Tailors to Queen of England design ultra-luxurious Gundam cosplay outfit with jaw-dropping price

Savile Row suit maker recreates anime villain Char’s military uniform, and it costs far more than three times what a normal cosplay costume does.

Whether you refer to it as a principality, a duchy, or a dukedom, there’s no denying that Mobile Suit Gundam’s Zeon is one of anime’s most regal organization of antagonists. Time and again throughout the series, Zeon rises to champion the superiority and independence of the portion of the human population that’s migrated into outer space, and is always dressed snappily while doing it.

So it’s only fitting that British tailor Dege & Skinner was commissioned to help recreate the military uniform of Zeon ace mecha pilot Char Aznable. Not only does Dege & Skinner have blue-blooded Savile Row lineage, it boasts three royal warrants of appointment, bestowed upon the company by England’s Queen Elizabeth II, the King of Bahrain, and the Sultan of Oman, and is also the supplier of the iconic uniforms for the British Army’s Guards Division.

The ultra-luxurious, all-wool cosplay outfit was created for the upcoming Welcome to Zeon event at Japanese department store Isetan’s Shinjuku branch, which in the past has served as the venue for multiple Sailor Moon fashion events. Isetan’s buyers traveled to England to meet personally with Dege & Skinner designers to select the fabric and develop the pattern for the uniform, starting with existing anime character artwork and making necessary modifications for a flattering fit in the real world. The sewing was then handled in Japan by a Japanese company, with another Japanese supplier taking on the extensive embroidery duties.

As a salute to the claims that Char’s custom giant robots are three times faster than the standard models, only three Dege & Skinner Char uniforms will be produced. Pricing is particularly princely, at 864,000 yen (US$8,070), although the outfit is free to gawk at during its display at Welcome to Zeon, which runs from April 25 to May 6.

And for those who just have regular-crazy, as opposed to super-crazy, amounts of cash to spend on anime fashion, Isetan will also be selling recreations of Char’s spiffy white leather gloves and boots (goatskin for the gloves, cowhide for the boots), priced at 21,600 and 118,800 yen, respectively.

Needless to say, with prices like these you’ll want to be very, very careful not to spill any of the Earl Grey you’re sipping from your porcelain Zeon tea cups on them.

Related: Isetan Shinjuku
Source: Isetan via Anime News Network/Lynzee Loveridge
Top image: Isetan
Insert images: Isetan (1, 2, 3)

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