ELSA RE:ZERO: @MODFOXU

COSPLAY ZINE PROJECT

“MY FIRST CONVENTION was Katsucon 2017, which was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. The energy and passion for an interest that I shared made me feel like I was at home. My very first cosplay was an online purchase (after many hours of research) of Emilia from Re:Zero. I had originally discovered cosplay through the subreddit r/makeupaddict, I still remember the detailing of Hinatas (from Naruto) Byakugan makeup that I found absolutely fascinating.

I began to delve deeper into the cosplay makeup wormhole and was amazed at what makeup artists were able to achieve with simple shading and other unique techniques. This is what started my passion. I didn’t start crafting my own cosplays from scratch, but my skills grew over the two years until I made my first genderbend fanart cosplay entirely from scratch in February 2019 (Dio, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure).

As a redditor, I posted my work and gained a following based on this cosplay which then drove me to craft and create even more intricate cosplays such as Elsa. I find the process of crafting and creating things the most fulfilling, making something with my own hands and bringing a passion to life is one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever experienced.”

THE ELSA COSPLAY (Re:Zero: Life from Another World) started off as a last minute surprise project for Fanime 2019, but it turned out to be one of the most challenging and rewarding cosplays I’ve crafted from scratch. I’ve had a very deep connection to this anime from the beginning as it really captures the message of keeping a positive outlook when facing negative situations. This is a personal philosophy of mine, so when I watched the first episode - I was hooked. I originally cosplayed Emilia as I related to her sweet and trusting personality, but found value in Elsa and how she presented a continuous battle for the first goal of the main character. Which is to save everyone, and consistently find a way to fix new issues that arose with every changed timeline. I think all of us encounter a character like this, be it a personal circumstance, or goal that we’re striving towards. Fail, contemplate, and find a different path. Her character portrayed something unique, and I was happy to be able to bring her to (Re:)life.

Get it? Re: Life?

The main fabric of the dress was crafted out of a black scuba fabric, which is thicker and has more durability in the hold of a four-way stretch pattern. When crafting something so revealing and using wiring to hold the shape, you need something that has stability and reliability - which is the trait that drew me to this material. For shaping the bodice of the dress, I used jewelry wiring and sewed a hidden hem in order to hold the said wiring in place.

For the feather detailing on the bottom of the dress, I used an ostrich feather trim and sewed it in diagonal layers in order to achieve the fullness of her feathered hem. This was done separately and sewed on in a separate piece of shaped scuba fabric after finishing vinyl on the main section of the dress.

In order to get the shape when crafting her capes crest, I molded a piece of 6mm Eva foam and sewed it into the upper section of the cape, and finished by adding a blood red inner lining to the material. I’m newer to sewing, so I have a few things I would like to fix - but I basically sewed the cape inside out and reversed it before sewing the base onto the crest containing the Eva foam. I mainly used the Eva as a base and punctured the ostrich feather shafts into the foam to achieve a solid position for the feathers. I then stabilized them into place with a hot glue gun along the punctures which helped achieve the fanned out positioning of her capes crest.

The detailing for the iron on vinyl was cut with an Xacto knife and a Rotary cutter, each piece was ironed on in sections. Thankfully, my best friend is an art graduate so she came over to help me in my con crunch! Thank you Abby!

COSPLAY BY JORDAN
PHOTOGRAPHY AND DESIGN BY BRIAN NISHIMOTO