An open letter to the men who insulted me at Comic Con... Is Snow White supposed to be hot?

Hello everyone I have something a bit different for you readers today, a change in tone from my usual posts, but something that I thought was important to say non-the-less.

Last weekend I went to London Comic Con dressed as Snow White.

Looking neat before Comic Con

Some thoughtful ‘gentlemen’ insulted me from a distance so I thought I would write a letter so that could fully articulate my response.

Here it is:

Dear Men who shouted at me at Comic Con,

Yes you boys that insulted me as I walked past in my Snow White costume. You also sniggered when I turned around to see who had been making fun of me. I hope you are proud.

I just have a few things I need to say to you. I was sad that I couldn’t respond at the time, but by the time I had processed exactly what you had said I had been swept away in the quickly moving crowd. I was also afraid that I may shout at you, or cry, and I didn’t really feel like giving you the satisfaction of showing you how much your words hurt me. But congratulations they did.

I spent hours making that costume, I sewed it from scratch, I researched new techniques to help me put it together and I did hair and makeup trials to make sure everything was just the way I wanted it. I was so proud of my hard work and I was feeling so good about what I had achieved. I didn’t realise that all that good feeling would be so easily spoiled by your throw-away comment: ‘Isn’t Snow White supposed to be hot?’

Is Snow White meant to be hot? Serious question...

Now I don’t know if I am shallow or silly but I was really taken aback by this random verbal assault. I straight away thought ‘Am I ugly?’ Despite the fact I had previously been told how beautiful I looked by a very sweet lady who served us food. My thoughts very quickly moved from a general ugliness to my biggest insecurity - it’s because I’m fat - and you can't have a hot bod if your fat right?

That had to be it, I was too plus size to be a hot Snow White because Snow White is petite with a tiny waist not a 5’7’’ size 14 woman. Right? I’m sure it was meant to be a silly comment, something for a giggle, not to be taken seriously. But it made me feel terrible about myself, it even made me wish I hadn’t eaten the delicious takoyaki for my lunch.

I am aware that I am projecting a certain amount of my own insecurities onto this situation, but isn't that exactly what a comment like this does? It reaches deep inside of you and gnaws at your perceived imperfections. That is why it can be so damaging.

Maybe as UK size 14 I do not fit the typical ideal of the ‘hot’ woman, or heck, even if you think I am completely fugly why should I have to fit in with your ideals of what is hot or not. I can wear what I want. I don’t define myself by what you think is hot. Why should I have to strive to meet your beauty standards? (see #effyourbeautystandards for more on that).

What really infuriates me is that I feel so bad about being upset over a hurtful thing you said? Why do I feel so responsible for my non-hotness. Why do I feel so guilty for feeling insulted? Its only a small thing, I'm not hot, so what, yet it still hurts.

Having said all this, it has also occurred to me that perhaps you don’t actually know what the traditional Disney Snow White looks like? If you google Snow White costume, the majority of costumes available tobuy have tiny skirts (like so many of the costumes available to women these days). Perhaps you don’t realise that Snow White actually has a fairly high neckline and a long skirt? My costume was designed for accuracy, it was meant to be a replica of the design from the film. It was not made to be sexy, but more elegant and regal. Surely you can appreciate the craftsmanship in that?  

Disney's Snow White

 Or perhaps you just think it is a woman’s job to look sexy for you?

I left comic con feeling rather down and in a fluctuating mental state. It was only once I was far away that I could appreciate the more disturbing implications of your thoughts on hotness.

Snow White is a folk tale from the 18^th century about a girl, not a woman, a girl who is OFICIALLY 14 years old. She it meant to be fair and beautiful yes, but she is also sweet, shy and naïve, and certainly too young to be hot in the way you are suggesting. So sorry if my Snow White costume wasn’t hot enough for you. But with the information above I think it is very clear who actually has the problem defining what should or should not be hot.

Finally, I just wanted to add that I find you revolting. Firstly for your limited view on the female form, secondly for your disrespect for the craft of cosplay and lastly for your inability to keep your mouth shut when a nasty thought pops into your mind. If something similar happens to you in future can I politely request that you take some advice from another 1930s Disney film?

Yours sincerely,

The Not Hot Snow White

Cosplay: Toon Zelda at London Comic Con October 2014

I'm not exactly sure what happened to this post. It seemed to get lost in the ether only to re-emerge 4 months after the event... Oh well.

