Playing Dress-Up Helps Me!

Hello everyone!

So today I’d like to talk a little bit about cosplay. It’s been a little while since I’ve done a cosplay-centric post, but this one has a little twist. This time round, I’m not going to be simply telling you about new cosplays I’ve done or how I put them together. However, I have done and I will continue to do this in the future – at this time, I’ve done two breakdowns, for the Fifth Doctor and Ace, but I plan to do more in the future! If you have any suggestions, don’t hesitate to get in touch!

Now, it should be noted that over the past few years, my repertoire has expanded MASSIVELY. I’ve been a cosplayer for nearly FIVE years now, and I’ve welcomed a bunch of characters into my life – here’s just a few of them!

This time around, though, I’m going to be talking about all the benefits becoming a cosplayer has brought me – some are big, others are small, but they all are important to me. I’m sure some of you cosplayers reading this will have similar thoughts or resonate with what I’m saying in this post; it’s one that I’ve wanted to write for a fair while.

PLAYING DRESS UP: WHERE IT BEGAN… 

But first, I’m going to give you the condensed version of my cosplay backstory.

I started ‘cosplaying’ properly back in 2014 for my first convention. I went as Donna Noble, and I heard about cosplay from my best friend, Julia, who had done a few cosplays herself. I picked Donna because I loved her SO much, and the costume was relatively simple to put together. After meeting so many people (and Daleks!), I was bitten by the cosplay bug. I didn’t properly get into cosplay at the level I’m at now until first year of university, when I joined the Doctor Who society, and started to make friends who offered tips and tricks of their own, and in return, I offered the ones I was starting to pick up.

In the end, I became part of a ‘cosplay team’ with the Doctor Who society lads and lasses. (I say lasses… until the end of last year, I was the only girl in the team, but no more! Welcome aboard, Lucy! 😀 )

SQUAD GOALS, am I right? [l-r: me, Liam, Tom, Lucy, Morgan, Ben and Rob! 😀 ]

I ended up going to more conventions and meeting more fellow cosplayers, as well as a few familiar faces along the way – sometimes dressed as their characters! If you know me well, I’m sure you know who those familiar faces are… Some of them may pop up during this discussion…

So now I’ve offered a little backstory, let’s get into the benefits I’ve discovered from cosplaying:

ONE: KEEPING AN OLD TRADITION ALIVE…

I’ll keep it real: I was one of those kids that absolutely loved dressing up. It was one of my favourite hobbies – my birthday party as a seven-year-old was fancy dress, and I ended up going as Cinderella, ‘glass slippers’ and all! I loved dressing up as princesses mostly, but I also liked to ‘play pretend’ as well. One of my favourite games was to pretend I was in Totally Spies, alongside Sam, Clover and Alex! It was one of my favourite shows as a kid and I practically idolised Sam, the smart girl, although nowadays I’m more of a ditzy Alex!

(For clarity, Sam in the green outfit, and Alex is in the yellow, leaving Clover in the red!)

I did grow out of dressing up, but when I discovered cosplaying, it made me feel fantastic! I felt like a kid again, but in a really positive way. I get to dress up as my favourite characters, step in their shoes for a while and have fun while doing it! So in a sense, I am keeping an old hobby of mine alive and well, but as an adult. After all, as the Fourth Doctor says, ‘there’s no point in being grown up if you can’t be childish sometimes!’ (Wise words, Doctor!)

TWO: ACTING UP…

I don’t know how many of you know this, but acting is such a massive passion of mine. I studied a Bachelor’s Degree in Drama, and I’m currently on the final push of my Masters in Theatre Making (which is going to be the subject of a future blog post or two – stay tuned!)

But playing other characters has been something I’ve enjoyed ever since I was a kid – from the Archangel Gabriel to Fagin (yep, that was a thing!), Trix the Aviatrix to Katherine in Love’s Labour’s Lost, each character has brought me so much happiness. When you’re an actor and you’ve gone through the rehearsal process in your everyday clothes, the costume call comes up, and when you put the costume on, it’s in that moment that you feel transformed. Like when I put my aviator’s hat on when I was Trix. The moment that hat was on my head, I felt like I was her.

And personally, it can be the same with cosplay. It might’ve been more apparent in the beginning, but even now, I may not directly act as the character, but I adopt certain traits.

