Casual Cosplay: Harley Quinn meets Vivien of Holloway

Some time ago I entered a costume competition run on the Vivien of Holloway facebook page. I didn't win it, but I had a lot of fun putting together this little casual cosplay.

The challenge was to create a costume using a Vivien of Holloway dress so I decided to use my Peggy Lee dress. The red colour and the white collar really reminded me of Harley Quinn so I decided to throw together a vintage inspired Harley look.

I made this look by tacking the diamonds on to the dress. I tacked them on very badly because it was just for a one off but I would applique then neatly if I was going to do this again.

I also wore two pairs of tights, in this instance I didn't cut the tights, but I would have cut them and re sewn them if I wanted to wear this costume again.

It was also a great opportunity to break out the Worbla mask again and the blonde wig.

I also decided to have a little fun with some prop signs...

Have you ever thrown a costume together in a rush? Did it work?

Cosplay Costumes: Star Sapphire Cosplay at the London Super Comic Convention 2013

Last weekend I went to London Super Comic Convention! It was a great event and I have spent about a month working on my costume for the event... So here it is, my costume has been worn, the event is over and its time for me to share all the photos! This post is a little about the process of making the costume and the costume itself (I'll post more on the event itself later).

On the first day I dressed as classic Star Sapphire. A somewhat obscure choice as dressing as a DC super villain is rarely the most recognisable thing to do (unless you're dressing as the Joker) but I liked the look of the costume and it seemed like a great choice for the first spin on my sewing machine.
This costume is from the 1960s and is a classic comic book costume so it seemed really appropriate for this blog.

I made the bulk of the costume from a 4 way stretch pink lycra and I cut up an old t-shirt to get the fabric for the collar and waist section. In hindsight getting more lycra for the white section would have worked better but never mind! I used existing clothing to make the pattern pieces for the suit and then sewed it all together. It is handy that lycra is quite forgiving when it comes to sewing, however the fabric is a nightmare to stitch... I bought some pink boots and covered a hat I had with the leftover lycra. Lastly I bought a white mask from a costume shop and painted it in a bright pink. I think the thing I was most pleased with was the fact that I managed to put in a zip, that at least made things far easier on the day!

When it came to actually wearing the costume I was terrified! Debuting a costume is nerve-wracking enough, but when it is something you've made yourself it adds an extra dimension of terror. In fact, the fact that so many people at comic-cons sew and make their own costumes it is a little bit intimidating.

Luckily everyone is super nice! Even the people that don't recognise you're character are friendly, asking about sewing techniques etc. A con is also a great place to pick up hints and tips and new inspiration.

So without further stalling - here is the costume in full!

I met up with fellow blogger and (blue) lantern Saranga so a lantern pic was a must!

I also managed to get in on a DC character group photo with not one, but two green lanterns!

I'd like to add that it is super liberating being able to walk around like that without fear of being judged... I think we women are self critical so often that it is nice to take a moment in a community where all shapes and sizes are accepted and people are able to share in fandom. If you've not tried it yet, I highly recommend it!

I'll have pictures of more cosplay from the event up soon (some of it was amazing)!

Cosplay Costume: Black Canary (Or my day having more fun as a blonde…)

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Last week I made the trip to London to attend the MCMexpo. Advertised as London’s comic con and the largest cosplay event in the UK, I had decided that after a rather conservative effort as Victoria Hand last MCM that I was going to go for something a little more adventurous this time.

The event was held over Halloween weekend too so it seemed an even better time to flex those fancy dresscapade muscles.

For the Saturday I had decided to dress as Black Canary, the fishnet clad fighter with the sonic scream. She is featured prominently in several DC books, a member of the Justice League, ex-wife of Green Arrow and most famously known for her role in the Birds of Prey. Although I do particularly like the art of Ed Bene's in BoP but I decided to go for the more classic Canary look as seen in Green Arrow and Black Canary.

Canary Kick!

The main parts of her look are the blond hair, fishnets and boots combo with the black bodysuit and jacket.

This presented me with two challenges that I have never faced before:

1: Going Blonde

2:Getting to London in little more than a pair of fishnets and then walking around wearing only them...

The first was easy to address, I searched on eBay and found a Chinese shop selling cosplay wigs for around £12 with free postage. They had 1000s of positive feedback so I decided to risk it- personally I think the wig I received was excellent value for money, it completely covered all of my hair, was easy to de-tangle and surprisingly comfortable! Although it did take two weeks to arrive…

The second challenge was something that required simple nerves of steel. To get to London I wore a skirt over the ensemble but I found that once I arrived at the Excel centre seeing so many people in thousands of different types of cosplay that no matter what I would survive. 

(Interestingly glamorous people of a different inclination were also attending the Excel for UK’s Top Model I’m not entirely sure they appreciated the slightly strange attire of those of us at the Expo, although one lady did compliment me on my 'fabulous wig')

So here is the final look of the costume, I think it went fairly well :D

Most of the purchases for this outfit came from eBay, with the wig, biker jacket, gloves etc. The bodysuit is an altered swimming costume and the boots were my own. All-in-all it cost around £30 but it is mainly made up of items that I can wear again so I didn’t mind. Something I feel is important to add about this outfit is that I was actually wearing two pairs of tights. One pair of thick opaque beige tights from BHs to cover my legs and then the fishnets over the top- it made me much more comfortable and hides the sins much better than just wearing the fishnets!

Rather interestingly for me, one of my favourite comic authors Gail Simone was appearing as a guest at the MCMexpo on her first trip to London Comic-con. Simone is known for several runs on comics-including, most recently, Barbara Gordon's return as Batgirl in the DCnU52. But she was also the author for a long and famous run on Birds of Prey- the very comic my character was prominently featured in!

As a result of this I was reduced to utterly useless fangirl…

I met Simone at a signing table and asked her to sign my comics. I was incredibly nervous for no particular reason but I felt much better when she told me that I looked amazing and posed for a picture with me.

I noticed later that she had tweeted about a Black Canary cosplayer and replied to one of my tweets.

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‘Also there was a fantastic, adorable Black Alice cosplayer and a tremendous Black Canary cosplayer...both incredibly lovely. So fun!’ and ‘@JennieWhitwood Aw, you looked phenomenal! But I didn't get a picture of you! :('

I think that given this reaction I can judge my costume to have been a success (I hope :S). It was a real honour to get such a comment from a comic superstar- couldn't have been any better :D

During the day I was even asked by a few people to pose for photos, hopefully I won't end up on any of those bad costume blogs...

During the second day I dressed as a 60s style Catwoman (very loosely based on Julie Newmar) and I’ll post on that soon, until then…

Happy Dresscapades!