Character
Judging by my shrine alone, you can probably guess that Aerith is my super fave. Her character means a ton to me, and I have dedicated a lot of time and energy in my fandom life to her. If you want to learn more about all that, then the shrine will give you the insider scoop! 
Originally when I decided to cosplay her, I wasn't sure if Aerith's original design was something I wanted to make and wear. While it does a wonderful job of conveying her character's sensuality, her design from remake trilogy felt more aligned to my personal style. I prefer the OG FFVII to the retrilogy, holding many mixed feelings about it. But that doesn't stop me from adoring Aerith's design from it! Funnily enough, after all this, I now have her OG design on my cosplans list lmao. Someday though, after I make and finish up some other characters! 
Costume
Would you believe it if I said Aerith is the costume that's taken me the longest to complete? Yeah, I can't either. But here we are, with more hours poured into this build than I'd like to admit. Just a dress and jacket, I said, way back in 2021. How naive I was to the fact that I wouldn't be putting the finishing touches on everything until the year 2025––yikes!!
To be fair, many costumes started in this period languished for me. Due to a series of major life upheavals (including the pandemic), cosplay was put on hold. I returned to old hobbies, picked up new ones, and tried to reconfigure things as I attempted to get a grasp on my identity. Though a part of me regrets not getting back into cosplay sooner, I also realize that that I needed an extensive break from it. Stepping away allowed me to forge a new relationship with it, and a much healthier one at that. Not to mention that these long hiatuses from this cosplay were also spurred on my boredom and frustration LOL 
I kept running into roadblocks during the construction process, causing my attention to shift elsewhere. But after receiving an invitation from a friend to fly out and attend a con with her, I decided this spring would be when I would finish her for good!
I purchased the patterns for her dress and jacket from this Etsy seller. The instructions were straightforward, though I ended up having to make some adjustments to the dress, mainly with the bodice and adding a button placket. As of writing this, I actually have plans on modifying the bodice once more, to ensure the best fit. The dress fabric is from the Dangerous Ladies, a fantastic cosplay collective that sells awesome products, including custom fabrics and kits! I had never purchased a custom print before, and it's so cool to have something as game accurate as this! 
Without exaggeration, Aerith's jacket is one of the most challenging projects I have ever undertaken. Between the million pieces, bulky fabric, and the signature decorative zippers and belts that Square Enix is oh-so fond of, this pushed my sanity HARD. The saving grace was having an actual pattern to work with; if I had to modify another pattern, then I would have gone off the deep end for sure lmao.The dress proved tricky as well, which surprised me. After the jacket, I made the mistake of underestimating everything else! I chose the wrong bias tape size at first, and then I dyed the color incorrectly, oops. As alluded to earlier, I struggled to get the fit of the bodice right, and to be honest, it still isn't right. You can't tell anything's weird with the jacket on, but at some point I do have plans of taking the bodice front apart and regathering it so the fit is correct.
Well! At least the hair bow went according to plan!! No problems here!! 
The rest of her accessories were easy to put together too! My bangles were 3D prints from the Dangerous Ladies that I had printed, and the flower for the choker was a 3D print as well––which was done at my local library's maker space! I'm so thankful for such resources, ahhh ;u;
There are several additions I'd like to make to this cosplay. The first is to make her Princess Guard staff. Even though the design hasn't appeared in the Retrilogy (yet), it's my favorite weapon of hers, and would be a nice way to pay homage to the OG even when dressed in her Remake design. I plan to make her White Materia as well, plus a flower basket too! As silly as this. may sound, I plan to make Aerith my "signature" cosplay, so if there's any character to go all out for, then it's the queen herself!!
Wig
For the first time since I wore my Sasha Braus costume, I incorporated my real hair into the costume. Typically for cosplay I prefer wigs for a myriad of reasons: specific colors and styles, ease of being able to throw one on, extra hair volume, the list goes on. What made me opt out is my general dislike for the hairline on many pre-styled Aerith wigs, which, in my opinion, can often look a bit strange. I don't have the skills to do a major styling job like that from scratch, either, so combining my real hair with extensions it was!My best friend was the one who actually helped me with the braid extension! Using a preexisting ponytail piece, she sewed in some extra wefts for the volume and thickness, and then she wove it into the rope braid. She did a really beautiful job on it, way better than I could have done. I'm so grateful for her!! ; __ ;
The braid was worn with my natural bangs and front layers styled to look like hers. Honestly, I'm still experimenting with this. Unfortunately at the time wearing Aerith, my bangs were rather short, making it difficult to get the lift how I would have wanted. They were cute enough, but next time I wear her, I'm making sure I have that extra length! Oh well, practice makes perfect! In the future I may upgrade to a lacefront wig, but for now I'm happy to keep playing around until I find what I like the most.
Gallery
Character Reference
Glamour Shots
Dress
Jacket
