Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing - Hellsing Ultimate



Cost: $65
Time to Make: 8 hours
Timeline of Construction: March 2006 (with some improvements in May 2012)


Pictures




Information

I've been a huge fan of Hellsing for many years. I loved the first Anime and I enjoyed collecting the Manga. I was really thrilled when I heard that a new Anime was going to be made that would more closely follow the Manga. I've always liked Integra because she's a great female protagonist with a lot of appeal so I was thinking about Cosplaying her for a long time. I originally wanted to Cosplay her olive green outfit from the first Anime, but after reading the Manga, I figured the black suit that she wears would but easier to make and look better to wear.

The costume was a closet one. I used an old suit jacket of my brother's and just modified it to suit me. I bought a ton of gold buttons at Fabricland and sewed them onto the sleeves and onto the front of the jacket. My jacket actually only had one functional front button and the rest were just added to suit the design. The shirt, pants and shoes were ones that I own and wear on a regular basis. Pam found the glasses for me, which were really accurate for the character, but looked really off on my face. I wear glasses on a regular basis so I figured Cosplaying a character with glasses would suit me quite well, but the size of Integra's glasses really consumed my face.

The wig was an eBay find. It was cheap, but I loved all the waves and curls. It's not very accurate for the Anime version of the character, but in the Manga Integra's hair sometimes has a lot of flair to it. Due to the cheap quality, the wig sort of died by the time I wore this costume in 2007.

My silver cross was from a cross pendant that I inherited from my aunt's late mother. It was a very weird thing for me to inherit but it was perfect for the costume. I painted it and glued on a brooch backing so it would stay in place. The only challenging part of this costume was the giant red tie. The best material that I could find for it was a bit flimsy so it was challenging to work with. When I first wore this costume in 2006, the tie was way too big and looked really off, but when I fixed it for the following year, it looked a lot better. I enjoyed Cosplaying Integra because I love Hellsing. I wish I could have done the character better justice, but it was still a great experience. I even met Crispin Freeman while Cosplaying Integra in 2006 and that made Cosplaying Integra all worth it. :D

Update May 2012:

I was never that happy with my Integra costume as it originally was. When I was asked to be part of a Hellsing group for AN 2012 I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to bring back the costume since the jacket didn’t fit me very well and I didn’t really like my original wig. I was able to purchase a new wig from my friend Amy and Ammie (who asked me to be in the group) offered to make me a new tie for my costume. My original tie was kind of a mess and my new tie matches the reds she used in her awesome Alucard costume. She also helped me style the high bangs into the wig in her hotel room at the con and that turned out very nicely.

When I found my original jacket for Integra in the back of my closet, I was quite dismayed by the size issue and I planned to alter it. Before I altered it, however, I discovered that my little brother had a much nicer and more fitting black jacket that he had outgrown that I could use for the costume. I sewed on the gold buttons from my old jacket onto my new one although I had to skew the buttons a bit on the front of the blazer to match the way Integra’s jacket is buttoned. I even purchased a joke shop cigar to complete the look.

Pretty much every element of the costume (besides the glasses) were new for 2012 and I love how the costume looks now. It’s a huge improvement over the old version! Together with Jukebox as Seras, ReJecT001 as Pip, Ammie as Alucard and The Letter Jay as Anderson, (and a guest appearance by a Walter) we had a fantastic group at Anime North 2012. I never dreamed that I would be part of a big Hellsing group and this was really fun. I think the Hellsing group was my favourite Cosplay experience of AN 2012. The group dynamic was awesome and Cosplaying Integra is very empowering. The suit makes me feel ten feet tall and very commanding! This costume holds a very special place in my heart.

Events/Conventions this costume was worn to
March Toronto AnimeCON 2006 (Sunday), March Toronto AnimeCON 2007 (Saturday), Anime North 2012 (Saturday evening), Anime North 2013 (Saturday evening) & Otakuthon 2013 (Friday afternoon)

Photo Credits
Stillvisions, SolarTempest, Pan & EleventhPhotograph


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