River Tam is Dr. Simon Tam’s younger sister and fellow crewman member aboard Malcolm Reynold’s ship Serenity. Both mentally and physically gifted she and her brother were on the run from the Alliance concluding in the movie Serenity. This guide to making a River costume has three different variations that you can create. You can also mix and match the pieces together to recreate any other scene from the series. These would be great for a group cosplay of other Firefly characters.

River Costume: Green Dress with Reavers Weapons.

This river costume was the one used for the promo posters for the serenity movie. It’s essentially her green dress, short boots, and a Reaver’s sword and axe.

River’s green dress.

River’s green dress.

Leather boots with buckles.

Leather boots with buckles.

Reaver axe.

Reaver axe.

Reaver sword.

Reaver sword.

River Costume: Red Dress with Shrug.

The next river costume was a little more casual and included the same boots as the last but with time with a red dress and brown shrug. Also as a subtle addition I’ve added the Independents Patch. Malcolm Reynolds’ ship is after all needed after a battle the Independents fought against the Alliance.

Red dress.

Red dress.

Brown shrug.

Brown shrug.

Leather boots with buckles.

Leather boots with buckles.

Independents Patch.

Independents Patch.

River Costume: Blue Dress with Gun.

The last river costume this time features river’s blue spaghetti with a black IMI Desert Eagle looking gun. A Serenity keychain was also added for any fan of the show. Also reference to episode 10 in firefly when River “became” the ship Serenity.

Navy blue dress.

Navy blue dress.

Leather boots with buckles.

Leather boots with buckles.

Desert Eagle could be used as River’s gun.

Desert Eagle could be used as River’s gun.

Serenity Keychain.

Serenity Keychain.