You have stolen the heart from inside me! I mentioned a while ago that I was planning a Moana costume for D23 Expo. I realize now that I never showed you guys the finished costume! Keep in mind I’ve never created my own costume before. I’ve only purchased them or thrown things together. I especially have never made a wig before, but boy did my first time turn out amazing. Moana was such a great movie and I love Te Fiti (Mother Island) the most. But the story is important so I wanted to show both Te Ka and Te Fiti together!
I’ll put links at the bottom of this post of everything I used for my costume.
I started with the wig because I knew it was going to take me the longest. First, I hand stitched a line down the middle of the flame wig
. The main reason I did this was the stabilize the flame hair so that when I removed half of it, it didn’t all fall off. I then used a black Sharpie 
to color the base of the hair to be the shard cooled lava area. I then sewed on the green hair extensions
. I only ended up using 3 because I was going to be covering most of the hair with moss and greenery. 
The rest of the wig is a mix of Moss garland, pink moss, silk flowers, and fake vines. I sealed everything with Mod Podge so that the moss didn’t fall apart all over the place and in transit from Atlanta to Anaheim! 
The rest of the costume was super easy! All I did was purchase a tunic and skirt in two colors and sew them together. Well, my awesome friend Lindsey did the sewing. She makes costumes for a living! I bought a Black and Green tunic and a green skirt and a small piece of black jersey fabric. After everything was sewn together, I started working on the paint. 
To give the costume some texture without adding a bunch of weight to it, I painted on the lava and moss effect. The black side is splatter yellow and orange paint. The green is a mix of different greens sponge painted on. I used a Moana stencil to create the Heart of Te Fiti on the chest. I stuck with the same paint for each side. 
I finished the look with two-sided makeup. I had brought the full black and green makeup to do but it was so hot in California during the D23 Expo and there was a large portion of our time standing in line just to get into the building so I opted to only where lips and shadow. And you can’t have Te Fiti without a mini Moana doll to hold in your hand!
I convinced Squish to be my Moana for Halloween! 
I’ll be wearing the costume again for Halloween this year. I may even do the full makeup and film a video for you guys to see it better. Everyone loved the costume at D23 Expo and I even made it onto the press site for other outlets to share. I found plenty of Moana’s to pose with and there was even a Moana canoe!
UPDATED: Here is the makeup I did for Halloween
Here is everything I used in this project:
- Flame Wig
- Black Sharpie
- Green Hair Extensions
- Black Tunic
- Kelly Green Tunic
- Kelly Green Skirt
- Black Jersey Fabric – From Joann’s
- Orange, Yellow, and Green Paint
- Sponges
- Moss Garland
- Pink Moss
- Tiny Silk Flowers
- Fake Vines
- Green Lip Stick
- Body Paint Palette
- Green Face Paint (not used)
- Black Face Paint (not used)
(not used)
(not used)What do you guys think of my Te Ka / Te Fiti costume? Let me know in the comments.
This costume is so amazing! Great job!!
Thank you! I’m glad people are liking it. Compared to some of the Cosplay I saw at D23 Expo, I thought I was basement level!
I think you look wonderful. Moana is my favorite movie since I saw it. Loved it.
I was searching for how to make a Te Fiti wig and came across your page. Your costume is fantastic! You did such a great job!! It’s very creative!!
Thank you so much! I wish I had done a video for the wig, but it took me a few days to complete.
I was just looking for Te Fiti ideas and ran across your costume. How clever to do both Te Fiti and Te Ka in one costume! I have 2 year old twins so I’m not sure I could pull this off (I want them to be Maui and Moana) but I want to try! Very well done and I appreciate that you shared your process! I never would’ve figured out the wig!
Aw, thank you so much for your kind words. I hope your costumes come out great!