Welcome to Corinna’s Chilling Closet Cosplay! Rather, this is how to cosplay the young half-witch from the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina without spending tons of time and money.
If you go on Instagram and scroll through all the posts that were tagged with the Hashtag #sabrinaspellmancosplay you would see red – literally. The wardrobe of the young half-witch has quite a lot of rather simple pieces of a bright red colour like jumpers, coats, cardigans, blouses, shirts, and dresses. Plaid seems to be a favourite pattern of hers as you see it on skirts and trousers in various colours. That’s what makes it great to cosplay Sabrina Spellman, as you do not necessarily need the Screen Accurate (SA) items to be recognized as her. Creating a closet cosplay, as in making outfits out of clothing you already have or finding alternate items, is fun and a great option when you are on a budget. If you consider cosplaying the half-witch, then here is a short little guide on how to get you started without spending tons of money and time.
Getting started with closet cosplay
It was difficult for me though to decide which outfits I want to show you in this cosplay guide, and it was hard to leave out some of my favourite outfits. However, I wanted to present you with combinations that might be easy to assemble from your closet or from which you can find the needed items on second-hand platforms like depop, vinted or vestaire collective. Not only can you get them for cheap, but you can also use them outside of cosplay. So, it’s definitely a good thing. And what’s definitely wallet-friendly is the fact that Sabrina does wear her clothes more than once! That means you can use items for more than one cosplay.
One more thing to mention before I start is that I’m living in Germany and only can tell you for sure how shopping for cosplays is like over here. I’ve been using depop, wish, joom and eBay in international variants as well. Please don’t hang or burn me if it’s different in your country and items are not as easy to find as they are for me. Danke! And a big “thank you” at this point to my fellow cosplayers and friends Christina, Katie, Cat, and Cece for letting me use their cosplays as examples and inspiration.
Before we take a look at the clothes, you would need to get yourself the iconic blonde wavy bob of hers. Sabrina’s hair changes from season one to season two from a sandy blonde to a more bright, almost white-blonde. Yes, screen accuracy is a good thing, but cosplay is mainly for fun. It’s fine to match a wig meant for the first part of the series to an outfit to the second part – you’ll still be recognized. I myself haven’t found a wig in the right length and needed to shorten it. This is a thing you might also do as well as style your wig, brush out the curls a bit to give her a more wavy look. Be sure to take a look at the description and reviews of the wig before your purchase, as some are better to style than others. Another thing when it comes to her hairstyle is the black headband. She almost always wears it and only puts it down when going to bed or taking a bath. You could go for a simple headband to put on your hair/wig, or you could make a band out of fabric that will be placed around your head and tied in the neck. Personally, I go for a simple band as I easily get headaches with a non-flexible headband. You might need to use bobby pins with the band, though, as it might slip away more easily than a headband.
The make-up of Sabrina is a reflection of her current situation. When she is with her friends in school, she barely wears make-up and uses a creamy lip gloss and some blush only. When she has contact with the weird sisters, spends more time with the coven, and finally signs the Book of the Beast, her make-up gets “visible” and “witchy” more often. A really dark red or sometimes almost black lipstick and black eyeliner with much mascara can be seen on her. This is a look that many cosplayers I’ve seen put on when taking pictures of their cosplays. Please remember that you do not have to wear makeup if you are not feeling good with it, or you can the other way round bring it on as much as you like – that’s what makes your cosplay individual and gives it a personal touch.
Sabrina Closet Cosplay outfit number 1:
One (if not the most) iconic outfit of Sabrina’s is the one where she is wearing a red jumper, a black skirt, boots, and a necklace given to her by Harvey at the beginning of part 1. Photos with this outfit are used for promotional aspects repeatedly and therefore it is in the mind of people a lot. In the photos, she is wearing an off-shoulder jumper with a down-folded collar. In the series, she wears several jumpers/cardigans in the same colour. One has a tiny button on one side of the collar, another one it shows as a rough knitting pattern. She combines this one with black trousers. There are a lot of red jumpers in either style available and sold from various brands and they usually can be found for cheap. Her skirt on the posters is a simple black mini-skirt. She eventually wears one in the show with buttons at the front. If you want to wear one made of fabric or (artificial) leather, then that is on you to decide. Sabrina adds black boots to the outfit that ends right under the knee. Whether you are wearing them with high or low heels is your decision again, but what you should consider is the occasion you want to wear them. Speaking from personal experience: wearing high heels for some minutes or an hour or two during photo shootings is OK, but to wear them at conventions is pure hell.
The icing on the cake to that outfit is the golden necklace with a small bell-formed charm. A really good replica to this one is sold on eBay for a reasonable price, but other gold necklaces would also work pretty well. And the good thing about this necklace being so important to Sabrina is, that she wears it throughout most of parts 1 and 2. You can combine it with most of her outfits, and you don’t need to worry about the other jewelry.
