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Nami is one of the protagonists of what is probably the most well-known and popular anime and manga of all time: One Piece. One piece is one of the longest-running anime and manga of all time too. That means it has been cosplayed a lot! Nami is likely to be the most cosplayed female character of the series.
One piece is mainly about Monkey D. Luffy, a boy who has the goal of becoming the pirate king and find a legendary treasure called One Piece. As a pirate, he has gotten together an impressive crew. One of the crew members is Nami, their navigator. She was the first female crew member of the Straw Hat Pirates (named after Luffy his iconic straw hat).
She is a young adult woman with a very fit body and orange hair. She wears quite some outfits during the series, so you have multiple options when cosplaying this character. I am going to discuss all three of the outfits that she wears the most and is best known for.
In this Nami cosplay ideas guide, I am going to start by giving a bit more insight into Nami. I will discuss her background and her personality. After this, I am going to discuss the costumes you can wear and buy.
I will also give my advice about premade costumes and what you might be able to make yourself. Finally, I will answer a couple of the most often asked questions about Nami and One Piece.
Nami her background and personality
History
Nami has quite a tragic background. She is an orphan, losing both of her parents in a war. Nojiko found her as a baby, and later met Bell-mere, a marine of the navy. Belle-mere took both of the girls in and raised them as her own family.
Nami was quite an artistic and curious kid. It did not take long before she started to draw maps. Her ultimate goal is to draw a map of the completely known world.
Unfortunately, the tangerine farm of her adoptive mother did not bring in enough money to afford navigation books. She turned to crime and stole them from the village bookshop. She did manage to learn a great deal of them and managed to draw up an amazing map of the island.
Not long after, Arlong a fish-man pirate took over the island and murdered Bell-mere to make an example out of her. He also noticed Nami her talent and forced her to make maps for him.
Along promised her that if she could bring the pirate 100 000 000 Belis, he would free the village. For 8 years, Nami made maps and stole to collect the money, earning her the nickname the cat burglar.
Personality
Nami is a very intelligent young girl. She is said to be the third smartest character in the region of Grand Blue. Nami started out hating all pirates. She only changed her view after she met Luffy.
Nami is deeply traumatized due to the death of her adoptive mother, and the abuse and enslavement Arlong put her through. She is also a very skeptical person and regards things like Devil Fruits as myths. She also denied the existence of Skypiea.
In general, Nami is a very sweet girl that wants the best for her crew and friends. She will not hesitate to get into dangerous situations when her friends get into trouble.
She is also quite confident in her abilities. However, she has one major fear, she is really afraid of bugs and spiders. She is easily surprised and can be shocked by trivial events and situations.
How to dress up like Nami?
The great thing about cosplaying Nami is how many options you have for premade costumes. Nami has been around for over a decade and has been a cosplaying staple for years at events and conventions. This means there is a lot of high-quality premade costumes to choose from. She also has had a couple of outfits. I am going to discuss the ones you can wear and the extra things you are going to need.
I would strongly recommend you to buy the premade outfits. They are going to be more accurate than doing it yourself, much easier to get than making them from scratch, and you will also save money and time.
Post-time skip costume
Nami her post time outfit is great for the summer. You are going to need:
A blue and white bikini – Nami wears a bikini with blue and white strips during the post-time skip. Sometimes she wears a shirt, but this is the outfit she wears the most and is best known for.
- Yellow sandals – Nami wears yellow sandals the entire series. Post and pre-time skip. However, in the anime, they sometimes look like – or are – regular brown sandals. So these would be fine too.
- Normal jeans – You will need normal jeans for your cosplay. These should be regular straight jeans that go all the way to your ankles.
- A brown belt – A minor detail, but Nami wears a brown belt. You can just use a faux leather belt for this.
- Orange wig – To cosplay Nami you are going to need an orange wig. In this costume her hair is long. So make sure you get the right length if you are going to do a post-time skip costume.
Pre-time skip outfit
Nami her pre-time skip is also very popular. You need:
- An orange skirt – This can be any kind of skirt and is going to be pretty cheap if you buy it online as part of the full costume.
- Shirt – You will also need a blue and white shirt. The blue here is a lot darker than the bikini she wears after the time skip.
- Yellow sandals – Nami also wears the yellow sandals pre-time skip. You can also use regular brown sandals.
- Orange wig – To cosplay Nami you are going to need an orange wig. In this costume, her hair is shorter. Of course, make sure here that you have done the research and find a good length of the wig.
