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Costume Journal: Polish Vampire Hunter Concept

Similar to how I came up with the concept of Wisteria Fox, I'm going to try to explain the round-about way I came up with my designs for my Polish Vampire Hunter.


Inspiration Sources

Primarily, I have wanted to make a traditional Polish dress and embroidered vest. I have everything I need for it...except patience. 😜

So keep that sitting on the backburner for many years and add in the armor making course I took. Which made me want to turn this folk art vest into folk art bodice armor. Which leaked into my Lotara the Drow design. 

THEN came the fanfiction. I'm a big fan of a variety of vampire hunter related media...and I really didn't realize until now how prevalent it was. Some of the big influences were: 
  • Castlevania
  • Demon Slayer
  • Vampire Hunter D
  • Blood+ 
Vampires are fun characters.

Going from General to Specific

So that's the influence, but the inspiration came from research! At first, it was just a general idea of what would be traditionally appropriate. Some inspiration was: 
  • Polish/Eastern European Folk Art

  • I think this is technically Russian. But shut up...it's pretty! 

  • Knights

  • It makes an impressive statement.

    • Winged Hussars
    • Templars
    • Princesses and Heroes
  • Feminine Design
    • Flowing
    • Flowers
    • Curves
  • Hunters
    • Furs
    • Leathers
    • Foxes
  • Catholic Orders
    • Divine Mercy
    • Saint Faustina
    • Templars
    • Winged Hussars
  • Flowers
    • Poppy
    • Rose
    • Edelweiss
    • Cornflower
  • World War I
    • Aviatrix
    • Military Nurses
    • Chemical Warfare
    • Gas Masks

The Fanfiction Element

So the research did eventually lead me into making this a character that is slightly (very much) a self-insert for a Demon Slayer x Castlevania story. It's not written down because I keep retelling it to myself and putting in more detail about the characters, and doing more research into the time period.  But there is story progression, so I imagined variations for this costume and interpretation based on the story's timeline. 

This is where story progression helped.

So this character (Maria) starts off wearing a more traditional style of dress. She's a veteran of the Great War, having served as a military nurse and mortician. 

Can you see the Vampire Hunter D influence?
Later in the story, she gets in touch with the knight order her Grandfather was a member of and trains as a vampire hunter in Europe. She's officially knighted. 

Due to circumstances, she gets very involved with the Demon Slayer Corps and eventually goes to Japan. The costume blends elements from both cultures, but only slightly. 

So there are several costumes for this character, but the focus will be on the Vampire Hunter/Knight outfit. 

By the way, these are a lot of doodle idea farts, which is how I suss things out that I like and don't like, such as the wide-brimmed hat and the fox mask. These worked in one version of the story that included more Kitsune. Because that's also been my thing lately.  

General Costume Parts



The costume needs armor that is feminine, knightly, and Polish-inspired. You can see that my solution for that was to put the vest on backward essentially and put a design on the front prominently. It also has the fun tabs around the waist like flower petals. (I have not 100% settled on a vest embroidery design, but I have a few ideas.) Bracers are a must too. It allows me to keep some billowing sleeves or more traditional-looking blouses.
It's kinda hot.

I also liked a bustle skirt and caplet I saw on a Simplicity pattern. This gives it a lot of fun motion and feminine energy and can act as a part of knightly garb. (I've seen it on a few anime/video game female knight characters.) The caplet depicts the Knight Order's Emblem. (It's the Order of the Cross and Thorn. It's got lots of Catholic goodies in there. The Cross, Crown of Thorns, the Three Nails, and Blood and Water, aka Divine Mercy light. This design was easy.)
 
The boots are short, just about ankle-high. I recently looked at some professionally made leather moccasins and got some ideas on making these boots fancy with leather tooling and trim. Yet another place to squeeze in more folk art or Catholic symbols. 

Head covering is a kerchief held in place with flower-tipped hairpins. I've made these already with fake poppy flowers. The Kerchief is a feminine-looking, traditional head protection. But also helpfully keeps hair out of your eyes. (I've started wearing them in my everyday life. It's great!)

Shirts and Pants have some variations. I could lean heavily into the Demon Slayer uniform design and make the sleeves tubular and the pant legs wide. Or I could lean more into WWI Aviatrix with puffy breeches and form-fitted blouses. Or I could go with the embroidered pretty blouse and give things more of a Musketeer vibe. Well, I think I prefer the Hakama design personally as a point of comfort yet ease of movement. I may need to make the boots calf height to tuck into or include boot toppers. 

Eh...not everything is set in stone design-wise for this costume. It's close, though. Most of the Folk Art design is up in the air at this point. But I'm kind of feeling winged horses, and Eastern European flowers would make for a nice design as a tip of the hat to the Winged Hussars. 

Prop Ideas

What are the weapons of a vampire hunting knight? Traditionally it is a sword...so of course, there needs to be a sword design. 

In my illustrations, I have a sword whip with a nod to Ivy from Soul Caliber. Or a mix of Castlevania's whip weapons and a sabered blade. 
There were also concepts of making it a sword cane or a parasol sword because that shit is cool (and popular during that time period). But I also thought of making it a two-handed sword because that's what I've trained with personally. 
I love this idea. But it'd be better for a spy mission.

Side note: Fun lore I had about the Story's sword "Edelweiss" is that it was shattered but remade into this whip sword. This fits in with the character's ability to adapt to rough circumstances. 😝 I'm a nerd! 

Other weapons and props in the arsenal include: 
  • Holy Medals/relics
  • Holy Water container
  • Blessed Salt container
  • Metal Rosary
  • First aid kit
  • possibly a side-arm
And, of course, we have to accessorize! But not too much, because we fighting! 
  • Holy Medals
  • Fingerless gloves

Progress So Far

There are parts of the costume I'm fairly set on and have begun production. 
Considerations

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