Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? At an Anime Convention, Oddly Enough

Even though most of the people who occasionally gander at my sketch blog have already seen it, here are (finally) some photos of my costume!  I cosplayed as Carmen Sandiego (accompanied by the most gorgeous Wanda/Wenda ever, my friend, Amy :P) at Anime Central (ACen) 2011.  Sure, neither character is actually anime related but...whatcha gonna do?

(I suggest clicking on the photos for a larger image!)

Wanda/Wenda & Carmen Sandiego

(Note: All this time, everyone I grew up with and I thought her name was Wanda, but it's Wenda?  What other crushing lies have I been fed as truth?!)  

Close-up

Amy and me with a random Waldo that we ran into 

I purchased the hat and used wore boots I already owned, but I added the yellow felt band to the fedora and made the red trench coat myself.  I used McCalls Pattern #M5525 but made some minor modifications in regards to the front pocket flaps.  The pattern called for them to face in the opposite direction, but I kept them this way because it made the flaps functional as opposed to strictly decorative.  Plus the pattern markings were off just enough that it would have been awkward to stick with the original layout...  I like it better this way anyway, really I do!

The trench coat is made with red sweatshirt fleece and is fully lined with cotton fabric (super cheap stuff, but it has a cute cherry pattern).  I chose to use red sweatshirt fleece because I wanted to make a comfy and warm coat that I could wear as part of my regular wardrobe when it gets cooler.  I underestimated, however, just how warm (and heavy) the coat would really be.  There were so many more layers than I had anticipated and in the end I was only able to stay in the costume for about an hour or so...  Really, it wasn't unbearably hot, but I was feeling ill.  And the added heat doesn't mix with nausea well :/

I had black leather gloves to wear as well, but I forgot them in the car.  D'oh!  It's such a shame because I think the gloves really would have polished off the costume quite nicely.  *Sigh* Maybe someday I'll put it all together and take photos of the completed costume.  But those photos won't be as nice as these...because I'm not the one who took them :)

All the photos I posted were taken by this awesome guy, so go check him out ;P

And here's a link to the photos he took at ACen 2011!