooting for Fanime if I have any luck), but I think if I can exercise my self-discipline I'll be fine. The last time I tried a Berserk costume I ended up spending about four days sewing it and two months screwing around poring through various historical clothing references both physically and online. In those two months I placed Midland as primarily being (clothingwise) 1500s-1600s Germany and England, found the original dress which I would bet serious money that Farnese's ballgown's trim was inspired by, found out how Griffith and Judeau's collars would have worked for that formalwear scene, learned the difference between period pants construction and Miura pants construction, and learned to appreciate that for the vast majority of things you actually can sew things using just the seams that Miura draws. I ended up going totally crazy and drafting most of my Judeau costume with a hybrid of period and modern methods, doing crazy amounts of stuff to make it look realistically lived in (dying it after it was constructed so the dye pooled in the seams and it looked overdyed and older, wore it for a mile hike and actually slept in it before taking pictures, etc etc etc), and even went nutso and hand embroidered the eyelet holes.

I don't think I have time to do that to Farnese, but as it is, since her family's clothes are always more inspired by French and Italian fashion than the Anglo-German stuff worn by the rest of the main cast, I'm doing more research tonight. Perhaps if I can just spend one week screwing around researching and making mockups and then two or three weeks sewing?
 

Aphasia

ALL MYSTERIES MUST BE SOLVED
Hey Hanyaan! Welcome! kick your feet up and take a fat squat. I'm excited to see your cosplay as Farnese! I can't imagine she's a commonly displayed character, though she should be.
I would agree that a darker color, either maroon or a royal blue would look very handsome and provide a good deal of contrast with her hair and skin tone. I'm heavily impressed that you put that much research and detailing into your costumes - extremely cool! It's very interesting to hear the time period berserk was inspired by...You must be the go to authority on period pants. :guts:

Do you have a link where I could look at your cosplay?
 
Thank you! I'd love to see more people try Berserk in general, although I know that it scares a lot of people away just by being either armor (scary for people like me who are primarily seamstresses) or heavy sewing (scary for sewing newbies, although if you aren't totally crazy like I am, simple casual Band of the Hawk clothing is really easy), so it can be really intimidating.

You can see my costumes (including my Judeau further down the page) here, although a fair warning that I've been in the hobby for a rather long time so there's some rather terrible stuff far down on that page from before I learned what I was doing.

The real main difference between period and modern pants is that period pants end up looking a lot more baggy in the crotch and are waaay more of a pain in the ass to sew. Thank you, Miura!
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Grail said:
Regarding Farnese's outfit, I've seen her traveling cloak shown as both a lightish magenta and a medium blue (as shown on the cover of volume 24). I'm not entirely sure which is considered "correct,"

Grail is right. Miura has used both colors alternatively, so both are OK (maybe Farnese has 2 coats she wears alternatively! :iva:). No maroon, green or red though. You can find relevant illustrations in volumes 24 to 28. For reference:

Farnese02.jpg
Farnese-Casca.jpg

The blue one is a simple recolor done for the Trading Card Game, but it'll give you an idea of what it looks like. I think you can reasonably make it a little darker if need be.

Hanyaan said:
In those two months I placed Midland as primarily being (clothingwise) 1500s-1600s Germany and England, found the original dress which I would bet serious money that Farnese's ballgown's trim was inspired by, found out how Griffith and Judeau's collars would have worked for that formalwear scene, learned the difference between period pants construction and Miura pants construction, and learned to appreciate that for the vast majority of things you actually can sew things using just the seams that Miura draws.

Yeah, Miura's like that. Wouldn't draw clothes that aren't functional, but at the same time he doesn't stick to historical standards because Berserk is a fantasy story. By the same token if one were to check every character's clothes/armor/weapons carefully he or she would notice that it's pretty much impossible to pinpoint an approximative corresponding fashion era in our world as they come from diverse places and times. Same goes for architecture.
 
Oh, that is of TONS of help! Thank you so very much! I like the more watercolor coloring look of the manga compared to the more saturated look of the ps2 game, but the rotating 3D reference there is insanely useful.

And I'm not surprised that I seem to remember Farnese wearing colors that she doesn't actually wear; I always thought her Iron Chain Knights outfit would be blue (seemed like a good religious color that would look nice on her) until I got a keychain of her in that outfit and it turned out to be pink of all things.

