DEKU COSPLAY BY @MIRACLE_GEM. This fantasy version of Deku was actually the main reason we decided to make this cosplay group. His design was a nice and simple green vest and a couple swords, but I really just wanted to make a nice green peasant dress for Miracle because I thought she would look really cute in it. I had just finished my most challenging cosplay yet, and was in the mood for more sewing, so I made the pattern for his vest and apron and sewed together the outfit in about a day. The vest is very similar to the original design in the art, and I drew inspiration for the skirt and apron from his mom’s design in the outro as well. The embroidery details were on the collar and apron were added a little later, since I had the time and thought they would help make the whole thing a little more interesting as well as pulling more from his art and his mom’s design as well. It all came together quickly and just as adorable on Miracle as I could have hoped.

BIO. Sophia Raggett is 26 years old and has been cosplaying for 5 years, starting in 2014 with pre-made and bought costumes. Since then, with greater attention to detail and construction, costuming has taken over a large part of her participation in the hobby; garment construction, wig styling, prop making, and even special effects makeup are all skills is she has added to her repertoire since. She cosplays in a group with Jasmine (daytime_cosplay) and Gillian (@gillysagoldfish) to learn together and support each other. Thank you both for the many great years (and hopefully many more to come)!!

TODOROKI COSPLAY BY @DAYTIME_COSPLAY . I liked the BNHA  “fantasy” character design for Todoroki, but wanted to try my hand at making a gown rather than a suit/tunic. My first design debuted at CRX 2018, with a blue overdress, a floor-length ruched skirt over a gathered underlayer, all over a hoop skirt. 

I decided to edit my first design for CRX 2019 mostly for mobility. I had a ton of fabric to use once I disassembled the old dress and decided to turn the underdress into a ¾ sleeve, high-low style with a pleated collar and gather the sides of the blue overdress to prevent them dragging on the ground. The boots and mask were a new addition for this updated design.

I love the blue dress, and am very proud of myself for how it turned out given that I was still very new to sewing when I made it. The mask was also a lot of fun, mostly made from 2mm EVA foam and foam clay. Fun fact: the eye is a piece of a plastic cup with nailpolish on it. 

One thing I will say though, I deeply regret my fabric choice for the underdress. It was polyester satin, and it didn’t breathe at all! It was so nasty, my friend had to peel it off me after the shoot. A great, sweaty learning experience. 

My favorite part is always feeling good, meeting new people and hanging out with my friends!

BIO. I’ve been going to cons in cosplay for 4 years. I started with premade cosplays in 2015, my first being a group cosplay for Attack on Titan. The first cosplay I made (some of) was Percy de Rolo from Critical Role, the following year in 2016. I’ve been much more dedicated the past 2 years since I graduated from university and have had the time to spend on more intricate cosplays.

My friends were my inspiration to start cosplaying. We were a bunch of nerds who had never cosplayed before but were all into the same shows. I had also never been to a convention before, but I’d been told that it was more fun to go if you were dressed up. At the time, I also had the exact same haircut and color as Erwin from Attack on Titan, so it was super easy to choose a character. Sophie (part of our current cosplay group) was one of these friends that was with me from the very start! She had been going to Fanime for many years, and was the reason I felt comfortable going to a con in the first place. I can’t thank her enough. And when the next year rolled around I had the same haircut and color of Oikawa from Haikyuu!!, and the same group of friends were into that show, so that was a super easy choice as well. It just kept going after that!

My sister is also a major influence on me. She was the one that really committed to building more complex costumes, made friends online for us to collaborate with, and is always down to do sibling/twin cosplays with me. She’s incredibly talented and persistent, and the inspiration that keeps me to continue pushing myself.

BAKUGOU COSPLAY BY @GILLYSAGOLDFISH. I chose this version of Bakugou, from the anime Boku no Hero Academia, because a new version of their “fantasy” skins were released. I was drawn to his shirt in the new design, so I decided that I wanted to create this embroidered top as well as reimagine the rest of his outfit to match the aesthetic I wanted for myself. 

While creating his outfit, I ended up using new techniques that I hadn’t explored yet, like making foam look like leather and embroidering with a sewing machine. The gladiator skirt that I made for this design was some 2mm foam textured with aluminum foil and then painted brown to mimic the color and texture of leather. It worked out surprisingly well, and with the gold details of the skulls and rivets, it came together nicely. 

The shirt was by far the most complicated part of this cosplay, even being a simple crop top.The art itself is not high definition, so I had to look at the general shapes and freehand the embroidery designs. I spent several hours a day for weeks drawing and sewing all the embroidery into the elbows, shoulders, and edges, and the end result was definitely worth the time and effort.

BIO. I have been cosplaying now for about four years with my sister, and have only recently started using my handle of @gillysagoldfish for cosplay exclusively. I got into it because my sister was going to Fanime with her friends, and I already enjoyed halloween and putting together character costumes, so cosplay was something I quickly fell in love with. I went to my first convention in cosplay in 2015, a sophomore in high school, and the experience is something I will never forget. Those first cosplays were premades that we had bought online, and soon after we started making our own from scratch. My first ever self-made cosplay was a DnD character from the show Critical Role, and since then my skills have grown and I have learned so much more to be able to create the cosplays I use now.

COSPLAY BY MIRACLE_GEM, @DAYTIME_COSPLAY, @GILLYSAGOLDFISH
PHOTOGRAPHY AND DESIGN BY BRIAN NISHIMOTO

GALLERY