Yang Xiao Long (Rwby)

Yang Xiao Long is one of the protagonists of RWBY. RWBY (pronounced ruby) is an American multimedia franchise produced by Rooster Teeth Productions. Costume built in 2021.

Full photo of Christina in the Yang costume in front of some columns
Christina Modeling the Yang Gauntlet

Part 1: Ember Celica (Gauntlets)

The first piece of the outfit that was made was the armor. I made the armor when I first started cosplaying.  The Gauntlet itself is made of EVA foam and PVC pipe to make the muzzle. The Robot Arm is made from craft foam and Worbla. While painting the pieces I decided to use a dry painting technique to make the scuff marks

When I first made Ember Celica (the name of the gauntlets), it had craft foam buckshot shells. But after many occasions of crushing the shells, I collected used ones and glued them on.

Pieces of the Gauntlet before assembly The finished Gauntlet with the character Yang in the background for visual reference.

Part 2: The Jacket

The bomber jacket is made with suede brown fabric. The sleeve belts are fully functional, and the sleeves can be rolled up and clipped to the elbow. The belts are 2 belts glued together with E600.  I took measurements of the sleeves and attached the belts before sewing the jacket together.

Once the sleeve customization was done, I went on to the rest of the jacket. I like putting zippers on jackets first so I know if I need to add more to the sides or take it in before attaching the collar and sleeves. Once I was satisfied with the fit, I removed the zipper, and cropped the jacket, added the Sherpa collar, and sleeves.

The Bomber Jacket for Yang, displayed on a dress form.
Assembling the Jacket on the Dress Form.
Trying on the Jacket with the faux Shearling Collar
Test fitting the vest part of the jacket during construction
Attaching the Nylon Web detailing to the Jacket
Cutting and assembling the Nylon webbing belt and details
Assembling the Stacked Orange on Black nylon webbing, using the floor.
Trying on the Jacket, showing the nylon web arm detailing.
Christina trying on the Overalls to test fit

Part 3: Overalls

Next thing to do was Overalls. I started by creating just normal overalls with a front zipper, then measured where the middle of my thigh was and cut the legs off and resewed them together with a separating zipper.

Next part was the details. I added studs and belt buckles to the separating zippers and studs on the shoulder straps. Yang has flaps on one of her separating pant legs as well as a belt flap with an ammo case and back pouch. I made these out of black and brown pleather, and the gold trim is foam covered with gold spandex and glued on with E600.  Once the gold had dried on the foam it was time to apply it to the pleather. I had to glue the pieces onto the costume as I didn’t want any seams to show

Jacket and Overalls Assembled on the Dress Form
Butt Panel being cut and assembled on the work table
Detailing being assembled on the work table
Checking details on the overalls in the mirror
Close up photo of thigh-attached pockets

Next up was the belt flaps, and ammo pouches. I sewed to brown pleather to make the pouches and used a strip of velcro to secure the flaps. The belt flaps Yang wears its 2 pieces of pleather sewn together and then gold trim placed all around it. There is a back pouch on it as well that doubles as a purse.

Back view of assembled costume, featuring belt bag Belt Bag attached on dress form Detail closeup of buckle holding knee separation point on the overalls

Part 4: Belt Buckle

I would be lying if I said this wasn’t the hardest part of the project. The overalls were detailed but this was the first time working with metal forging.  It was first made with foam but looked terrible. So, then it was 3d printed. That’s when the idea of making it out of metal came into play. First try was with sand casting and aluminum. It didn’t work well. Taking the 3d print, it was then made into a plaster cast. Then molten brass was poured into the plaster cast. After breaking off the plaster and cleaning the cast buckle, the brass was polished with a bench grinder and an angle grinder.

Finished, polished, brass buckle attached to the orange and black nylon webbed belt
Brass powder covered foam buckle
Red Plastic 3D printed RWBY logo to be used as the mold for the belt buckle
Daniel melting the scrap brass in his forge
Photo of the aluminum test casting using the sand mold
Photo of the unpolished final brass casting of the belt buckle
Photo of the back of the finished wig on the wig stand

Part 5: The Yellow Hair

Yangs hair is a bright sunny yellow. So I ordered a Luthian Arda Wig in Yellow and long wefts. She has a LOT of hair in the show. Once the wig arrived, I got to work adding more volume by sewing the wefts in.

It has a lot of hair

Once the wefts were in I had to curl the hair. Steam is my friend!

Then it was on to styling her bangs. Yang’s bangs are pretty simple and remind me of Princess Peach. I feathered the side bangs and pulled them back, pinned them into place and applied hairspray. The front bang was the same but this time I teased the root to give it more volume and then applied hairspray. Next was the ahoge. I took hair from the top and trimmed it to a short amount, then backcombed it to oblivion. Once the nest on the crown of the head was made, I started brushing it out to sculpt the ahoge. Then hairsprayed everything.

 

Front view of finished wig on wig stand
Adding wefts to the existing wig
Wefts waiting to be added to the wig on the coffee table
In-progress photo of curling the wig hair
Christina modeling the full Yang Costume
Christina modeling the full Yang Costume, looking over the top of a pair of aviator sunglasses