Faye Valentine (Cowboy Bebop)




Faye Valentine was created on a whim.  My jazz dance class was learning the original choreography to All That Jazz from Chicago and I thought that it would be really cute to do a masquerade entry using the dance.


Photo by Kenneth Chang.

The thing was, I couldn't think of a good character to do the dance with.  I needed a comfortable costume.  I needed a character who would fit into Chicago (no good girls or middle schoolers!), and I ideally wanted a character that I personally liked who had a flashy costume that I would look good in.
 


Photo by Kenneth Chang.
Two out of four ain't bad, right?  Faye was just so perfect for the role. Comfortable, a bit of a bad girl. Very Chicago.  But her costume is boring.  It's so easy that anyone could do it, and why do something so easy?  Also, although I'd seen all of Cowboy Bebop, I wasn't a huge fan of the series or of Faye. She was a decent enough character.  But I didn't adore her.


Photo by Kenneth Chang.

On the other hand, the idea was perfect.  I still wasn't sure that I wanted to do the costume, though. That was until I sprained my foot (not my ankle, my foot). And so for four weeks, I couldn't do anything.  I couldn't walk around with my friends. I couldn't dance. I couldn't do martial arts.  I could only do things that involved sitting on my butt.  Like sewing.


Photo by Kenneth Chang.
The first thing I did was finished the Rose of Versailles costume that I'd been working on.  But once that was finished, I still had a lot of time left.  So, in an afternoon, I made Faye Valentine.  The irony is that it is perhaps the most popular costume that I've ever made (either it or the Fur Bikini, making it so that my most popular costumes are also my easiest, damn it).  Apparently I not only do a good Faye, I embody her (according to several men).  And dancing to All That Jazz on stage made me very popular.  Apparently people like Faye.  And Chicago.  And flirtatious dancing.  Who'd have thought?  So, I've decided to give Faye another try. And you know what?  After all this time, I'm finding that I rather like her after all.




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P.S.  To anyone who cares, Faye Valentine won a Judge's Award at Fanime during a skit about shampoo that I did with the Lemon Drops.  The dance was at AX. But they care about costumes in that contest, so no award there.  ; )