Category: Costumes

Lady Loki

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:

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Metal Gear Solid 3: Naked Snake

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

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Kazuhira Miller Cosplay

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Costume by me

Photography by Sreeraj Sreenivisan

Edits by me

Location: Fremantle Harbour and Maritime Museum

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.

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Under the Skin

Photography by Luke Milton

Makeup by Kat Winslade

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?

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Arkham City Bane Cosplay- One Day Build


This was a heap of fun to put together, I was on @thebatminute and one of the hosts, Niall asked if I could make a Bane costume for the promo photo. I couldn’t resist the challenge, in less than a week (and with less than $10) I had to throw this all together and get photos. Couldn’t have done it without the help of Alex for lending me parts of the costume, and helping me to build the rest (more details on the build in another post). And thanks to @sabkitten for shooting this in my apartment today with the most cobbled together lighting setup ever.

Bane is a character that’s always meant a lot to me, but I always dismissed the possibility of cosplaying as him, I’m just a tiny little girl, that would be ridiculous. But I’m beefier now than I used to be. I’m really happy with how these photos came out, I didn’t want to go for a cutesy or sexy version, I just wanted to be Bane, roided out, balls to the wall insane. He’ll blow up your plane. He’s coming for Bruce Wayne. 

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Charlie Watson and Bumblebee (Camaro)

Charlie and Bumblebee in his Camaro alt-mode.
Photography by Simon Haynes
Camaro provided by Clevo Rulz
After planning and rescheduling around rain and lockdowns for months, I’m so happy to have finally gotten to do this shoot. Cars are my life right now, so I was eager to model with them. It was an interesting challenge, I wanted to explore a level of intimacy without the usual overt sexuality of car photoshoots.  I adore the movie Bumblebee, so when I saw a yellow Camaro at a cars and coffee meetup, I was inspired. And not only did I find a yellow Camaro but a Beetle too! I had never sat in one before but I could instantly see their appeal, there’s a charm in their curvy simplicity.
Thanks again to everyone who brought this photoshoot to life, you were all so generous.

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Charlie Watson and Bumblebee (VW)

Charlie and Bumblebee in his VW Beetle alt-mode.
Photography by Simon Haynes
VW Beetle provided by Grace Palmateer-McLaughlin.
After planning and rescheduling around rain and lockdowns for months, I’m so happy to have finally gotten to do this shoot. Cars are my life right now, so I was eager to model with them. It was an interesting challenge, I wanted to explore a level of intimacy without the usual overt sexuality of car photoshoots.  I adore the movie Bumblebee, so when I saw a yellow Camaro at a cars and coffee meetup, I was inspired. And not only did I find a yellow Camaro but a Beetle too! I had never sat in one before but I could instantly see their appeal, there’s a charm in their curvy simplicity.
Thanks again to everyone who brought this photoshoot to life, you were all so generous.

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Kira Nerys Deep Space Nine Cosplay

Photographer: Simon Haynes

Makeup: Kat Winslade

It’s been a long time, but I have returned to cosplay with a character and costume I never expected to like as much as I do. I guess because I was detransitioning while watching DS9, I gravitated towards Kira as she is such a great female character who shows just how nuanced and multi-faceted a woman can be. Also, man, I loved making those sleeves, so much fun to figure out! The costume was made for less than $100, it’s ribbed stretch fabric and a couch cover, with vinyl for the belt. I found the most perfect boots at an op shop. It came together pretty quickly, I’m finding it easier to sew lately as I seem to be getting over CFS. Hopefully that continues and I can do more cosplay, I feel inspired now.

Probably one of the most challenging shoots, not only was it at night, but we were at a shopping centre and we were unfortunate to be harassed by a security guard who made us delete the photos. Thankfully Simon was able to recover them! I think we got some great shots despite all of that.

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