Cosplay Jumpsuits

A bunch of the cosplays we're interested in doing - Portal, Alien and Ghostbusters, all involve jumpsuits - BUT they are all slightly different from one another: so I can't just buy any old jumpsuit! I thought I'd mention some types of jumpsuits, sources and mods we have planned in case someone else was wanting to recreate any of these. 

The 2013 cheap jumpsuit Portal costume
The place to start for any recreation costume is the Replica Prop Forum.  There are a lot of great discussions on costumes, weapons, masks and general props there for pretty much any fandom you can think of.

In addition, most fandoms have their own websites with bulletin boards and costume instructables/sources/suggestions.

Portal: For my kid's Portal costume the first time around I cheaped out and got the cheapest jumpsuit I could find because hello, growing 9 year old!  It didn't have long sleeves and was very thin.  Not the greatest, but at $16 by far the cheapest.

Of course, she outgrew it, so this time around I opted for a slightly nicer version.  (p.s. You may be able to find it cheaper on ebay, I did!) While the jumpsuit had quite a few design details that were different from the original it was the ONLY inexpensive one that came in the right color/size.  My only mod was to add the Aperture logo to the back but I plan on adding some more details and an Aperture patch.

Added bonus - if you don't care about screen accuracy, you can get the pilot's vest and have a Portal jumpsuit do double duty as a Star Wars pilot costume!


Ghostbusters: First of all you have to decide which one do you want?

Classic

OR
Reboot
Since the new movie isn't out yet there are only a few stills of the reboot costumes to work from.  But there is a LOT of info on the originals.  There's even a 1 stop Amazon shopping list!   Or if you want a femme version of the original GB uniform you can get one of these ladies' rompers from We Love Fine (We Love Fine also makes super cute women's Portal rompers.)  

In general the best source for uniform research, for either the classic or the reboot, is the Ghostbusters Fans Forum Uniform section.   There's a whole section reviewing all the various flight suit options for the classic uniforms, and a discussion about what the best option for the base new Feig uniform might be. After a LOT of poking around I settled on this jumpsuit as the base for my reboot costume.  It's nearly the right color of greyish khaki, it comes in my size and it's cheap, $29 and free shipping!  You too can get yours and be a ghostbuster!  It's a close-out though, so there are only sizes 38 and 40 in khaki.  I'll post pics once it arrives.

 Alien: In some ways the Alien jumpsuit is the most difficult because the original Ripley wears is an unmodified G-4B flight suit from the 1950s which are rare/super pricey now.


So most people mod existing jumpsuits.  Again, a lot depends on sizes/design similarities and preferences, like 100% cotton vs synthetic vs blend, and what size you need.

I ended up going with this flight suit from ebay. There is a very useful and detailed thread by wetcelery on the RPF on her whole Ripley Alien build from patches to flamethrower that I keep referring back to over and over again.  (Incidentally she's very petite and ended up modding a jumpsuit from H&M, so that may be an option for some of you if the men's flight suits are too big.)  If you want to repro one of the other Nostromo crew members check out this thread. I got my flight suit the other day and so far all I've done is rip off all the pockets and doodads on the suit except the chest pockets.  Now I need to alter it to fit me a little better, then I'll mod the pockets to be more correct and put them all back on.

Pro tip - If the jumpsuit you're replicating has more pockets than the one you're using as your base order the TALL size to give yourself a little extra fabric to work with!

Comments

  1. I am also planning a Ghosbusters reboot costume, so I look forward to seeing pictures of your progress!

    One other jumpsuit issue I've had recently was for my Princess Leia Hoth suit. I used a British military surplus arctic coverall, which was super cheap on ebay and the right silhouette. It was super warm though, and I definitely overheated in a hot building!

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