Zentai Suits in Kigurumi

Talk about kigurumi, this word must sound new and strange for most of you. But if you ever travel in Japan, have you ever seen people with all their body covered in a layer of thin lycra zentai suit, then wear their special costume outside, dress up as the sweet rabbit, pretty maid, etc, with their facial mask, and attract your attention to their own stores? If you have seen this, you have already witnessed a live kigurumi.
Kigurumi is a Japanese originated word, which basically means "dress up the doll". It's a special way of entertainment, which assembles the cosplay in some way, but has its own unique format and styles. The same point of these two things is, they are both dressing up as another character, while the difference lies on the format, display method, tools involved, and the culture in it. Cosplay is to wear the Cosplay Costumes, wigs, accessories, and do the makeups, and role act as another character we like, such as the vampire knight, harry potter; while the kigurumi has a long cultural beginning as the dolls dressing. To do kigurumi, you need to fully cover yourself up, and no exposure of any body part in the air.

To prepare for a kigurumi, you need first to get a lycra spandex zentai outfit. And for the final effect, the zentai suit's quality is very important. You need a good one, not only at the color, but also at the size and cloth material. For example, if you are picking a flesh color zentai suit as base garment, you need to get the color accurate. If it's a general manga girl, such as sailor moon, a typical flesh color suit is ok; if you are doing an African or Asia woman image, you need a dark brown color zentai suit. The suit needs to be able to fit perfectly with yourself, and it can't be too thin for people to see through, or it can't be the standard kigurumi.
If you think the kigurumi is only one layer of zentai costume, then usual wear, the fact is much more than that. Some characters need you to wear the thigh high stockings, and long gloves, besides the first base color zentai suit.

To do kigurumi, black lycra Spandex Zentai Suits as base is also very common. As the photo here shows, the person wears a black zentai suit then wear the maid dress, to do as a kigurumi maid.

Just as cosplay, after cosers wear their beloved costumes and dress up as the characters from movies, manga, games, after do kigurumi, people could also play a lot of interesting games, or give us a fantastic show. There's ever a group of kigurumi lovers, each wear up as one unique character, and together they have held a kigurumi wedding! Good kigurumi, is details-oriented, and each finished work is an artistic enjoyment. If you are interested in this, you could begin first from seeing more photos about it, and read some articles. There's also forums and blogs themed for it.