EDIT:

I spent a few hours poking around internet fabric stores for bargain natural fiber fabrics and was wondering if I can I have some input on my fabric choices for most of this outfit? I won't be ordering until I finish my mockups out of cheapass fabric and know how much fabric I'll need, but I want to know which fabric I'll be using beforehand so I can keep my budget in mind! All of these fabrics will be purchased in white or natural and will be dyed after garment construction, the same way I did my Judeau costume, because it gives everything a wonderful old-clothing look. And even though Farnese is not nearly as much of a "peasant" character, the antique look it gives is so lovely that I want to do it again.

Neckerchief - a very lightweight handkerchief linen. Airy (almost seethrough) and drapey. Perhaps almost too lightweight? Not sure.

Shirt - A medium-light-weight linen. This is what I made my entire Judeau costume out of. It has a nice hand to it, flows well and is incredibly comfortable. Great as the base wear under heavier clothing or in hot weather! I'm 100% sold on this one.

Breeches - A cotton sateen. This is the one I am by FAR the most unsure of. The pants always seemed smooth to me looking at the reference, but maybe I should go for a nice twill instead?

Jacket - Silk noil, otherwise known as raw silk or slub silk. Not as expensive as the word "silk" would have you think! The texture reminds me heavily of the particular screentone Miura always uses for the jacket Farnese wears over the shirt and breeches (well that or wool tweed, but I live in California, and silk is far more breathable than wool!), and it's a little bit luxurious. It's nice to work with and dyes well, too!

Jacket lining - Cheap thin silk to line the jacket with.

Cloak - I have absolutely no idea where to go with this! Opinions, please? It would need to be something sturdy enough to hold the lapels with minimal interfacing but thin enough to drape beautifully, and it's the ONE piece of clothing in the entire ensemble whose construction makes absolutely zero sense. I'm not sure what kind of texture I want on this either. Smooth? Rough? Somewhere inbetween? Help me, Skull Knight members!
 

Aphasia

ALL MYSTERIES MUST BE SOLVED
The antique dyed look sounds very appealing...you should post pictures of the process if you have time! : )

I don't know much about clothing at all, but I see her neckerchief bot being quite seethrough for some reason..it looks just a little heavier than that, but not much...though I'm sure this approach would work, too.

The cloak almost looks like an altered pea coat of sorts...texture wise, the picture Az posted with the blue looks like a silky texture almost while the Magenta resembles more of a subtle wool look, there's not a whole of reflection or specular...I think visually something like this would be more appealing, as it would look like it could take the weather. Although I don't see it being a super heavy material, I don't see it being a very light one either...

I'm also familiar with some websites where you could purchase a cheap but very organic and high quality nine tales. :ganishka:

Good luck!
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Hanyaan said:
Oh, that is of TONS of help! Thank you so very much! I like the more watercolor coloring look of the manga compared to the more saturated look of the ps2 game, but the rotating 3D reference there is insanely useful.

If you don't mind black & white you can find some pretty detailed shots of her outfit in the manga. Could be useful I think.

Aphasia said:
The cloak almost looks like an altered pea coat of sorts...texture wise, the picture Az posted with the blue looks like a silky texture almost while the Magenta resembles more of a subtle wool look, there's not a whole of reflection or specular...

Well the sheen on the blue coat is mostly because it was colored by a nameless artist for the TCG. In Miura's own illustrations it's not like that.
 
Right now the only thing I'm still really trying to figure out is how much different of a color the undercoat is from the cloak that goes over it. I'm thinking it should probably be the same color but perhaps two shades less saturated?

Aphasia said:
The antique dyed look sounds very appealing...you should post pictures of the process if you have time! : )
It's pretty simple, and goes off logic of doing what I've been told NOT to do. You're normally told not to dye things after they've been made because then the dye will pool in the seams and make the garment look old. Well, isn't that exactly what you'd want for something like Berserk? I just have to make sure that I sew the garment together with thread that can take dye as well, and I get a more realistic result! I might want some of my other costumes to scream "Costume!" but for Berserk, I want to construct clothing.

I don't know much about clothing at all, but I see her neckerchief bot being quite seethrough for some reason..it looks just a little heavier than that, but not much...though I'm sure this approach would work, too.
I'm not entirely sure about that either... I'm going to have to do more research, check out a bit more about French cravats from before the French Revolution. It's not a period I've put much effort into researching other than when I went insane trying to research Farnese's blue ballgown a while back.