I’ll give you an example. The first cosplay I ever did was Donna Noble from Doctor Who. When I put that ginger wig on, I ended up spending most of the convention speaking in a mock-cockney accent, and was more than willing to have a sass-match with a Dalek. Outside of that costume, as a nerdy 18-year-old, I wouldn’t’ve dreamt of it!

Nowadays, I don’t adopt accents as much (unless I’m Tegan Jovanka. Then you can BET I’m going to bust out an Australian accent that I’ve been practicing for MONTHS. True story.), but I might walk a little taller than normal or place my hands in a different position than normal when posing for photos. Sometimes I’ll adopt their characteristics if I’m feeling lucky.

The two examples I have for you are very different Doctor Who companions. First up is Ace, the first classic companion I ever cosplayed. When I cosplay her and put on that iconic jacket, I’ve noticed I have more power in my walk, my shoulders are back, and I feel like I’m in a slow-motion Hollywood movie scene, baseball bat in hand, about to beat up a Dalek. I literally feel like I could conquer the world! When I pose as Ace, my hands either go into my jacket pockets, or behind my back – and I’m often a bit more vocal than normal!

One of my best friends, Becky, tried on the jacket a little while ago, and she said she felt pretty gosh darn powerful in it! Doesn’t she rock it like a boss, though?

The other companion is one I believe is fiercely underrated. Her name is Nyssa of Traken. I get in her costume, put on my skirt and tiara, and I also feel powerful, but in a different sense. I feel regal, in a way. Like a princess. But if I’m wearing the trousers instead of the skirt and tiara, I feel like I’m off to settle a debate of some kind. And win it. Also, I usually avoid putting my hands on my hips when I’m Nyssa, apparently! Instead, they slip into my belt loops or come behind my back. As for characteristics, I tend to be a little bit quieter, but I’m not afraid to make witty remarks when it’s appropriate…

So, yeah, cosplay has helped me develop acting skills, in a nutshell. But this also ties in to another benefit of cosplaying…

THREE: BECOMING A SOCIAL BUTTERFLY… 

Now, I know I talk about my life on the autistic spectrum a HECK of a lot on here, but it’s a fundamental part of my everyday life. This can affect my social communication and interaction skills, and for a long time, making eye contact seemed to be impossible – like, it was a literal no-go zone. But through cosplaying and ‘becoming’ the characters in the earlier stages of my journey, I noticed that I found it easier to look people in the eye while in costume. I was able to interact with them, and over time, I did so as myself. Not only that, but I was able to look some of my heroes in the eye, which is a MASSIVE deal for me.

One of my favourite early cosplay memories comes from 2014, when I cosplayed for the first time. I met a boy who was cosplaying Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor, and I kept seeing him throughout the day. He recognised me as Donna and we had a bunch of laughs. We were backstage, waiting to go on to be interviewed as part of the cosplay contest, and I asked if he could do a Scottish accent. He does it, and in response I delve into my cockney Donna Noble voice. The pair of us are in fits of laughter, but to top it all off, the professional Capaldi cosplayer onstage looks to the wings, says something about the noise, and then tells us to ‘shut up’! That just made us laugh harder!

But I think the best way to talk about the shift in my eye contact skills comes from two meetings I had with someone who I admire greatly. We’re going back to Ace (because why not?), and both times I met Sophie Aldred, the real Ace!

I’m sure you know the story if you’ve read any of my other posts, but if not, here’s a catch-up. I first met Sophie back in 2017, the first time I took my Ace cosplay to a convention. Now, I was incredibly shy. This was the first time I was EVER going to meet a ‘familiar face’, and I was nervous. In fact, I had an idea of what I wanted to tell her in my head, but my words would not come out. Luckily, she and I had a wonderful conversation regardless. She was super lovely, and when I went into the cosplay contest, she took one side of the line, and this bloke who was cosplaying Captain America was on my side. He said ‘you’ve come as her, haven’t you?’ I nod shyly and blush. ‘You know I’m going to get her to come over here, don’t you?’ And when it’s my turn, he said: ‘Sophie, I think you might want to talk to this girl.’ She came over, saw it was me, and smiled. She asks my name, I tell her, ‘I’m Laura’. And she says ‘Oh, so not Dorothy, then?’ [WHOVIAN FACT: ‘Dorothy’ is Ace’s REAL name. It’s mentioned multiple times that she doesn’t like her real name.] When the cosplay contest results are announced, Sophie says that her ‘personal honorary mention’ goes to me! I offer a slight bow as the crowd cheers me on.

