Just wishing everybody a wonderful holiday, and a happy new year!
We want to thank all our readers and supporters from the bottom of our horribly glittery hearts —
we’ll have a lot in store for you when we get going again in 2013! Cheers!
— Bria and Lin
Welcome to Cosplay Tuesday! Every week we feature one of our costumes and talk a little more in-depth about it. This week, we’ll be turning the spotlight on Bria’s Genderswapped Captain Hammer from Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.
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Hands down, the best part about this costume is all the cheesy facial expressions I got to make.
As far as putting this costume together, there wasn’t that much involved beyond buying the t-shirt although that did take a little bit of digging to find it in the screen accurate colour. From there, it was a matter of making come decisions about how exactly I wanted to genderswap this particular character. I’m not terribly fond of the genderswaps that automatically assume a skirt or shorts or a bare midriff because I don’t always think that fits the character. However, with Captain Hammer, I could absolutely see that happening. Therefore, my first version of this costume ended up involving some tiny olive green shorts and heeled boots. It ended up not working out well for two reasons: 1) I didn’t like how it looked and 2) It decided to snow during Halloween last year. So off to my closet I went again and settled on wearing these cargo pants and my motorcycle boots and ended up really loving this version of the costume. To top it off, this version of the costume ended up being MUCH more practical for work that night.
I finally got a chance to take some real pictures in this costume this summer with my favourite photographer ever, Heather of Zhobot. Completely by accident, we ended up finding the perfect location for the photoshoot: a kids’ playground. I can truthfully say that I looked absolutely ridiculous trying to ride tiny little toy motorcycles and swinging on the swing set but thankfully no one else was there to see me. I’m also pretty sure that I whacked my head on the little clubhouse a few times but there was no lasting brain damage.
All in all, it was a really fun shoot and I’d love to wear this out to a convention one day when I finally have room in my ridiculously busy costume schedule. (Any takers for boy!Penny or girl!Horrible?)
“These? Are not the hammer. The hammer is my… waaaaait a minute.”
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You can check out more of Bria’s costumes over at her costume gallery.
Navy and silver and white seem to be in this season which is just begging for a Ravenclaw inspired post even if the Sorting Hat did put us both in Slytherin. And hey, we may be rather partial to black but we don’t discriminate against blue and navy. So check out some of the fashion pieces we found that gave off that Ravenclaw House vibe.
Well, you can’t keep us completely away from black so let’s start with this cute coat from Desigual!
I’d apologise for this next dress from ASOS but it is the most Ravenclaw thing I have ever stumbled upon that wasn’t a Hogwarts uniform. Navy, feathers, and lace? Yup. That’s So Ravenclaw.
Heading out to a fancy dress party for work? Maybe these two dresses from Little Mistress and River Island might fit the bill for something cute yet Ravenclaw.
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Or maybe your Christmas party is a bit more relaxed this year and hems can go a little higher. ASOS has you covered and so does BCBG with their sequin dress.
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Not a dress person? That’s okay because we found some super cute skirts for you too from Desigual and Herve Leger. (And check out those shoes that Herve Leger paired with the ombre skirt!)
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Ravenclaws are know for their intelligence and their long hours in the library so let’s turn away from the parties and look for something a bit more suited for studying or perhaps even the office. First up is this adorable sweater dress from kate spade.
Or how about this jacket from Burberry?
I can never resist adding a little Elie Saab in here so check out this dress from his SS RTW 2013 collection. It’s probably not Hogwarts appropriate though. ;)
And just for the fun of it and to close us out, how about some kate spade accessories?
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And that’s all folks! Find anything that you’d love to have make its way into your closet? Let us know! And also let us know if you’d like us to do some inspo posts for the other Houses. We’ll probably do Slytherin (duh) but if you’d like to see Gryffindor and Hufflepuff too, we’d certainly be game!
So the trailer for Pacific Rim came out over the weekend, and can I just say.
Welcome to Cosplay Tuesday! Every week we feature one of our costumes and talk a little more in-depth about it. This week, we’ll be turning the spotlight on Lin’s Leah from Journey Into Mystery!
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Photo by Judy Stephens
We do it because we love. I say this because Leah would never have happened without Natalie agreeing to be my precious, pocket-sized Loki — and nothing says cosplay like characters ready-made for slummin’ around with one of your favourite ladies.
Due to the Asgardian nature of our costumes, we really wanted to push it for a winter convention, and finally settled for Katsucon (February 2011). Good decision, because while I didn’t put out for an expensive velvet, I did finally decide on a mediumweight brushed cotton. As a lined jacket and full skirt, it’s not the easiest thing to wear for… say, a balmy NYCC weekend. (If you saw a Leah walking around with her skirt tucked into the waistband and her jacket slung over her arm, that would be totally super hip me.)
Construction notes? It was a jacket pattern modified to include gathered sleeves, the appropriate front+back panels, and mandarin collar. (Didn’t have time for a good fit and I totally messed up the trim, so don’t look too closely. Ha.) The skirt was just really simply draped on the stand, and is slightly gathered in back to give it a train. The hair bones are paperclay formed over a hair clip, with strands from the wig wrapped around it.
But really, it’s the wearing of this thing. I’ve never met any creators in costume from their run, and it’s a completely humbling but at the same time — my god, these folks are lovely. Our costumes were so well-received, and we’re just like, no, stop, we’re here to thank you. Got my comics signed by the wonderful Kieron Gillen, received an amazing silk-screen print from the all-too-generous Stephanie Hans, group pics with editor Lauren Sankovitch. Yep. Good times.
And at the end of the day, watch out sentimentality ahead!! hanging out with Natalie et al, being total bums. I hadn’t worn a costume this comfortable for quite some time, so being able to just chill with friends and generally being Asgardian wastes of space was totally top shelf.
Photo by Judy Stephens
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Because Natalie is totally the little liar prince of my heart and also soon the other space girlfriend of my heart, check out her cosplay page! (But also because she is a super cosplayer and makes really neat geek bracelets like my Captain Marvel one, JUST SAYING.) Or if you want to check out more of Lin’s costumes, just head over to her cosplay gallery!