Recently I modeled a Saber Extra cosplay costume for the company FineHorse. FineHorse specializes in high end cosplay costumes, props, and accessories. They've recently started selling to the US market after catering largely to Europe and Japan for a decade. There aren't a lot of resources detailing the quality of their work in English yet, so I hope you will find my photos and notes about the costume's construction helpful!
Review
Apologies for watermarking the photos here. This company has a very hard time with other cosplay sellers stealing photos of their products to use for listings on Ebay and Taobao, so I've marked them in an effort to prevent these photos from being passed off as another company's work. My own Facebook posts of some of their products were already used by another company in this manner, so it's sadly necessary.
Hands down, the boots for this costume impressed me the most. I was stunned by how nice they were in person. The vinyl they are constructed out of is iridescent, with tiny metallic flecks in it to give it a metallic shine. They are one solid piece, which makes them sturdy and easy to wear. The inside is lined in black velvet, which is a nice touch since other shoes I've owned from cosplay sellers did not make considerations for the inside of the shoe. These photos were taken after a full day of wearing them and then storing them for months, so they hold up amazingly well. I had no discomfort when wearing them. They are made to last and walk around in for long periods of time.
One point I want stress about the quality of this FineHorse costume- The trim is carefully and expertly applied. This is very much in contrast to what you get when ordering from cosplay sellers who manufacture for Taobao or Ebay. There are no stitching errors or shortcuts made on this costume. You do not need to worry about making alterations once it arrives.
The top part of the costume snaps to the bottom using a series of clear snaps. The whole garment is fully lined.
The white skirt consists of 2 layers sandwiched together which gives it the semi-transparent effect without it being too see-through. It is a relatively ridged material, and the application of the gold trim that edges the skirt hem is well done. This skirt is attached to the rest of the dress to make putting the costume on simple.
The dress is made in two pieces. The top is fully lined and slips on like a bolero. The sleeves maintain the pointed silhouette with the use of boning. It runs invisibly inside the sleeve in 2 places- one down the center seam under the gold trim where it meets the other piece that crosses horizontally. This means there is no need to worry about interfacing being crushed or wrinkling after storing it. I found this method of creating the sleeve shape inventive and something I want to try on future projects! I normally use buckram, but like the use of boning here better. The whole top piece is very faithfully tailored to replicate Saber Extra's costume, right down to the 'lace' cuffs. The material used stands slightly stiff, which works well to defy gravity!
The white under-layer is made of a stretch satin. It zips on with an invisible zipper. A lower quality costume may have opted to install a normal zipper or not include one at all since the seam is not visible when the whole costume is worn, but even the under-layer has been tailored to be easy to wear while still being accurate to the original character design.
The cut and design is so accurate, in fact, that wearing it to an event might require you to make some considerations for modesty!
Post Update:
This post has been relocated in its original form to my new website hosting in January 2021. Previous comments on the post were not migrated.