Cosplay costume ideas Hazmat Suit

Before I knew about, “Breaking Bad”, one of the more successful costumes I made was a Hazardous Material Suit. Like all cosplays, an important issue I usually have would be, “How do I assemble a Hazmat Suit without breaking the bank?” Then next issue I deal with is, “Will it look good?”

To make this cosplay, you could do it yourself (DYI) and build everything from scratch or perhaps a mix of DYI, buy cheap and then assemble everything together.

Now I mentioned in the first question above, assemble your own costume. So this post is more of a purchase the items for cheap, then assemble it by yourself cosplay costume idea. Don’t get me wrong, you could probably purchase your own costume online that comes completed. However, I try to avoid this method of cosplay because the quality of each item is not guaranteed. You could end up with a suit that rips apart in the first ten minutes.

The Mask: The hazmat suit idea came to me when I bought a Russian Gas Mask at a comic convention. I was originally going to do a soldier theme but, I was running out of time with Halloween fast approaching. You don’t have to necessarily use an actual gas mask like I did. You could also try any other Respirator Mask and Goggles Set. As long as you have something that covers the face and looks like it filters the air you breathe.

The Suit: For the hazmat suit, I purchased a disposable protective coverall at a dollar store. I went for the type that was not made out of vinyl and had a hood. I find that these  are more comfortable over longer periods of time when wearing them. Vinyl suits tend to get a bit sweaty. Just make sure to check the zipper and reinforce any seems that may have the most stress. You can do this by sewing a few more stitches. If you feel like spending a few more bucks, you can try to see if there are better quality suits at you local Walmart or hardware store.

The Gloves: It wouldn’t be a Hazmat Suit without the gloves. For that, you’d probably want to go with a pair of rubber, PVC or nitrile gloves that can at least go half way up your forearm. Go for something that’s in a solid black, blue or green for maximum effect. I prefer nitrile gloves because they’re not as thick as rubber, yet they are fairly durable to wear and tear. You can probably find a good pair at your dollar store or Walmart. Remember that the gloves need to cover a bit of your forearm. So try to get a pair that’s not skin tight.

The Boots: At this point, you could probably stop assembling your Hazmat Suit. It definitely will catch people’s attention when you put the items together. I decided to add a couple of extra things to the costume for emphasis. One of these things was the boots. Rain boots work best, however if you don’t have rain boots, try something that’s a solid color and goes at least halfway up your shins. Just remember to pad the soles if you’re going to be wearing them for a long period. I learned that lesson the hard way with another costume.

Props and Accessories: If you really want to try and get a “Home Run” reaction from people, you could also add a prop or accessory. If you’re talented enough, you could try and make your own Geiger counter or use a smartphone app that generates the sounds (Beep Box). The one I went with is a giant syringe. I bought mine at one of those temporary costume shops that appear as Halloween approaches. I should note that the model I used (similar to the model shown on the left… the syringe, not the woman) was made out of cheap plastic and would come apart easily if I was too rough on the plunger mechanism.

So, after putting it all together, I got this…

Extra Steps: If you are even more ambitious. You could try drawing, painting or sewing your own badges, logos, bloody effects on the suit. I didn’t think of that until after Halloween.

So what do you guys think? Does it look good?

As always, please leave a comment at the bottom of this post. You’ll also notice, the items I mentioned in this post have links to Amazon.com or Amazon.ca. Feel free to use them as a reference, no need to buy from them if you don’t want to.