Meet Pepper Potts

On a lark I decided to try to dress as Pepper Potts to go see Iron Man 3. Nobody else was dressing up, we weren't seeing the midnight showing, but Pepper is pretty "normal" as far as costumes go. I pulled appropriate clothes from my closet, printed a tiny Stark Industries logo to glue on to a pin to wear as my only identifying feature, and set off. I figured I'd see if any of my friends even noticed what I was trying to do, since I was coming from work and wearing nothing particularly strange. As soon as I arrived they noticed - within seconds! I shouldn't have underestimated them ^_^

So here's my attempt at looking like Gweneth Paltrow. I don't really see it, but my friends and watchers on FB have all said that the likeness is uncanny. I still think I look much more like Tilda Swinton or Mia Wasikowska. Seeing as Free Comic Book Day was the next day, I threw on the outfit again to go downtown to Labyrinth and BMV. Unfortunately, in that case, the effort wasn't worth it. Maybe next year I will make actual plans to dress up. And get to the stores before 6 pm.

Anyways, as a really, truly "closet cosplay" Pepper photos will be taking up residence on my Not-Costumes page.

The story isn't ending there though - I have decided, based on the positive response I've gotten to this so far, to wear Pepper at Anime North on Sunday. Since it's an actual con, and since I will need to be functional in it (staffing obligations), I've decided to take on Kurumasha's suggestion to make a "Stark Pad" to go with my costume. So basically a transparent light-up tablet, which will double as a clipboard. Photos below are of my first mock-up of the clipboard with LEDs attached, second is with my layout taped on (in reverse as I'm engraving from the back), and third is my progress so far with the lights on. I did preliminary outlines and the fine details of Tony using an exact knife, but have now moved on to using a dremel for the parts I need more coverage on.

I hope I get it done soon (without killing my wrist)!