Here’s another shot of my MGSV Revolver Ocelot, always fascinating to see how different photographers interpret your costume. This one was shot by CK Imagery at Evolve Pop Culture Expo 2024. See this costume photographed by Snap Happy Ian here.
In 2021 the Monkey Collective held one of their immersive screening events at the wonderful Luna Palace Cinema in Leederville, Perth. It was for one of my favourite films, The Fifth Element, so, of course, I had to make a costume for their costume contest. I knew there were going to be plenty of Leeloos in the crowd, so I decided to pick someone more obscure; Zorg’s secretary. She didn’t receive much screen-time, nor did she ever get a name, but she had a costume that was another memorable Gaultier creation, it always appealed to me. Plus I already had a skirt of a similar colour. My favourite part of that character is the hair, she wears a wig made of feathers. Initially I tried to see if I could replicate it, but finding such fine feathers on such short notice without spending a fortune proved impossible. So I searched for a regular wig of similar colour, no dice. In desperation, I bought a grey “elderly” style Halloween wig, spray painted it teal to match the velvet and feathers I already had. It’s not at all an accurate shade of teal, but it’s the best I could find around here. The spray paint worked surprisingly well and helped to create a strange texture to the wig. Making costumes in Perth is challenging because we have a limited range of costuming and crafting materials. Honestly, even our range of consumer goods is often limited too. I usually have to order things online; out of the question when there’s a short deadline!
With all those challenges in mind, I am happy with the results, and evidently, others agreed. I had a great night, the audience loved me, and when my character came on screen, they applauded. As impressive as the modern cosplay industry has become, the real fun is had at costume events like this where we are just having fun, improvising and sharing our love of our favourite characters and stories.
Here’s an obscure one, this is based on Joan Chen’s character Kidda from the post-apocalyptic cult classic “Rise of the Juggers”. Though I didn’t worry too much about accuracy. I was invited to a post-apocalypse costume event, and had about two weeks to make something to wear. I gave myself a budget of $50 and spent 15 hours making this costume. It was a lot of fun to abandon the demand for accuracy. This reminded me of playing dress-ups as a kid, I just threw together whatever I could find and made it work.
The costume in the film was likely made from industrial scraps, they probably spent very little on materials. However, in order for me to use the exact light weight elastic sheets (not unlike the ones used as yoga bands), it would have cost me upwards of $100. Bugger that, instead I bought a big roll of EVA foam matting for $30. I tore it into rough pieces of armour. The rest of the costume was flannel, which already has a lovely weathered look to it, but I added even more weathering with sandpaper, powdered chalk and acrylic paint. Again, bringing me back to the child-like glee of throwing a costume together. Getting messy and not getting too precious about the results.
I had a good time at the party, rocking out to the band with my mates. Unfortunately, I am not a night owl, so I left long before the night was over. But I was overjoyed to awaken to find that I had won best costume of the night! All that hard work paid off.
The prize was a ticket to Pox Eclipse, a Burning Man-type event in the wheatbelt region of Western Australia. These photos were taken at that event. Credit to Deric for the photography.
I am often told I resemble Cillian Murphy, so I couldn’t resist jumping on the Barbenheimer trend. Back in 2023, the Barbie movie and Oppenheimer were released within the same week, so it became a meme to combine the two. I wore this for Vespa Photography’s annual pink themed photo event, raising money for breast cancer.
From the archives, July 2014:
Cosplay Couture interpretation of Frankenstein’s monster (Eve)
Costume by Courtney Coulson
Make-up by Lauren Payne
Photography by Luke Milton
Location: Carport
Here’s something we’ve been anticipating for around seven months now, having both become obsessed with the Frankenstein novel and all its various interpretations. Mary Shelley’s work differs massively from the classic Universal film which gets the Michael Bay treatment by comparison. Shelley’s monster is eloquent, emphatic, and pendulum swings between sadness and rage. This is the creature we have wanted to create. Huge thanks to the remarkable talents of Lauren from Lollilicious Make Up Artistry who helped make our plans possible through her wonderful work.
-Luke Milton
I’ve completely fallen in love with Frankenstein, the book has no equal and it’s become a great source of inspiration for me. Luke and I also saw the National Theatre play back in November and I was profoundly moved, it really captured the emotional core of Frankenstein and it was after this that the two of us began wondering if there was any way to give the Creature the Cosplay Couture treatment. After watching many, many adaptations seeing what worked and what didn’t, I ended up with a creature of my own. I call her Eve, as the original Creature is sometimes dubbed ‘Adam’, this isn’t intended to be the Bride, rather a genderswapped Creature as I wanted to channel his emotional journey. This was the most physical performance based shoot I have ever done and I loved it, I was also working on a concrete floor on a cold night in a tight costume and it made the experience feel more real, now I want to see what my next big challenge will be.
