Costume Design Contest Submissions
Between January 2023 and January 2024, I participated in three costume design contests hosted by the developers of fan projects that replace the protagonist of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (BotW) and Tears of the Kingdom (TotK) with a different playable character. The winning design of these contests is then modeled and rigged to be playable in these games.
Date: January 2023
Prompt: A magical girl-themed Valentine’s Day outfit for the Hyrule Warriors character Linkle, playable in BotW.
Approach: Not having much familiarity on the genre, I conducted research into existing “magical girls” and their various outfits which they would magically transform themselves into wearing.
I also took into account Linkle’s official backstory and character design. These aspects include:
Has a poor sense of direction that results in her often getting lost during her adventures
Wears her hair in braids
Cares for chickens as a farmer
Wields a crossbow
After conducting my research, I identified two outfits from the magical girl protagonist of anime Cardcaptor Sakura, which best fit the contest prompt. These outfits’ pink and white color schemes, ruffles, ribbons, and puffed-out shapes were a perfect match for both a Valentine’s Day outfit and the whimsy of Linkle’s character. The final result is thus a pink and white ensemble heavily inspired by Cardcaptor Sakura, with a distinct Linkle twist.
Because armors in BotW / TotK are generally accompanied by flavor text, I also included my own appropriately-themed flavor text for each of the three outfit pieces, written in the style of these games.
This submission was the winner of the Popular Vote.
Design Template credits: Sofia Harley
Date: December 2023
Prompt: A festive winter outfit for the The Legend of Zelda series deuteragonist Zelda, playable in TotK.
Approach: Because Zelda’s official winter outfit with its gold regal trimmings already looked very festive to me, I decided to use the outfit as a base and make more explicitly wintry adjustments. I was inspired by Nativity imagery (particularly the sheep present at the time of Jesus’ birth), animals with soft white hair, and the traditional festive winter plant holly.
The primary addition to this outfit is a cozy, fluffy hood modeled after one of the main characters, who has long white fur and large ears. A faux sheep’s tail on the coat complements the ears and increases the outfit’s festivity and whimsy. I also added white tear accents to the belt and boots as a nod to another one of Zelda’s official promotional looks, where she has a tear painted on each cheek.
This submission won First Place.
Original concept art and Winter Clothing design credits: Nintendo
Date: January 2024
Prompt: A darkness-themed outfit for the The Legend of Zelda series deuteragonist Zelda, playable in TotK.
Approach: Inspired by past official designs of Zelda becoming possessed by evil and fighting the protagonist, I used her existing promotional ancient outfit as a base and added more explicit detailing of darkened scleras and “Zonai” markings on her skin to showcase her possession by the antagonist, the evil Demon King Ganondorf.
This submission won Second Place.
Original concept art and ancient clothing design credits: Nintendo
