Crazy Cat Lady Costume

There was a cat-rescue group called Operation Paw at Supercon in July 2016, and their booth had a few little cat-themed items for sale, as well as cats for adoption. I wasn't about to get another actual cat, but I did want to support them, so I got this cute little purse with a cat face on it. Then I got to wondering, when was I going to use this little purse? I started to think maybe some cat-theme outfit, and that led to the idea of cosplaying a crazy cat lady. (At least, I think that's how it happened.)

The more I thought about it, the more enthusiastic I got. I figured this would be an almost-no-cost costume, because I already had plenty of stuff to put it together with: lots of animal print clothing, some T-shirts and other clothing with cats on them, lots of cat jewelry, several stuffed-animal cats, etc.

This is what I eventually decided on, from the bottom up:

• Leopard print shoes (from my existing wardrobe).
• Leopard or cat print socks (ditto).
• Leopard print leggings (ditto).
• A cat-themed shirt. I have several such T-shirts already, but it occurred to me it would probably be good idea if the shirt actually said "Crazy Cat Lady" on it, so it would be obvious to anyone what I was doing. I did not already have one like that, but I did find one at a reasonable price.
• A cat-themed hat to top it off. Many years ago, my mom was making funny hats for most of the family, and she made me a hat from fabric that had funny cats all over it. I considered using that hat, but decided it wouldn't "read" from a distance that it was cat-related. I also considered using one of my hats with leopard print on it. I decided instead to take a plain black hat from my existing wardrobe and decorate it appropriately. My mom had also sent a matching sash-thing along with her hat, so I tied that around the band area. I added several cat pins from my jewelry collection. Then on the top I put a stuffed-animal cat made in calico print. (See pic at right.) And then, just because I like including a bit of Firefly in my non-FF cosplays, I pinned my "Bring back Firefly" pin to its tail:
• The purse that started it all, of course.
• Cat jewelry. At the very least, earrings. Maybe a bracelet or watch, but I wasn't sure I had either. A necklace, perhaps, although I was concerned it might get lost amongst the other items.
• Cats climbing all over me. Obviously these would have to be stuffed-animal cats, but I kinda wanted them to look fairly realistic. When I inventoried what I already had among my stuffed animals, I found only 2 that fit those criteria. The rest were all like "wild" cats, although I had a Beanie Baby of a puma that I figured might also work. I figured I'd have one over my shoulders, I'd carry one, and I'd have the little puma crawling up my leg.

So, I got a chance to wear it at Paradise City Comic Con in December 2016, and got a lot of positive feedback on it. Here's the pic that shows all the cats best (not the best pic of my face, though :-)

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