Today’s princess is one of my personal favorites, Princess of the Moon, Chibiusa from the manga Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon R by Naoko Takeuchi and its anime adaptation.
About the Look
“The Dark Queen: Birth of Black Lady” is the first episode of Sailor Moon I saw. It was a bootleg VHS recording of a Hong Kong broadcast, the last four episodes of the second series. I could understand neither the Japanese dialogue nor the Chinese subtitles, and I knew nothing about the series. I interpreted the story as “Dark magic transforms a neglected little girl into a powerful adult sorceress. She is saved when her sister reminds her she loves her, and even though their parents are gone, she’s not alone.” Other than Sailor Moon being Chibiusa’s mother rather than sister, that’s pretty accurate. But what matters is I loved it, and especially Chibiusa/Black Lady.
My mother died when I was young and my father could be distant. I grew up on a college campus, surrounded by people who were my generation, but years older. I was the youngest and smallest throughout school and I’ve always had a babyface. I felt lonely and out of place all the time. I loved Chibiusa because I was Chibiusa.
And Black Lady was my power fantasy. Grown up, attractive, powerful, and angry. She was Darth Vader but a princess with pink hair and a robot cat. It was literally everything I wanted to be, then and now.
Chibiusa is a divisive character. She definitely gets a lot of hate, often seen as bratty, childish (she’s a literal child but ok), creepy (she has crushes on her dad who she doesn’t realize is her dad and a magic horse she only sees in dreams), and redundant (she’s Moon 2.0 and all her names are just her mom’s names with “small” added). I’ve even heard her compared to Scrappy Doo. But I love her because she’s just like Usagi but more bratty. And I love her dark side, forever.
About My Look
Chibiusa’s main color is pink, and Black Lady unsurprisingly wears black. I already owned the top, by Fila, because it reminds me of Black Lady and dressing up like your power fantasy makes exercise more fun. The shoes I already owned because babydoll shoes are my go to and because Usagi wears cross strap black shoes. The tights were previously part of my daughter’s Splatoon cosplay.
The skirt I found at Savers this year and purchased because I knew I could use it for someone. Since Sailor Moon is about galactic super heroines, and they all wear circle skirts for their sailor uniforms, I decided it worked for this. It’s super cute and has pockets and is my new favorite skirt.
My hair was pink earlier this year, and longer, but I’m pleased with my red and short take on her do. I’ve worn my hair in double buns, or pin curls as seen here, since the nineties. And yes, because of Sailor Moon.
I’m wearing my pink sunscreen and heavy or “too much” eyeliner, a look I describe as “wearing her damage with defiance”. It’s a cream eyeliner by elf, plus mascara and a sprinkling of dark pink glitter. The dark moon is also eyeliner and is right side up because I’m Chibiusa-who-is-Black-Lady as opposed to Black-Lady-who-is-Chibiusa. My lips are what I call “Klingon Chic”: I put purple lipstick on my bottom lip and silver on my top and then blend.
I purchased three or four of these blank journals because they reminded me of Jyn Erso. But it’s totally fitting for Chibiusa, too. My Luna is a beanie baby with a hand-sewn moon. My Artemis is my lil ragdoll cat, Sushi.
or Commission a Look