Costume

Outfits . Hair & Make-up . Tetsuya Nomura  

Rinoa's design and personality was originally conceived by Tetsuya Nomura. This section contains detailed descriptions on her outfits and accessories, as well as an in-depth history of how her design came to be. For more information on where the pictured costume pieces are from, the Q&A Section has an explanation.


The Blue Duster

"Rinoa is the girl in light blue?"
          –Edea at her house

A pair of upside down white wings are painted on the back of Rinoa's ankle-length duster. The wing symbol is also her character symbol and originally it was thinner and used right-side up. The same blue knit material is used to make arm warmers. Princess characters often have it but this is also an '80s workout clothing style. They stay up because support elastics are sewn inside the top and bottom.

Two silver buttons are affixed for closing the duster at the front, though she only uses the one. They're sewn onto the same trim or bias tape that's folded all around her duster. The darker strip of material in the middle occurs because of the way trim looks unfolded. To show off her figure, the duster is pulled tight across her chest.

Underneath she wears a black, spaghetti strapped camisole (padded bra top) with a V neck. It's easily seen when she's Junctioned to Adel. It's shaped exactly like a Princess seamed camisole leotard used for ballet. She also wears a short stonewashed denim skirt with 3 large silver buttons at the front and a folded seam along the top. Under the skirt are spandex biker shorts with zippers that zip down the front of each leg.

Around her upper left arm is a half-inch thick black ribbon tied into a bow. The ribbon only goes missing (by error) in some early FMV scenes. For shoes, she wears a pair of combat-styled boots that are dark gray, almost black. The boots are 5 holed but she leaves the top row unused. Around her boots are black ankle straps which are belted at the front with metal plating.

Finally, around her neck is a silver chain with a plain silver ring. Later in the game she wears the Griever ring along with it. The official Rinoa's model necklace comes with an extremely long bead chain. I bought a shorter chain with links like that of the FMV model of Rinoa's rings. With a shorter chain, the necklace sits as it does on Rinoa in the game.


The Ivory Dress

"Even that dance was perfect."
          –Quistis at Balamb Garden

Rinoa wears an ivory, almost champagne coloured dress during the graduation and FH scenes. The dress stands out from the crowd because it is reminiscent of a debutante's white dress at a ball. The lighting makes it look yellow. Look at the gallery captures of the PS2 demo or actual gameplay to know the right colour.

A one-inch thick bias cut satin goes around the top of the dress and crosses at the front. The cross design is reminiscent of the dress her mother Julia used. It opens and closes behind her neck with a silver snap button, making the shape of a heart when viewed from the front. (My own dress was made to close like this, I only later found out that it was really designed that way!) The seams go down each side and the dress is cut to fit. There's a shiny chiffon layer on top, going two inches past the length of the dress. The bottom of the chiffon has a very small fold and is sewn all the way around to prevent fraying.

Along with the chain and ring, she wears a cuff bracelet on her right hand. It's a very thin silver bracelet, with an opening so that the metal can be bent when putting the bracelet on or taking it off.

The satin ballroom dancing pumps are custom made and dyed ivory to match her dress. The shoe has a slightly pointed toe, slim heels that are 2½ inches high and a double ankle strap with buckles. Like slingbacks, another strap goes around her heels.