The costume was mostly inspired by the Creature’s birth, often depicted wrapped in bandages, it’s a stretch cotton bodysuit with something like twenty metres of bronze organza hand wrapped and stitched on top, and it laces up at the back. The Creature’s birth is never really explored in detail and it varies greatly when portrayed on screen, so my interpretation is of a creature suspended by leather harnesses within an artificial womb.
-Courtney Coulson
From the archives, July, 2014:
Cosplay Couture interpretation of Tintin and Haddock
Costumes and styling by Courtney Coulson
Haddock by Luke Milton
Photography by Sabatomic Photography
Location: Fremantle docks
For such a simple costume, I am most happy as Tintin, he’s a character I really identify with. And this time Tintin is joined by Haddock and Snowy! As we have already done a couture shoot with Tintin, I thought I would mix things up and go for a more accurate costume. So the styling is relatively understated, but my personal touches are still evident in the velveteen “plus-fours”, leather boots, and camera. Besides this shoot was about debuting Haddock’s costume.
How do you make Haddock look fashionable? It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, the general silhouette and colour pallet is unchanged, but I swapped out the anchor jumper with an anchor t-shirt, which I painted myself. Plus scarves are always a cool accessory.
And introducing Bailey as Snowy, conveniently I just happen to have a little white dog for the part. He wasn’t too difficult to work with, he was pretty anxious about being in a new environment, so he stayed close by, the only challenge was getting him to look at the camera for more than a second.
Courtney Coulson
It’s always a thrill to work with Sab- she is an amazing photographer who understands what we are trying to accomplish and make us look good, It’s also a thrill to be in front of the camera again and getting my Haddock on, thank you for indulging me.
-Luke Milton
It was really fun to get back to shooting. Courtney has amazing dynamic poses and Luke has a wonderfully expressive face.
-Sabrina
From the archives, June 2014:
Gozer the Gozerian- Ghostbusters
Costume and make-up by Courtney Coulson
Photography and props by Luke Milton
This year, this month in fact marks the 30th anniversary of Ghostbusters, which is one of my all time favourite films, so I couldn’t resist making a tribute to it.
Our Re-Animator shoot taught us that a minimalistic concept can yield surprising results. Often times we will spend weeks designing, making, planning and researching for a shoot, but in this instance it’s just a carport, a smoke machine and a purple light. Gozer’s costume is really simple, it’s just bits of fabric and plastic (in my case, bubble wrap) glued to a unitard, it literally took me a day to assemble. Hell, I spent more time and money on my Ghostbusters uniform and props.
Courtney Coulson
I have discovered smoke and coloured lights. Nothing will ever be the same again.
Luke Milton
From the archives, March 2014:
Costume by Courtney Coulson
Photography, sets and props by Luke Milton
This shoot was quickly put together after watching all three Re-Animator movies in the past week. The challenge, of course, is to take a character with a very basic costume, use minimal props and set, and still manage to get across the essence of Jeffrey Comb’s iconic Herbert West. It’s really all about the look and the lighting and I’m happy with the results. This is the first time in a while that we’ve used the studio lights, but we used them outside in the carport at night to give us a grittier feel (and a bit more space). And I love making blood!
-Luke Milton
This was a unique challenge as West is such a minimalistic character, alter a single detail about his look and it changes everything. It’s also the kind of costume that only works if you vaguely resemble him to begin with, which considering this is crossplay, I think I at least pass. I didn’t really have to make anything for this costume, I already owned everything except for the glasses, I had to find the perfect frames. In terms of facial expressions and poses, again, I was kind of limited. West is pretty unfazed by any of the events of the films, his usual expression is a stern pout which I tried my best to emulate. And of course the syringe had to be ever present!
-Courtney Coulson
Back around 2014 I discovered Monster High and was inspired to customise them. It would go on to generate the foundation of the Doctor Travian novel I am writing. I had no experience painting dolls or miniatures prior, my earliest attempts were rough, but I would soon pick up the skills. I learned to paint their faces, insert glass eyes, re-root their hair and make detailed miniature costumes. I sold custom dolls for a time on Etsy, and I would gift a few to my friends.
I don’t have time for such a hobby anymore, but I am proud of the work I did.
Travian Designs 