Starting from Scratch in Fantasy Cosplay

WonderCon 2011

I have a dream - a dream of fantastic costumes and hairstyles. Of Khloe Alwell made real.

When Kiddo was little, and unaware of everything beyond 12 inches from his face, I watched the SyFy channel religiously (I mean, those are my people). My favorite shows were the reality special effects shows, like Face Off, but I also found Heroes of Cosplay fascinating. I love how people transform into fantastic characters before my eyes. It scratches that part of my creative brain. But I've never done it myself.

I do not consider myself a hardcore fantasy/sci-fi nerd, by any stretch. I hardly count as a fan. Periodically I dabble. I mean, I've watched some anime. I've read Pern books. I grew up with Star Trek, Aliens, Labyrinth, and The Princess Bride, but I never really dove into the fan culture. I never owned comic books. I never played Magic or LARPed, or anything of the sort.

I comfortably straddled the fence between genre nerdom and popular culture.

So even though I also knew a lot about art, I didn't learn much about fabrication. I had no real impetus to learn. I didn't involve myself in drama, or in cosplay. I can barely work a sewing machine (mostly because I haven't practiced...at all).

And then I went to a comic convention. It scratched that part of my creative brain. I read about characters that I might cosplay, that Christian and I could cosplay together (we decided Thor and Sif were probably the most look-alike comic characters).

But... now that Khloe is finished as a series (read: shedding single tear), I really want people to fall in love with her the way I have (and everyone in the Otherworld does in the books). So Christian and I were talking about it, and an idea was born.

If I was a character in a graphic novel...

Christian: Alexis, why don't you cosplay as Khloe? I mean, are there any outfits that would work?
*I blush*
Christian: Did you just blush?
Me: Some of the outfits are...
Christian: Really?
Me: I mean, they're tasteful, but they are definitely...uh...
Christian: Hm.
Me: I mean, I would love to cosplay as Khloe. I love the clothes. I just don't know how I would make them look like they are in my head.
Christian: Do you know anyone who cosplays? Who might help you?

Ahem. So, that's where we are. Do I know anyone who cosplays? Who could help me fabricate this? Or who would want to fabricate it? These are involved outfits, some of which would be pretty intense projects, but also might put a person on the map (judging from the things people look for in the Heroes of Cosplay show).

Leave a comment below or message me: http://facebook.com/authoralexisdonkin or twitter @alexisdonkin

I'm so serious about this, so if this is a project you'd be interested in, please let me know!