![]() |
![]() ![]() |
AUSTRALIA has its first international cosplay champion and she hails from Toowoomba.
Sam Mansfield, aka Major Sam, was crowned winner of the Crown Champion- ships of Cosplay at the comic convention C2E2 in Chicago at the weekend. It was her hand-crafted outfit of Gothic necromancer, Julietta Necromancer that won over the judges. Her intricate skeletal costume features lit up cat skeletons and five layers of dyed silk organza. It took four months to make the outfit and required more than 20 hours of hand-stitching. ![]() Ms Mansfield said creating cosplay costumes was a tough hobby that required time and love. Her advice to other champion hopefuls was to give it 120%. "Go all out and don't cut yourself short," she said. "If that one element of the costume is going to need dozens of hours to make, give that element the time it deserves. "Giving a costume time is what makes a good costume great." She said the painstaking time it took to make her outfit was definitely worth it. "There is so much detail to look at and it's a perfect combination of scary and beautiful," she said. Ms Mansfield took the top prize at the Australian Championships of Cosplay at Oz Comic-Con in Septem- ber last year, which qualified her to represent Australia in Chicago. She said to be crowned the international champion was overwhelming. "It's one thing competing against the rest of Australia, but against multiple countries is unfathomable," she said. "It hasn't sunk in yet and I don't think it will for a while, if at all. "I don't envy judges when it comes to a situation between needing to compare armour to sewing. "But in the end it comes down to three things that apply to both types of costumes, the overall finish, amount of work and how many different skills were used." ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
![]() ![]() |
Ahead of this weekend's Armageddon Expo in Auckland, Ethan Sills takes a look at the rise and rise of cosplay. ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
![]() ![]() |
![]() Most of us don’t attend costume theme parties every weekend, so Halloween, while fun, can also present a sticky challenge. But we don’t need to drop big bucks for a store-bought costume that we will never wear again ― and what fun is that, anyway? All of the supplies for a good couples costume are right at our fingertips ― and we’re not talking sexy fill-in-the-blank for her and a “this is my costume” t-shirt for him. Here are 100 DIY costumes for couples, one more clever than the next. Pop culture largely influences the Halloween costumes we see, so we can look to this year’s movies, TV shows, celebrities, politicians and scandals for creative costume ideas. Last year Inside Out, the Disney children’s film, provided lots of fun inspiration. Here’s a DIY tutorial for how to make the costumes at home. Choose two, and you’ve got your couple’s costume. Invite some friends to join in and represent the whole cast. Group costumes are fun and spark conversation at a party. Here are 100 additional ideas for group halloween costumes. So what are the pop culture influences we will see show up at Halloween 2016? American Horror story is always good for scary costume ideas, and this season is said to be a revisitation of some past characters. The movie The Witch frightened even Stephen King. And the release of the Marvel film Deadpool is a sure bet to inspire a wave of comic-book hero costumes this year. Look to the upcoming 2016 Wizard World Comic Con in February for a taste of what to expect in October, as the conventions are increasingly about “cosplay” ― “costume” and “play.” ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
![]() ![]() |
![]() Made up of approximately 15 members, the Georgia Tech Costume Design Committee meets every Friday at 4 p.m. in the College of Computing. “Basically we are a support group for cosplayers,” said co-president, second-year EIA Kat Hueber. “We usually have a short workshop, on say, wigs, or makeup or sewing. Then we just hang out and chat about what we’ve been making. It is a very casual atmosphere.” Members of the club tend to be avid cosplayers who are actively making various costumes. “Being a cosplayer in college makes you a bad roommate,” Hueber said. “Right now in my common area there is a mess of butcher paper, sharpies, hot glue and needles due to the project I’m currently working on.” The paint on her shoes attests to the fact that the projects she works on take on a life of their own. All of the photos on her phone seem to be of previous projects or prospective projects. “Most of the costumes that the members of the club work on are of anime or videogame characters, but I also enjoy musical cosplay. Right now, I am working on costume design for the musical, ‘Hamilton.’ Costume design is the hardest part of the process. Deciding what materials you are going to use and how you are going to achieve your look is difficult, especially if it is going to include materials you have not necessarily worked with before.” This is where the club helps Hueber in her cosplay endeavors. During the week she sends texts and pictures to club members, sharing her tedious struggles with what she calls her support group. The group meets once a week, and at each of their meetings, members of the Costume Design Committee work on a specific portion of costume design, sharing their skills in workshops. After a short PowerPoint on the workshop, a short demonstration is given and then the members discuss problems they have with the skill set being discussed that week or with current projects. Another of the group’s main attractions aiding fellow cosplayers and commiserating over the process of designing and creating a costume, the club also has photo-shoots once a semester. This semester the photo-shoot is scheduled for March, leaving time for finishing some current projects. Hueber, for example, is good at making wigs and applying costume make-up. She swears by authentic-looking wigs that she buys and dyes herself to achieve the correct color. “Buying and dyeing a wig might seem like a very tedious process, but it is much cheaper than bleaching and dying your own hair as many cosplayers do,” Hueber said. While, Hueber believes that design is the hardest part of the craft, she also believes that simpler looking costumes are much more difficult to pull off. For example, the cosplays Hueber has made for two different anime characters, Princess Kraehe from the anime “Princess Tutu” and “Neon Genesis Evangelion’s” Asuka Langley, contrast significantly in terms of complexity as one had an intricate feather skirt the other consisted of a simple jumper school uniform. Hueber found that making the feather skirt was a tedious process because it involved copious amounts of tulle and hot glue. However, she found the pleats and straight lines of her Asuka Langley cosplay to be significantly more difficult to achieve. ![]() ![]() |