Here’s another solo shoot, just me and my phone camera. This is around the same spot that I did my first Naked Snake photoshoot, although they have since destroyed that beautiful little alcove of trees I had used. Still the area provided the kind of scenery I needed, with bonus authentic mosquitoes. I was being eaten alive, it was worth it. It’s nice to see how far my costume and my physique have come in about a year. That STABO harness was a nightmare from beginning to end. It’s been my white whale for years, I finally found authentic parachute clips online, but they only shipped to the United States, so I needed my dad to order them and ship them to me. I thought sewing the straps would take an hour tops, instead it took nine hours. It’s a complicated system to begin with, but then in the game, there’s no adjustment straps, so I had to tailor to fit me exactly. Then on top of that I had to figure out a bunch of hidden tricks to make it conform better to my body.
The final piece missing from this costume is the radio switchbox, and maybe an M1911 replica gun.
@vespaphotographyperth hosts an annual pink themed photoshoot event raising money for breast cancer. I figured this was an excellent opportunity to finally make my Marge Simpson Chanel suit. Turns out I bought this fabric and wig mere days before I was hit by a car over two years ago. So, naturally, this project fell far to the wayside. Thanks to @stephanie.cullingford for not letting me give up on this costume and for the fabric suggestion.
I made this costume in about 30 hours over the course of a month. On the day of the shoot I was madly sewing the costume and styling the wig right up until my makeup artist @twistcreativ arrived. She did a fantastic job bringing my vision to life. I wanted to embody Marge in a way that captured her beauty and humanity rather than trying to garishly force a cartoon character into the real world without translation.
It’s a shame I could not find pink heels anywhere! It really would have tied it all together. Oh well, next time. I’m overall just proud to see how far I’ve come as a seamstress, this might be the best tailored jacket I’ve ever made. And that black velvet trim was a nightmare to sew! But it all came together in the end.
Fun fact: Marge is stated to be 34 years old in season 1. Meaning we are nearly the same age, what a wild thought. Marge was always the mother I wished I had, now she’s a peer.
Carpe diem: I’ve wanted to do a Peace Walker Kazuhira shoot for years now, but I could never find a photographer to do it. The old community of amateur photographers has all dissipated. I decided to not let that stop me, you want a job done right, do it yourself. This shoot was struck with a case of Murphy’s Law however, anything that could go wrong, did go wrong, but I charged ahead anyway. I accidentally packed my wig tape and cap in my storage unit. I forgot to put on my holster belt. The stand for my phone broke, my DSLR just would not focus on me. But the weather was nice, there was hardly anyone on the beach on a Monday afternoon, so despite it taking longer and being more challenging than expected, it all came together in the end.
These photos were shot on both my phone and DSLR, I don’t think you can even tell the difference between the two these days with the way the technology is now.
By the way, that jumpsuit is actually my work uniform. Other cosplayers have to fake the weathering on their costumes, but me? I wear my costume week after week for years to look suitably lived in. I’ve come to regard this uniform as my default look, almost like a cartoon character.
A big thanks to Snap Happy Ian for these most excellent photos. This Revolver Ocelot costume was mostly assembled from pieces found at op-shops and military swap meets. I added the capelet to the jacket about a year ago, and dyed the bandolier and styled the wig the night before the expo. I wear a lot of these items as part of my everyday wardrobe, with the intention of minimising the waste and excess that cosplay often entails.
This was a fun project, I didn’t make this costume from scratch, I altered one I ordered from a Chinese cosplay website. I replaced the vinyl fabric buckles with metal ones, replaced the vinyl straps with webbing, and made the knife holder out of leather. All touches to give this costume authenticity. I wore it for the first time to a convention today, it’s sweaty and there isn’t much flexibility, but overall I think this costume was decent. Not many people recognised the character, most thought I was Black Widow.
Here’s one from the archives, my first photoshoot ever:
Character: Lady Loki (Marvel)
Costume and makeup: by me
Photographer: Jaqueline Auty
Date: 05/05/2012
This one makes me reflect on my costume history. Technically, I have been sewing since I was taught how to in primary school when I was seven years old (we were making felt picture squares for Christmas, mine was a reindeer), after that point I would make my own plush toys by hand, or use those skills to repair holes or attach buttons to my own clothing. I took home economics in high school, where I ambitiously tried to make a silver trenchcoat (look, I was going through my Matrix phase), the results weren’t too bad, wish I still had photos of it.
I then studied fashion design at TAFE in 2009 and that’s when I began cosplaying. I had seen cosplayers at international conventions and thought they were so cool, but Perth didn’t even get a comic convention until 2008, so I never had the opportunity to cosplay myself, nor see other people doing it in person. Our costumes were all rough as hell at that first Supanova, most of us just lazily slapped on some Joker make-up, myself included. It was more akin to what you would expect from a Halloween party, or maybe a Star Trek convention from the 70’s. A part of me actually loves that DIY, improvised look before cosplay became so serious and competitive. I think that spirit is the one I continue on with Cosplay Couture, accuracy doesn’t excite me, assembling an outfit from found items or customising the costume to suit you as an individual, that’s what I love. Thankfully Marvel canonically did that for me.