Fast-forward to April 2019. I’ve since improved my Ace cosplay, with more additions to the jacket, an updated bat and a new addition – Nitro-Nine! Not only that, but I had a partner to bounce off; my friend Ben, who went with me as the Seventh Doctor to the event. I’ve talked about the event in question in my Ace cosplay breakdown, but I digress. When Ben and I go over to meet Sylvester and Sophie after the event, I find myself walking a little taller than I did last time. Maybe it’s because I had not only improved the costume, but I had a bit more knowledge of the Classic Whoniverse than I did last time. Sophie and I end up talking about the costume I’m wearing, and I even pluck up the courage to ask if she wants to hold the bat in the photoshoot, to which she said yes! Later on, I end up noticing something. I looked her in the eye as I talked to her, and felt more confident – I finally told her ‘thank you for bringing such a wonderful companion to life’, because Ace taught me a number of important life lessons. I feel like this time, I was able to talk and not get so star-struck, and I think being in the Ace cosplay DEFINITELY helped!

And, if you’re interested, here’s a little comparison, from 2017 to 2019 – don’t I look much more confident in the 2019 photo? This is definitely a photo I treasure; I mean, Sophie is holding the bat that I MADE. I can die happy now!

FOUR: GETTING CRAFTY WITH IT… 

Right, I’ve always been a fan of arts and crafts, ever since I was little. I was one of those kids, always painting and making a mess, all in order to create something artsy. Sometimes it’s impossible to tell what said things were, but I had fun doing it.

However, since branching out as a cosplayer, I’ve had a go at making props and altering costume pieces. The first prop I prop-erly made (haha, see what I did there? :P) was for a Supernatural character, Castiel. I made the angel blade from a few bits of card I stuck together and spray painted silver.

(ooh, the person on the left in this picture is Kat, one of my dearest friends from the convention circuit. I first met her in 2015 – she was Castiel, and the tables had been turned in 2017!)

There was actually a guy at this convention who saw me, passed me, and as he did, he said in his best Dean Winchester voice, ‘Cas…’ I turn and look a bit startled (A bit like Cas himself!) And he said – ‘oh, I only really recognised the costume because of the angel blade!’ So it might’ve been amateur, but it was effective!

Since then, a number of props have been made in interesting mediums – such as a baseball bat customised with emulsion paint and duct tape, a star badge made out of cardboard and a bit of plastic and an explosive made out of plastic bottles and spray paint (Nitro Nine!)

I’ve tried to improvise and follow my instinct with creating props, but that has since extended to the costumes themselves.

I’ve learnt about fabric paint and the joys of replicating designs easily, and I’ve SERIOUSLY improved my sewing skills. Here’s a fun fact: before I was coming to uni in first year, I had to be talked through the process of how to SEW A BUTTON by one of my college friends. And look at me now – I’ve made two skirts, and altered all kinds of costumes! One of my proudest achievements is of course my Fifth Doctor, which I’ve talked about in depth. It involved fabric painting, sewing, yarn-weaving, hand-embroidering the question marks on the shirt collars… AND IT LOOKS SO CUTE!

FIVE: YOU LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERY DAY…

With certain cosplays of mine, I like to take one step ahead, think outside the box a little, add a little twist to the cosplay to allow me to feel (personally) that it’s not two-dimensional. I always think if I’m going to commit to this cosplay, I’m going to really commit. No two cosplayers are the same, though, and everyone’s tricks of the trade are unique to them, and for them they have their own ways of cosplaying. Just something to bear in mind before we move on.

So if a character displays a certain talent or a knack for some kind of party trick, I might as well give it a try, just for a laugh. Sometimes, it’s been successful and I can bust it out at events, but other times it doesn’t work out. And that’s okay! It gives me a chance to at least try something new.

Here’s a few little things I have learnt/am currently learning, which characters they match up to and a little bit about why I learnt/am learning said skill:

•  The Charleston – Tegan Jovanka (‘Black Orchid’)

So, I picked up Swing Dance back in October, and part of that is learning the Charleston. There’s quite a few varieties of Charleston, the main ones being the 20’s and 30’s. Now, in the Doctor Who episode ‘Black Orchid’, the TARDIS travels back to 1925, and sees the Doctor and his companions at a fancy dress ball. Tegan admits that she knows the Charleston stating that she ‘learnt it for a play when I was at school’, and proceeds to NAIL the 20’s footwork! Basically, I just want to do this cosplay properly, as an excuse to bust out the Charleston at a convention, seeing as though I’m already attuned to the Charleston! Plus, I love Tegan’s costume, it’s so pretty! I’ve already had a crack at making the headdress, and I can’t wait to make progress on the rest of the outfit!

