Why Ranka Lee?
When I initially watched Macross Frontier in high school, I honestly was immediately drawn to Sheryl Nome's character but feared I wouldn't be able to do her confident and glamorous personality justice. I felt like even though I admired Sheryl more, I related to Ranka better. So I initially had queued up a list of Ranka cosplays I wanted to wear or make, and the classic yellow dress was definitely at the top of the list, for both its cute silhouette and comfortable look!
Nowadays, I feel like I actually suit Sheryl more than Ranka, ironically, BUT I'm still gonna cosplay the original pop star hopeful, because she is just too pure and cute, and I adore her even if I don't relate to her as much as I first did when I saw the show.
Costume Stats
Started: January 2018
Completed: January 2018
Status: active
Wig by: Moe Mall (ebay)
Worn at: KentokyoCon North 2018, Anime Central 2018, MatsuriCon 2019
Awards: none
About This Costume
The whole dress and scarf were patterned by me- the scarf is just a super long and thin rectangle, and the dress is a large circle skirt attached at the empire waist. I don't entirely favor how the fit came out on the top, so I may replace that panel later on. The light blue applique at the bottom of the dress was done in spandex using strips of Heat n Bond to adhere the top and bottom edges, and top stitched for extra stability. The little gems are acrylic rhinestones I had on hand.
To add more poof to the silhouette, I used my Aurora Dapper Day petticoat under the dress. This helps the triangles to read better, also, since without the petticoat, they were getting obscured by the folds of the skirt when it hung loosely.
The wig was originally a base wig with two ponytail clip ons but I felt the clips made the wig look too large, so I removed the clips and instead simply pinned the clipless ponytail extensions to the base wig, to get the look of Ranka's iconic "hair bumps". I finished out the wig with the little red bow in the back, which I made using an extra wide red ribbon and alligator clip. I sealed the edges of the ribbon with a soldering iron so it wouldn't fray.
My boots were double-dipped with Korra, as well, but are terribly uncomfortable, so I'll probably replace them in the future. Lastly, my necklace was just a gold chain I had on hand glued to a tiny crown I cut out of some glitter fabric-like sheets (the same ones I used for the star on my Lucky Star cheer uniforms like Kagami and Tsukasa).