Final Fantasy VII has been one of my favorite games...pretty much before it even came out. I had been a die-hard, rabid Nintendo fan all of my life--the type that would rather spit then let the hated name of "Sega" pass my lips. However, when the N64 came out, and nothing but racing, first-person shooters, and sports games came out, I was dying for a new, good RPG. When I first saw the commercial for Final Fantasy VII, my jaw dropped. I thought I was seeing a commercial for a movie. I fell instantly in love.

To tell you the truth, though, Tifa wasn't my favorite character--I was totally rooting for Cloud and Aeris all the way. However, once my interests turned towards cosplay, I knew I could never pull off Aeris convincingly--whereas I could look like Tifa simply by putting on her clothes.

This was the first costume that I didn't buy ready-made from anybody else. I bought the bodysuit from a dance supply store--opting to go with that rather than with the more accurate sports bra due to some body issues at the time. I bought the suspenders and construction boots off of eBay. I already owned the belt, black skirt, and black socks. I cut the fingertips off of a pair of black opera-length gloves I also bought online. I found the red sparring gloves online (forgive me, I don't remember which website, but if you type "sparring gloves" into Google you should find similar ones), painted over the logo, and wrapped one glove in an ace bandage, and dug holes (with a knife) into the other, and glued green marbles (instant Materia!) I had bought off of eBay into them. Silver tear-drop earrings were also bought off of eBay, and for a scrunchie, I wrapped a red headband I already had around my hair multiple times. It stayed surprisingly well.

As of 2012, I have switched out my bodysuit for a more accurate white sports bra, and Louis made me an elbow guard out of an elbow pad for rollerblading.