• Pitching a Cricket Ball – The Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison)

Okay, this skill is a little bit unusual. If you didn’t know, it’s in the Fifth Doctor’s era that the sonic screwdriver gets destroyed by the Terileptils. Therefore, I didn’t see much point in using a sonic in my costume. So, instead, I picked up a cricket ball. After watching the Doctor’s cricketing skills (again, in Black Orchid), I decided to try something a bit niche. I can’t bat to save my life, this was proven in the rounders games I played in PE – although sometimes I’d get a lucky strike here and there, perhaps a rounder or two once or twice! Instead, I thought I could try my hand at bowling. After watching YouTube tutorials and practicing in the garden, I feel I can decently pitch a ball. It’s not perfect, and I’m still working on it, but watch out when I do get it right! I did it for a cosplay shoot a few months ago, and it was rather fun to do!

• Playing the Recorder – The Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) 

Here’s a quick question to all you fellow Brits. In primary school, were you subjected to the torture of learning the recorder? Does the song Little Donkey fill you with dread and makes you reminisce about the school assembly performances? Well, ha-ha, I didn’t! I had a lot of friends who did play, but I think my mother reckoned if I learnt to play a noisy instrument in the house, she would end up going beserk! To make up for it, though, I ended up deciding to do a gender-swap version of Patrick Troughton’s Doctor, and he plays the recorder to ‘help him think’. I bought my own recorder, painted it to look like his, added some tassels, and now I’m currently learning how to play a tune or two! I’m not used to playing a woodwind instrument, so it’s a bit of a challenge, but I’m working on it! I’ll update with progress in the future, I’m sure! But for now, here’s a funny picture of me ‘attempting’ to play…

And just for fun, here’s a character I do cosplay, and the skill I could pick up on, but have decided not to…

• Maths – Adric of Alzarius

There is NO saving me from my terrible mathematics knowledge. It was, without a doubt, my WORST subject at school. Just don’t ask me to try and solve a maths equation because I will fail miserably. The thought of surds makes me want to jump out of a window. You think I’m joking? Well, I’m not. I just thank God I don’t have to take another maths test ever again!

So, you may wonder, why do I cosplay a mathematics whizz kid if I am the epitome of being terrible at maths? Because I love Adric as a character. That’s why. I know most people may disagree with that, but I’m not most people.

[Adric, you were right. Sod anyone who says differently!]

SIX: I’M LAURA, AND THIS IS MY BODY… 

(the title of this section is a reference to The Roaring Girls’ INCREDIBLE show, Beach Body Ready! Go and read up on both this amazing show, and the wonderful ladies in the company! In fact, here’s the trailer for the show! 😀 )

I’ve made it no secret that I am a body positivity advocate. It’s taken me such a long time to get there, but I am starting to love every single part of my body, but it’s a marathon, not a sprint. But I feel like cosplaying really helped me on my journey of body positivity.

In terms of cosplay, I used to wear costumes that hid certain parts of my body, especially my stomach and my thighs. I’ll be 100% honest, I still don’t like showing my stomach in costumes, even now. Then again, costume or not, I don’t really show my stomach all that much in general.

But I’ve been able to cosplay certain characters and absolutely own it. Through cosplaying them, it’s given me confidence to not be ashamed of my body. Its funny, I said a while ago that I couldn’t cosplay Doctor Who companion Peri, because I felt I was lacking a certain pair of ‘assets’, but I recently put that aside and went for it, regardless of my ‘lacking’ in a certain department.

But I think the best cosplay to use to show an example of my body positivity progress is Tegan Jovanka. Specifically the first version of Tegan I ever cosplayed, from Resurrection of the Daleks. In the episode, Tegan wears a little leather-style miniskirt. A few years ago, I would’ve avoided this costume like the plague, because I was SO self-conscious about my legs. But I didn’t even bat an eye when I decided to go in this cosplay to Vworp Con. The skirt is a LOT shorter than what I would normally wear, but you know what? I am SO glad I did the costume. And I got so many compliments on the costume!