At long last, here is my post on day 2 of MCM expo 2014 or London Comic Con as its also known.

This was the Saturday and it was insanely busy! You can really tell geek culture and cosplay are becoming more and more popular as in three short years MCM has become so much more popular than it was.

This year I wore a Toon Zelda costume from the Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. I chose this version of Zelda as it was different from my Skyward Sword costume at Hyper Japan but it was quite a bit simpler than the Twilight Princess version of her costume. It allowed me to work on some techniques without having to delve into the world of Worbla which I wasn't quite ready for at that point in time.

I also made a very, very rushed Link tunic for my husband. I tried very hard to get him to buy a blonde wig to go with it but he wasn't having it, still, steps in the right direction ;)

Here we are with an awesome Midna cosplayer:

First I thought I would share a few of my favourite cosplay costumes from the day:

 There was quite a heavy Lego presence this year, possibly something to do with the amazing Lego movie.

And as always, lots of Links, but I think that Tingle costume steal the show!

I thought that these Lutece costumes were AMAZING! The outfit, hair and make up was all so perfect!

I felt that this female Cap deserved a place in my gallery because she must have worked really hard to get those victory rolls in that wig!

Double Princess Power!

I also ate a ridiculous amount of takoyaki. It is one of my favourite things.

I was really pleased with how this costume turned out. I made the whole thing from scratch including the 'armour' which was a first for me.

The dress was made using a vintage Butterick pattern, but I gathered and lengthened a very full skirt instead of pleating it. I then added a cape to the top part and created the flap part for the skirt (I have no idea what it is called).

I made all of the head, belt and armour pieces using craft foam and I hot glue-gunned it together, then painted it all gold - or pink.

For the skirt I hand painted all of the skirt pieces. I drew the basic design with tailors chalk and then used a fine and thick paint brush to draw the design. I did use acrylic paint which means I can't get the dress wet but it meant it was very easy to do and far cheaper than fabric paint. I suppose of you were planning on wearing a costume a lot then you should definitely use fabric paint instead.

 The make-up for costume was quite fun, I really enjoyed playing with the blue eyeshadow and false lashes. I need to learn to lighten my eyebrows to really complete this look in future though.

And of course, here is a Legend of Zelda #Selfie...

Have you though about going to comic con?

Sailor Neptune Cosplay

Okay everyone, long time no blog, I've been insanely busy in the last 2 weekend I have such a blogging backlog! I have 7 costume posts to do as well as quite a few vintage repro item posts so you'll be seeing a lot of me :)

So at MCM Expo a few weeks ago I wore my Sailor Neptune costume. This costume came from Cosplay Sky (as I reviewed it for them), but I did modify quite a bit of it. You can see more about my thoughts on the costume and how I modified it in this post.

I really couldn't resist some really cheesy photoshop. My favourite parts of Sailor Moon were always the attack and transformation animations so I loved the idea of combining the photographs with some of the anime graphics.

Although my skills at photoshop are somewhat substandard...

In the end I was really pleased with how the costume turned out, I thought it fit really well and was pretty accurate after I made the modifications to the bows.

I was actually really surprised by how well the mirror matched the costume. Craft foam isn't a perfect medium and now I've started working with Worbla I would consider making it from that but I thought on the whole the effect was okay (assuming you didn't get too close).

Mind you, I still can't believe I managed to find an old mirror with a design so close to Michiru's! I wonder if the deco lady was actually a really common design that inspired Naoko Takenuchi when coming up with the design for the Aqua Mirror. Who knows, but what a lucky eBay find! 

Ad for the wig, I bought it off eBay. It wasn't super expensive, but it wasn't exactly cheap and when it first arrived I was very unhappy with it. However I worked on styling it quite carefully and I found that it was actually the perfect shape for Michiru. I did have to trim quite a bit off the bottom of the wig as it was waaaaaay to long but that was easily fixed.

The tiara I wore for these pictures was made out of Worbla. It was a bit of a last minute crafting session, but I felt that the more rigid structure made it look better with the rest of the costume.

Oh and here are the non-photoshopped pictures from above. Just in case.

And of course, the gratuitous back shot. Its not very flattering, but I thought it was worth it so you could see how awesome the back of the wig was.

And of course in true anime style, here is a goofy picture of me doing an anime pose >.<

Are you a fan of Sailor Moon? Have you been watching Sailor Moon Crystal? I have and I think its brilliant. It has really re-ignited my enthusiasm for sailor moon.