This shoot was taken around the time the first Avengers movie was released, so the Marvel hype was at an all-time high, and we all loved Loki. I didn’t have to dress up as the male Loki, there was already a female one in the comics and I really liked her design. I assembled this costume while studying costume design at WAAPA, during the long hours sitting around backstage during rehearsals, I would make the chainmail bodice, the first and only time I’ve worked with chainmail, it was difficult, but the results were great. Back then I had dreams of being a professional cosplayer, so I would spend countless hours trying to make elaborate costumes from scratch, I learned a lot of new techniques through trial and error. I made that helmet out of real leather (apparently money was no object?) I created the pattern and everything by myself. The sceptre was the only thing I had help with, I’m still no good with props.
I’m proud of the work I did, that was quite an impressive costume, maybe one of my best. I’m surprised how natural I was in front of the camera considering I had never done any modelling before that. I am accompanied by Ben Gates as Thor and Alex Suriano as Cardboard Iron Man. I don’t see these guys much anymore, but we were part of such a tight friend group back at uni. Life sure changes a lot once you get into your 30’s, huh? Oh no, I can hear the Stand By Me theme somewhere in the distance, I’ll wrap this up.
Here’s a fun discovery, my old tutorial from my now deleted DeviantART account still floats around online:
Normal people take walks and admire the scenery, I find a cool location, go home and come back in costume for a photoshoot. This was about a ten minute walk from my house, I shot this on my phone on a tripod using natural lighting. I couldn’t have asked for a more ideal location, a hidden pit beneath a canopy of trees, right there next to the sidewalk
Nearly four months ago I was nearly killed in a hit-and-run, I have no memory of the incident, nor the week that followed. Since then I’ve had to deal with injuries I don’t remember acquiring, it doesn’t feel real. I have two skull fractures, I am deaf in my left ear (hopefully temporarily), I was in a neck brace because of my fractured vertebrae, but the most debilitating part was my broken right leg with severe lacerations along the tendons. I was robbed of my ability to walk for months. Thankfully I wasn’t in a wheelchair for too long, but whether or not I’ll ever be able to walk properly without needing the crutch is unknown at this point.
While I recovered from the worst of my injuries, I stayed with my family, I didn’t have much else to do but play whatever games I had downloaded on my laptop, and that just so happened to be the Phantom Pain. What I got was an intense exploration of pain, loss and grief, I was shown characters who seemed to understand what I was going through and gave voice to these new feelings I couldn’t articulate. The opening of the game alone was some kind of nightmarish re-enactment of my hospital confinement. But it was Kazuhira that became a kind of spirit guide for me, because of him I feel no shame in my current physical limitations, if I need this crutch forever, so be it, no matter what I’ve lost, a Diamond Dog gets up and keeps on fighting.
I still haven’t been able to return to work, my circadian rhythm is completely unpredictable, so while I continue to recover, and when I’m not sleeping, or playing Metal Gear, I find myself inspired to make costumes again. This costume was entirely sourced in op shops, the only sewing I did was attaching the Diamond Dogs patch to the beret, and tailoring the trousers. I’m not so much interested in making everything from scratch and being 100% accurate to the source material. It’s more fun for me to source pieces, the thrill of the hunt, finding garments that evoke the character, and I just so happened to get lucky. I wasn’t going to make this a girly rule 63, that would be tacky, I wasn’t going to make this crossplay and try to pass myself off as male, that would be inauthentic. I just adapted Kaz’s costume for myself, with all the practicality and dignity his costume entails.
Another stroke of luck was the shoot, it had rained mere hours before we shot, but it was mostly clear skies when we needed it. It was cold, perfect for all the layers I had to wear, and just the right amount of wind to get us a few dramatic flowing trenchcoat shots. There also happened to be a real naval ship in the harbour too, although we couldn’t get too close.
It felt good to return to modelling, and I hope I can bring you more Metal Gear shoots soon.
This was a shoot that initially arose from the fact that as my hair has been growing out, I noticed a passing resemblance to Scarlett Johansson’s alien femme fatale in Under the Skin. But then I watched the film again and found myself thinking about it a lot from a new perspective. The film came out in 2013, I had been a totally different person then, I was still a kid with no worldly experience. In the intervening years I had transitioned to male and then one year ago, I detransitioned back to living as a woman. Under the Skin muses on a lot of ideas, and to me now, I see it as reflective of my exploration of gender, and body, and identity. I accept my body completely for once in my life, but how is it perceived by others? Am I the same person I used to be? Am I different? Or am I just treated differently based on the way I look?
Travian Designs 