Now, I know this particular photo I’ve chosen to showcase the cosplay is literally everywhere, but it’s one of my all time favourite pictures, for THREE reasons:

1.  I’m with Peter Davison, one of my favourite actors and such a nice bloke – he complimented my Tegan outfit, too, which made my little heart sing.
2.  This photo was sent by Peter to Janet Fielding, the REAL Tegan, who then tweeted it out AND I DIED.
3.  I look SO confident in my Tegan cosplay. I’ve always been pretty insecure about my legs and my thighs, especially the latter. But look at my face! I am ROCKING the miniskirt and I am OWNING this look!

[Photography: Morgan Fox]

SEVEN: WEARING MY COLOURS WITH PRIDE… 

Through cosplaying, I’m able to show off what I love. I can show my appreciation for the characters I look up to or admire (or both), and I get to ‘represent’ my fandoms! I know most of my cosplays are from the world of Doctor Who, but before, most of them were from Supernatural, believe it or not! It’s only been since I joined the Doctor Who Society back in 2015 that my costume repertiore has evolved to be mainly from the Whoniverse.

When I’m at a convention and repping a character I love, be it Tegan, Ace, Castiel or someone completely different, and someone recognises it and compliments it, it’s such a brilliant feeling.

Something I’ve done once or twice is having the opportunity to meet actors while dressed as their characters. Now, some people might think that is kinda ridiculous or downright cringy, but I think it demonstrates an affection for the character and offers an appreciation for said character and in turn, the actor, for bringing them to life and inspiring a costume.

Come to think of it, this happened recently! I went to Hull Comic Con 2019 in July with two of my friends, Rob and Tom. Rob was Captain America, Tom was Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and I went as Jo Grant. The reason I went as Jo was because Katy Manning herself was going to be there! I went to the convention, I went over to meet the other guests, one of whom was Frazer Hines, who plays Jamie McCrimmon (companion to the Second Doctor and an UTTER gem of a character), who said that Katy was going to ‘love’ the costume. And he was right!

[Also, side note: Frazer was such a lovely bloke!]

I go over to Katy, who, bless her soul, had managed to spill water everywhere and was attempting to clear it up. She sees my boots, and says:

‘Now, I recognise those boots!’

She looks up at me with this warm smile on her face, and I can’t help but blush. She gets up, finishing up her clearing up, and tells me ‘you look fantastic, by the way!’ She goes over to Frazer and flicks this cloth in his face, and when she comes back, she says that she ‘wanted to give Frazer a clean-up’! Gosh, I’ll say it right now, Katy is one of the nicest people I’ve had the honour to meet!

She gives me a massive hug, saying she loves my outfit, and tells me the story of how she painted the red design on Jo’s boots herself! We get a picture taken together, doing the classic ‘back-to-back’ pose at Katy’s suggestion, and she has a photo with Tom as well, recognising him as the Brigadier and giving him a hug too!

[Fun fact: I did Tom’s moustache makeup the morning of the convention! Not too bad for a first attempt on doing proper makeup on someone else, right? I’d only previously done it on myself… That was a fun night!]

Then later, the three of us get a photoshoot with the UNIT team – Katy, John Levene (who played Sergeant Benton, and had some lovely words to say about my cosplay, too!) and Richard Franklin (who played Captain Yates), and while the boys are talking, Katy turns to me and says, ‘we got demoted!’ ‘Yes, we did!’ I respond, as though in that moment, I am Jo Grant. She takes my hands and we talk about how Jo isn’t in the UNIT material. We laugh about it, and the photographer says ‘Katy, we need you back.” She looks back, and says “oh, I’m sorry, but I was just talking to my friend.” Meaning me! Apparently, I’ve gone a bit pink in the face, but that is a moment I won’t be forgetting any time soon!

This has to be one of my proudest costumes yet, I really love how it turned out! Will I cosplay Jo again in the future? You can bet on it!

FINAL THOUGHTS

So, while some people think that cosplaying might seem ‘a little childish’, it has SO many benefits, from learning crafty skills to learning social skills. I’ve made many wonderful friends for life through cosplaying and going to conventions, and I’ve been fortunate enough to meet a few familiar faces along the way, which has been such an honour. I’m so happy I got bitten by the cosplay bug, and I hope to be a cosplayer for as long as I possibly can.

And there you have it! Those are all the benefits of cosplaying I have discovered. If you’ve read this and are thinking about giving cosplay a go, just GO FOR IT! It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to give you joy. But don’t be afraid to try it out – you never know, you might be bitten by the bug, too!

Until next time, Stay Strong and Hold On, my friends.

Laura Jayne 🙂 xxx