What got you into cosplay?
I've always loved making costumes and dressing up for renaissance faires and halloween, and theatre..... and I've always been a huge fan of sci-fi, fantasy, and then anime after that..... so I guess it was only a matter of time before my friend, Jess (Hynoxolous), got me into cosplaying! I'm brand new at it, but I love it. It's a fun new hobby.
What was your first costume and why?
My first costume for a CONVENTION was Faye Valentine from Cowboy Bebop for ACen. Pretty much it's because for the first time ever, my big boobs could come in handy. :) That and my friends were cosplaying as bebop characters and going in a group is much more fun and impressive! But my first cosplay included various fairies and gypsies for the renaissance faire.
What is your favorite costume and why?
The TARDIS. IT was so rewarding to completely design an original costume from scratch. Most cosplays involve trying to make yourself look EXACTLY like a certain character, but with my Lady Gaga-esque TARDIS, I had full liberties to design rather than just craft. I even made the skirt pattern myself and along with almost everything else, and what made it even more rewarding was that the fans at the convention LOVED my interpretation. And I was excited to not just be apart of the excitement of the con but ADD to it and give people something new and fresh to talk about!
Do you have a dream costume you'd like to make?
Eventually, I'm just going to have to be Inara. It's kinda written in the stars. We both have large brown eyes and round faces, and in the summer I get tanned skin like her..... and her beautiful asian-influenced bohemian classy sexy beauty is totally my taste. It's not a question of will I be Inara, it's when. Also I have to be Chiana from Farscape. I just have to be. Once I get some good white and grey body paint, it's happening! And hopefully I could convince Jess to watch the series so she could be a character with me, but if not I'll make a little DRD and the two of us will go together!
What has been your most memorable cosplay experience?
So many... I don't know which is my FAVORITE, but I enjoyed when Jess and I dressed up as Galactica girls and taking a zillion pictures with the Doctor. We'd pull him away from whatever he was doing and make him take a picture with us with the TARDIS, without the TARDIS, with the 3-D glasses, sonic screwdriver, etc. We kinda harassed him a bit. It's ok, we are friends now :)
Do you participate in masquerades?
Yes!
What was your best masquerade experience?
Definately Chicago TARDIS because Jess and I kinda stole the show... which made us feel both guilty and honored at the same time. You see, we won not 1 award like everyone else, but we were the only group to win 3 awards including "Best in Show". Considering that we were up against a lot of spectacular costumes including the Clockwork Droid (which is my personal favorite), it meant a lot!
Have you won any awards for your costumes?
Yes. So far Jess (who is my costume accomplice) and I have won 6 awards out of the 4 masquerades we've entered. And we've won an award in each of the masquerades. Our first one was for the Breaking Dawn Book Premiere and we won "Best Group". I was Alice, she was Emily, and Katie was Bella. Our second one was at Cyphan where we dressed up as Serina and Sheba from the original Battlestar Galactica series and won "Best Female from a Sci-fi Show" Our third was at Kollision Con where Jess, Giblin, and I dressed up as Portal characters and won "Best Group" Our fourth, fifth and sixth were at Chicago TARDIS in which we won the "Going Gaga for Who Fashion" award, the "Best workmanship at Journeyman Level' award, and finally "Best in Show".
Tell us a little about yourself
I graduated from college in May, I'm currently living at home with my family, but not for much longer, and I have a part-time job making overly priced gourmet cookies! I'm a writer and I actively blog and work on poetry, novels, short stories, and non-fiction essays. I encourage you to check out my blog about one of my biggest passions: the female form. In it I aim to explore the agonies and ecstasies... the truths and the misconceptions. http://hourglasssymposium.blogspot.com/ I love traveling. I lived in Hong Kong for 4 years, and studied for a semester in Ireland. I have been to 16 different countries, and I haven't been to enough! But when I'm not traveling, writing, or making cookies, I cosplay.
My favorite anime
Cowboy Bebop Samurai Champloo Avatar: The Last Airbender Escflowne
My favorite game(s)
Portal
My favorite book(s)
The Dune Trilogy The Princess Bride The Little Prince The Phantom Tollbooth Silas Marner Rime of the Ancient Mariner (poem)
My favorite character(s)
The Bride (Kill Bill) Rose Dawson (Titanic) Inara (Firefly) Chiana (Farscape) Faye Valentine (Cowboy Bebop) The Doctor (Doctor Who) Captain Jack Harkness (Doctor Who/Torchwood) The Terrible Trivium (The Phantom Tollbooth) St. Alia of the Knife (Dune) Yomiko Readman (Read or Die) Zack Faire (FF) Squall (FF) Xena Pyrrhus (My untitled novel) Claudia (Interview with the Vampire) Indiana Jones Imogen (Cymbeline) Captain Shakespeare (Stardust)
My favorite movies(s)
Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 V for Vendetta Howl's Moving Castle How to Train your Dragon My Fair Lady Gone With the Wind The Sound of Music Moulin Rouge Kill Bill Titanic Sixteen Candles Rear Window Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid Dirty Dancing Beauty and the Beast Mulan White Christmas It's a Wonderful Life The Prince and the Showgirl Stardust The big 3... Indiana Jones Trilogy Star Wars Saga Lord of the Rings
My favorite actors/actresses
Kate Winslet Audrey Hepburn Grace Kelly Marilyn Monroe David Tennant Jimmy Stewart Harrison Ford