Sabrina Closet Cosplay outfit number 2:
Another favourite item of cosplayers is the red wool coat Sabrina wears on different occasions. It’s so beloved that a replica had been made for example by Cosplaydaddy or Hottopic. It depends on the season how fast you can get one if you are looking on second-hand platforms. I’m taking a guess that chances are higher to get one during autumn or winter and that people are not selling winter coats in summer, but you’ll never know. In one episode, Sabrina combines the red coat with a dotted blouse in a dark blue. When looked at in dark lightning, you could almost think that it’s black in some scenes. If you have one of these already, then why not use them? What you would also need is a miniskirt in orange or a light brown kind of tone. The material of Sabrina’s skirt is cord, but fabric or leather will do their part, as well as cord, would. The skirt is worn more than once throughout the series which is good as you can use it for more than one cosplay. Finally, you need a red shoulder bag to bring along for your books of magic spells, and Acheron Configurator or your familiar.
Sabrina Closet Cosplay outfit number 3:
Remember the skirt from some lines ago? I told you it’s used more than once. This time, Sabrina combines it with a lined turtleneck shirt with orange as the base colour (which again is worn by her later in the series with blue jeans). To find this shirt is basically not possible for mortals, so you’ll have to go with an alternative variant. But, consider yourself lucky that stripes never really get out of style and make a comeback in stores every other season. It may take you a while to find a variant with enough or the “right” colours in it though, but don’t give up, I believe in you. If it’s colder outside, then you can also think about getting yourself another wool coat in a lighter brown, as Sabrina wears it in combination with this skirt and shirt. The red bag is coming along, too. Also, bags are great, not exactly when taking pictures but definitely when going to conventions!
Sabrina Closet Cosplay outfit number 4:
One-piece I fell in love the second I saw it is the plaid skirt from Maje that Sabrina wears at the beginning of part two. I was lucky enough to find it on a German second-hand website for a bargain. It was sold originally for a rather high price. So, it’s understandable that if it’s resold, then people usually still want to get as much money for it as they can. Honestly, you don’t need the screen accurate skirt to be recognized as Sabrina. Any plaid skirt with the same colour combination (red, green, black, and maybe a little splash of yellow) will do if you combine it with a black turtleneck jumper. Sabrina herself wears different variants of this combination. Regarding the length of the skirt, it is on you to decide again – one of them is longer than the other, so choose what you are most comfortable with. Black turtleneck jumpers and shirts are considered a basic fashion item; you’ll get them almost everywhere you look. The young witch wears this outfit with block heels and black tights and I’m assuming that at everyone owns at least the tights. If you don’t have the heels or can’t / don’t want to get yourself some, then here is a pro tip: just crop your shoes out of your cosplay-pictures. Eventually, Sabrina leaves the house with this outfit and puts on a brown leather jacket for that, but personally, I don’t feel comfortable with mixing colours in brown and black…just a personal quirk of mine.
Sabrina Closet Cosplay outfit number 5:
When Sabrina unites forces with the weird sisters, in order to give the boys from Baxter High a lecture that should stop them from bullying her friend Susie, they wear fancy and matching outfits. The three witches have already been seen before in their button-down dresses with white lace collars and cuffs (Prudence wears purple, Agatha wears blue, Dorcas wears brown) and now Sabrina wears one too in red (what else). Several manufacturers seem to have jumped on the bandwagon and started to produce these sorts of dresses, so you find one easily on costuming websites as well as with the big players Amazon and eBay. If you don’t mind looking a bit longer, then you can also give my beloved second-hand websites a try as well as thrift shops. These dresses are certainly vintage-inspired. If you can’t find any dress of this kind, then think about creating your own. If you manage to pick up a long-armed red dress in a first step, then you can either get yourself a lace blouse to wear beneath it or you can look for laced collars and cuffs online or in a specialized shop to attach them to your dress. It depends on how good (or patient) you are when it comes to sewing. Once you have the dress, the outfit is easy to complete, as you would only need black tights and heels. You’ll get bonus points from me if you have a polaroid camera on hand which Sabrina uses to gather evidence against the bully-boys.
Now it’s your turn, witches! I hope I could give you some inspiration for your own cosplay of Sabrina Spellman right in time for the new season. Have fun, and don’t stress yourself too much about finding the “right” items. The syllable “play” is in the word cosplay for a reason. Happy cosplaying!
Catch up on part one of the “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina”
For more cosplay articles:
How to host a Cosplay Meetup at your local Comic Con
Cosplay Positivity and Fighting the Pitfalls of Cosplay Unhappiness
Doctor Who Series 12 Trailer – First Look at Outfits and Cosplay Help
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