Many of my costumes debuted as halloween costumes, my Silent Hill 1 nurse was a halloween costume given that young me did not go to conventions. I have plenty of halloween costumes that did not get documentation. Strings of werewolves or ghouls have gone unremarked on by history and my camera.

One costume stood the test of time and is a personal favorite that gets reused as often as possible. This page is a love letter to my longest lasting cosplay: Heather from Silent Hill 3.

I did Heather first in 2011. Initialy Heather's wig was Akita Neru's base wig sans ponytail. It wasn't a fitting style but it was blonde and that was all I needed. I used a simple green t-shirt as a skirt. I had intended to practice my crochet by making an orange turtle neck but went for fabric after it was plain to see that it would take me far too long and break my paitence. The jacket was found at a thrift store for less then ten dollars.

The next step, elevating this from a Halloween costume to a cosplay costme was the transition from bodly made top to a reused one. I made use of an orange turtleneck and reused the sleeves for wristcuffs. I even got a nice pipe for defending myself from monsters.I still looked pretty bad,though. I didn't even have good shoes and was insecure enough about the length skirt to add very visible white shorts. At one point i found a more realisticly colored blonde wig in a thrift shop and decided a decent color with wrong haircut was better than wrong color and cut.

I was gifted a pair of boots from a friend that more closely matched the costume. I decided that I would also gussy up the jacket by giving it a hood like it needed. I ended up taking a plain white hoodie and layering it over the puffy jacket I had been using. I made some pockets to keep my flashlight, walkman radio and wristcuffs in. The overall effect was an improvement but still not great, especially with the skirt. I also got a white wrist watch which sadly broke. RIP watch, you were so good about telling us the time.

Another year passes, another con happens and I've been wearing my costume to the dying local mall. At this point I am tired of the staining of the jacket and think it's a travesty that i'm still struggling with the make-do skirt. I end up buingy what is my current replacement. The current skirt is a real, thrifted skirt with real pockets in an olive denim. The buttons down the front aren't very accurate, but they are good at keeping the skirt closed, until I get around to removing them and sewing the front all the way shut, myself. With such a jump in skirt quality, I decided to also make my own jacket from scratch. It's white denim, very 2000s appropriate. I even made sure to keep the same seam line down the inside of the hood. The sleeves, which had been serving as wrist cuffs would be made to serve duble dudty. They were finally chopped around the forearm. The rest was folded to peek out of the brown boots i had been gifted. The wig I had initally used was worse for wear, So I picked one that would fit me way more cofortably, even though it didn't have the roots coloration i was looking for or styling.

It's such a normal outfit, but very iconic in the right circles. Every time I wear Heather she looks better and better as a costume while remaining comfortable and casual. Heather has gotten me unearned compliments on my color coordination skills at parties and passing by mall booths. Hell, we even got a chuckle when asking a Leon for help after the Resident Evil4 remake came out and conventions were swarmed with Leon S. Kennedys.

Official Merch!

I ordered the official Silent Hill 3 Heather jacket and sweater when it was available. I love me some screen accuracy, but I went with the long sleeved version for one reason and one reason only. The game accurate version did not have wrist cuffs. If I want a complete color match I would have to take the sleeves off and make them. Plus this gives me plenty of material for the long socks that peek out of the boots!

My scavanged sweater is a few shades darker and the ribs are more obvious than the OfficialKonamiStore version. The OKS sweater also comes with a Halo of the Sun tag on the bottom of the hem. It can be tucked in or removed if you want, but it's fine as is. The jacket is also lined with a fabric covered in Halos of the Sun.It's a fun touch. It extends to the hood, making it not a perfect match for the game but it's downy and very warm. This is not for summer cons! It will be a hit for late autumn convenstions or actual autumn, however.

Princess Heart!

Heather's UFO ending costume isn't THE Dream Costume, but it's a close second. It's a glitzy magical girl pastiche patterned less after traditional magical girls and more after 70's style Space Babes. Time to decorate any open spot with cute aliens or Silent Hill logos! Bewtween the super high collar with the low bust cut and the short shirt with the boots, this is They Came From Planet Vulcan all the way.

The white stars on the boots and the hearts were actually obstacles I didn't expect to be as annoying to work around as they were. The choker and belt buckle hated being alive and tried to die upon the first wearing. We can rebuild them though,faster, stronger, shinier. I also had to wash the hell out of the white body of the dress because i didn't expect the red of my gloves to rub off on the dress as I was wearing it. It wasn't even wet, at the time.

This outfit has been taken apart and remade from the bottom up as of 2025!

The dress was taken apart at the seams and used as a pattern for the new copy. The new fabric isn't as stark white, but allowances have to be made. What is original is the original cut of the heart for the front panel was found from the first version of this dress. It's the perfect shape!