Cosplay costume ideas Hazmat Suit
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.
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