Firstly, thank you for agreeing to do this interview for Silver Star!
If you'll start by telling us who you are. Real name or online alias is fine. :]
My real name is Leena, but online I’m generally known as Lunar_Kitten.
1. How long would you say you've been cosplaying, at a guess?
I’ve been cosplaying for about 18 months although I have only made four costumes in that time. I’m still a newbie really.
2. What was it that made you interested in cosplay? Was it an outside influence,
like friends? Or a natural course that occoured as you grew up?
It was really my boyfriend James (online known as Ilpala) who got me into it.
I occasionally helped him make his costumes and it got to a point where I thought I’d like to give
it a go, so I suggested we do one together as a couple, hence the creation of Jack Skellington and Sally.
3. What do you find you cosplay from mostly? Games? Anime? Manga? Disney? Do you crossplay? If so, who?
Three of my four cosplays have been characters from games, namely Sara
Trantoul from Castlevania, Seung Mina from Soul Calibur and Tifa Lockhart from FF7 – but that
doesn’t mean I prefer to choose games characters. I think I go for I would just choose a
character based on their costume – and despite by fluke choosing three cosplays all beginning
with S, the name of the character isn’t necessarily an influence!
I haven’t yet crossplayed but I have thought about it so it could still happen one day…
4. What are your favourite costumes to do? Colourful ones? Really complicated ones? And why?
Unfortunately I’m often too much of a perfectionist so when I do a costume I
have to try and do it exactly like the character, which means that even a simple costume can turn
into a complicated one for me! I do try to stick to simpler ones – purely because there’s potentially
less to go wrong which is very helpful for a newbie like me – although I do like costumes that stand
out and are easily recognised but not so common that they’re now boring. Alas, the costumes that
stand out aren’t always the simple ones.
5. Do you like to cosplay alone, or like to be involved in groups? Or both?
guess being part of a cosplaying couple we generally try to do characters together
that complement each other or are from the same game or series, etc. but I have done lone cosplay before
(Tifa Lockhart) and I don’t mind it.
The only group I have cosplayed in was for AmeCon 2008 where I entered a masquerade in my Seung
Mina costume with other cosplayers dressed as Tira, Ivy and Talim – all from Soul Calibur. Their
outfits were gorgeous and I felt proud to be on stage with them.
There are plans in the pipeline for me to be involved in a few more groups here and there so watch this space …
6. Do you have any dream cosplays or groups you'd like to do?
There is one that I’m quite looking forward to doing one day – Belldandy from Ah! My
Goddess – but sadly it keeps getting pushed to the back as other ones take precedence. There is also another
costume that I’m looking forward to doing as part of a group, which will hopefully be later this year, but I
don’t really want to give too much away about that at this point as it’s just in talks at the moment so could
end up being quite a while away yet!
7. What would you say was the best thing about cosplaying, personally? And what would be your best experience to date?
I like making things and of course seeing the end product, so actually being able to
wear something you’ve made is quite refreshing – and naturally, when your character is recognised and people
get excited and squee when they see you, that’s great fun too!
I guess my best experience is quite a funny one really : the first time I wore Sally I had to disappear
from the convention to attend a family funeral, but because it had taken me so long to draw the lines
(seams) on my face, legs and arms I was not keen on removing them, then putting them back on again when
I returned to the convention. So instead I left the make up on and slipped into a smart black dress. I
had to travel to the other side of London so I got a lot of strange looks on the tube – and I even got
chatted up, which was quite entertaining. But the funniest parts were the faces on my family when I
turned up at the cemetery – you can imagine the shock! However, after the initial "what the heck are
you doing??!?" questions from a lot of extremely traditional Indian relatives, everyone was fine and
some even admired me for turning up like that. It certainly gave everyone else something to think about
rather than the sad reason that we had all gathered – so that was good.
8. I know most people hate to do this, but out of the cosplays you've done, which ... three, say, are your favourites and why?
Haha, considering I’ve only done four costumes this isn’t that difficult
to answer. Ironically I would have to say the three beginning with S!
Sara Trantoul was probably my favourite out of all of them because I felt like a princess wearing
that outfit at a ball. Also, I enjoyed making all the detailed things like the circlet and posy,
and sewing the pearls onto her shoulder ruffles and in her hair buns. It was a very comfortable
costume to wear (apart from the hair buns which took a lot of persuasion and many secretly hidden
tactics to stay in place!) and I felt very proud that I had made it. And I looked very shiny!
Secondly, rag doll Sally – that was my first ever costume and I made it in a very short time so I
didn’t think it was that special really, especially compared to some outfits that you see at these conventions.
But it received many compliments which inspired me to make more costumes. The make up on my face, legs and arms
took a long time to draw on (with eye liner and hairspray) and almost as long to remove, which was a little
bit of a downside but other than that it was a great, easy costume to wear and I have worn it more than once.
Thirdly, I liked making Seung Mina. I wasn’t too happy with how it looked on me but I was pleased with
the costume itself and I was proud of it. it had taken a lot of work to get all the fine detail done and I
had got quite stressed over it many times because things hadn’t worked the way they should, but I got there
in the end and even entered a masquerade with it. I did feel very self conscious wearing that outfit though
because there isn’t that much material really. I felt even more self conscious when I was walking outside
because it was very windy – so I think I may have broken some poor people’s eyes as they may have unfortunately
seen more of me than really should be shown in public – oops!
So that’s the main three but I will however mention the fourth costume, Tifa Lockhart – purely
because it was a last minute thought as I didn’t want to take just one costume to a three day event,
so because that was a simple outfit I managed to throw it together in a couple of days. It’s not
perfect but it’s recognisable and comfortable to wear (I have worn it a few times now) so I’m glad
I did that too.
9. For anyone looking to enter into the cosplay scene, what advice would you give?
Start off simple – there’s no point jumping in at the deep end before you know what your capabilities are.
Choose a costume that you will enjoy making and wearing. Remember that some fabrics are difficult to work with so if it’s your first
costume, try to choose one that doesn’t involve materials that seem to have a mind of their own.
Take time to look at all the detail on a costume – I have found that what I presumed was a simple costume has
turned out to be a lot more detailed than I initially thought, hence it has taken longer to do and has made
me stressed because I am running short of time!
And don’t worry about making the costume exactly like the character’s. I spent a long time searching for
the perfect gems for Sara’s circlet, but then ended up using different stones to the ones she has, which
disappointed me to be honest. But I found that they provided the same effect, which made me realise that
getting the exact spot on thing is not so important as long as you get the general idea and get it as
close as you can.
My Tifa costume differs in many ways lot to the character’s outfit, but people have still recognised
me as her which is very pleasing. Maybe one day I will amend the things that are different but it’s
not high on my priority list.
Cosplayer Photos
Lina photograph taken by ailsa-chan
Sally photograph taken by Ilpala
Sara photograph taken by Kazz
Seung Mi-Na photograph taken by Kazz
Tifa photograph taken by Nert
Black Cat photograph taken by myself
To find out more about Lunar Kitten you can find her on: CosplayIsland
Twitter
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Site by Silver. All costumes made by Silver unless stated otherwise.
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