The cloak almost looks like an altered pea coat of sorts...texture wise, the picture Az posted with the blue looks like a silky texture almost while the Magenta resembles more of a subtle wool look, there's not a whole of reflection or specular...I think visually something like this would be more appealing, as it would look like it could take the weather. Although I don't see it being a super heavy material, I don't see it being a very light one either...
Yeah, wool suiting might be a good option, although heavier than I'd like. It might be the last thing I look for.

I'm also familiar with some websites where you could purchase a cheap but very organic and high quality nine tales. :ganishka:
I'm from near San Francisco. I think I might be able to have that covered. :ubik:

Good luck!
Thank you very much!

Aazealh said:
If you don't mind black & white you can find some pretty detailed shots of her outfit in the manga. Could be useful I think.
Yeah, I've been looking through my manga with a metric crapton of page markers (it looks like a forest of white sticking out of my volumes 22 plus now, so awesome), but sometimes it's easier to conceptualize how I want to make things when I can look at a 3D model than 2D drawings. It's how my brain works. If I had a good figure in my possession (and the money to AFFORD one, ahaha), it'd be even easier. A black and white 3D render would have been just as helpful. :farnese:
 

Aphasia

ALL MYSTERIES MUST BE SOLVED
Aazealh said:
Well the sheen on the blue coat is mostly because it was colored by a nameless artist for the TCG. In Miura's own illustrations it's not like that.
Oh! Right, I forgot that was from the TCG.
Hanyaan said:
Right now the only thing I'm still really trying to figure out is how much different of a color the undercoat is from the cloak that goes over it. I'm thinking it should probably be the same color but perhaps two shades less saturated?
I like the color but agree that less saturation would be a good thing. I can understand how handy a 3d model or figurine would come in handy! Sometimes there are photo galleries of figures that can give you a good idea of dimensions, given there enough photos. Berserkstatues.com is a great resource, since there so many pictures. Unfortunately I can only find one Farnese picture on the website! Gasp! so that probably won't help you much, but here's the link anyway.

http://www.berserkstatues.com/kits_unpainted.html

toward the bottom.
 
Unfortunately my post isn't going to be very constructive but I am keen to see how this turns out as I haven't seen many (if any) Farnese cosplayers before. If you can, make sure to post up pictures of your progress since seeing the build of a project can sometimes be just as, if not more, interesting than the final result. And as others have requested, I would also be interested to see your take on Judo/Jeadeu (I never can remember the correct spelling).
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
JezzaX said:
Judo/Jeadeu (I never can remember the correct spelling).

Miura's never confirmed a definitive spelling, however "Judo" has been used by the editor so far (which is why we use it on SK.net). "Judeau" or "Judau" are among the possible alternate spellings, but "Jeadeu" makes no sense at all, no idea where you got that from.

For reference, in Japanese it's "ジュドー".
 
I've seen it spelt that way several times (other forums, fansubs etc) but it's good to know there's no certain spelling
 
I was hoping I'd have progress of my wig, but the one I ordered turned out to be waaaaay the wrong color when it arrived so on to ordering a new one. I have a crapton of pattern drafting in progress but nothing to show... credit card receipts and a pile of messed up muslin aren't progress. I hope within a week to have some finished mockups and a finished wig at the least to show!

So since it has been requested, old Judo pics. (I always liked the French flavor of "Judeau", but if SK.net prefers Judo, I'll gladly switch my spelling!)

966649.jpg


1008651.jpg


1006879c.jpg


962597.jpg


I've always meant to go back and put the armor on, but I'm not the best at armor and prop making... sorry this outfit is so boring, and that I'm a crossdressing girl. :judo: On the other hand I can vouch for this being the most comfortable outfit ever, and since the base outfit shown here is pretty similar to the base casual clothing worn by many of the original Band of the Hawk, if anybody's interested, after I'm done with my Farnese costume I could whip up a tutorial for how to make something like this yourself. It only takes basic sewing skills and could easily be done in a week or two; Band of the Hawk members are a perfect super easy and super comfortable last minute convention costume! It's like cosplaying in Berserk pajamas.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
JezzaX said:
I've seen it spelt that way several times (other forums, fansubs etc)

Ok, well you should know that it's most definitely incorrect. The amount of possible variations is limited and that one isn't among them.

Hanyaan said:
I've always meant to go back and put the armor on, but I'm not the best at armor and prop making... sorry this outfit is so boring, and that I'm a crossdressing girl. :judo:

Don't feel bad, it's still pretty good for what it is. And there's room for plenty of cloth-only costumes within the Berserk world anyway.
 
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