Attention all Zelda loving, convention going, cosplayers! Cosplaying as any character from the Legend of Zelda series can be rough. Cosplay in general can be rough with all the pain you can go to make your outfit a success. With Link as your character base it can be even harder on you (and your wallet) than it usually can be (unless you are buying the entire outfit). First off, your amount of work can be lessened or increased depending on which Link(including tunic styles) you chose. Toon Link is comparatively easier than Twilight Princess Link. However, OoT (Ocarina of Time) Link can be even harder depending on how detailed you want to get with the outfit. I would know, because I'm working on my own OoT Link outfit from scratch, which can be very difficult.
Now, the hardest link outfit to currently do is the Twilight Princess version. With all that detailed stitching and not to mention the chain mail that he wares. TwiPi Link is the only Link that currently wares chain mail! Can you imagine making chain mail by hand!? It sounds awful, right? It can be I've known people who make chain male out of soda can tabs and it takes a long time to make. Not to mention dangerous, because you can get cut by the sharp edges of those can tabs if you aren't careful. However, do not let all the complications scare you off of making an outfit if you a beginner. Their are easy ways of doing things that will still have people admiring your outfit a the anime conventions you go to. First off, pick fabric that is cheap and easy to work with. This can be a real money saver. It can also be a lifesaver, because if your convention is in the summer and it's really hot where you are going light weight fabrics can really help wick away sweat and keep you cool. Plus if when you are sewing and you screw up these fabrics are more forgiving than the more expensive one are. For best results I suggest using cotton. It's cheap, it's easy to sew on, and it's very light weigh. Just remember it wrinkles and also to prewash it before you start sewing on it or you could have some trouble. Now, the cotton will do for making you cap and tunic on to the boots. I normally suggest buying boots from target instead of making fake boots, because they look better in my opinion. Just don't go out and buy the most expensive pair of knee high brown boots you can find. Actually take time to look in stores like Target, Walmart, or other shoe stores that are having sales on boots. You may actually find a pair of good boots that look just like Link's do and they aren't very expensive. But, it's all up to you what you are going to do for your outfit. Now, for the tricker parts the ears, hair and gloves.
What I recommend for the hair is to buy a wig unless you know how to make them yourself. Depending on which Link you are cosplaying as you will want to pick the right blonde for your outfit. OoT Link is a strawberry blonde, so go for something close to that hair color. For Toon Link go with a light blonde wig. For TwiPi Link go with kinda a dirty blonde look. Moving to the gloves/gauntlets, these can be tricky. TwiPi Link has leather brown and black fingerless gloves with an arm guard over his sword arm, but not on the shield arm. OoT Link has brown leather gloves with some weird segemented pattern of darker brown on them. What I did was knit brown gloves by hand and I'm going to spray paint brown onto some old wrist guards I have for roller blading. You may just want to buy these online, but if you want to try to make them yourself more power to you. Remember I'm am a beginner, but I do know some things. So, happy cosplaying to you and don't give up on making that perfect outfit! :-)