Should I get a premade costume for a Nami cosplay?
If you read the cosplay guides I write, you will often see a very extensive DIY explanation. This is not the case for Nami. There is a good reason for that. Premade Nami costumes are extremely high quality and you do not need a lot of things. Most of you will only need an orange wig and a shirt or bikini. Making those would be a complete waste of time and the result just wouldn’t be near the same quality (unless I am heavily underestimating my reader’s arts and crafts skills).
So what are the pros and cons of premade costumes?
Pros of getting a ready-made outfit
- Easy – Getting a premade costume is very convenient. You just turn on your pc, you do 5 or so clicks, and pay your order. A day or two later, the door rings, and tada you have a costume. This is in stark contrast with making the costume yourself. You will need to buy materials, have sewing equipment and then start making everything from scratch, and pray you don’t make a mistake.
- Cheaper – A lot of people don’t believe this when I say this, but even when NOT factoring the time you put in making things yourself, premade is often cheaper. Buying raw materials and equipment is often more expensive than just buying a costume outright. This is because you need to buy a lot of different fabrics in small amounts, which is quite expensive.
- More accurate – A popular premade costume only gets popular if it is accurate. Cosplayers and anime fans hate it when a costume is nothing like the original. The company that manages to provide the most accurate costume is going to get more sales. That is why a lot of them look extremely like those in anime or manga. For a costume like Nami, it is a must to have a high-quality, accurate costume if you want to get sales as a vendor.
Cons of getting a ready-made outfit
- Not original – Sometimes little mistakes, or things you add yourself to a costume add a bit more charm. There is also the chance that you are going to run into someone who has the same cosplay. This is one of the reasons why a lot of people like to make their cosplay outfits. A great idea is to buy a premade outfit and just add some little things you made yourself to it. This way you have the charm of the homemade costume and you are going to have something nobody else has.
- Less connection to the character – I do think that you get a lot more insight and connection in the character if you spend hours thinking about the cosplay while making it. You are studying their look very closely, so you can develop a lot of insight into how they act and how they look.
Frequently asked questions about Nami cosplay outfits
Question: Does Nami have a tattoo?
Answer: Yes, Nami has a tattoo on her shoulder. If you are doing the post-time skip, you can add it to the outfit. It isn’t hard at all to do. It is a very easy design, and you do not need to be an artist to make it great. It is a minor detail, and you can easily do your cosplay without it. You can also buy premade Nami tattoos if you do not want to paint or draw one yourself. I do not see a lot of people going as the tattooed Nami version, so it is totally up to you!
Question: Can you do a Nami couples cosplay?
Answer: In the anime and the manga, Nami does not have a boyfriend or a real romantic interest. There are two people that are often cosplayed together with Nami in a couple’s cosplay. The first character is Luffy himself. There are a couple of romantic moments in the series that make people think Luffy and Nami are going to end up together.
A second option is to cosplay Nami and Sanji as a couple. There are also a couple of romantic moments between the two, and they do make a very cool and more original couple’s cosplay. Sanji often flirts with Nami and thinks she is very attractive and beautiful. He even takes a little bit of a subservient role with her and does a lot of her bidding.
Question: Can I do a post-time skip Nami without a bikini?
Answer: Yes, you definitely can. You wouldn’t even break the cosplay. There are quite a lot of options you have. Nami also wears a red dress in the anime or a Chinese traditional dress in blue and white. You have multiple outfits to choose from! The only downside is that it does make the costume a bit less recognizable and that you might not be able to find a great premade costume.
Final thoughts about doing a Nami cosplay
Nami is a great cosplay to do. You can get amazing cosplay at a great price. Nami is one of the most popular cosplays for a reason. Her character is great, she has a cool backstory and there is a lot of interesting accessories you can choose from. You have a lot of outfits you can pick from.
For Nami, I suggest you buy a pre-made costume. There are a lot of options you have to choose from. These are high quality and very accurate to the anime character. Both the post and pre-time skip costumes are great. What I love most about this costume is, despite how simple it is, how easy it is to recognize a Nami cosplay. This is going to help you avoid one of the most annoying cosplay-related questions: “So, Who are you supposed to be cosplaying as?”.
The only downside, in my opinion, cosplaying Nami is that a lot of people cosplay her. So if you are going to a big anime convention, odds are pretty big that you are going to run into another Nami.