Oh Alyse, sWeet Alice

I have never seriously attempted cosplay before. Well, perhaps exempting my Evangelion's Rei costume from Halloween back in the good old college days, and maybe my little stab at being April O'Neill at this year's Comic-Con, I have never attempted to dress up as a favorite character from television, movies, or comics. In all seriousness, I cannot regard those dress-up moments of mine as serious cosplay attempts, because the true costuming fanatics are BRILLIANT about details...they geek out, creative problem solve, and generally turn up at nerdy conventions decked out in their Sci-fi/Fantasy/comic, etc. character of choice's garb, making on lookers all different shades of jealous (aroused, dismayed, disgusted, explosively excited).

As to why? Partly, I cannot dress myself up as a character I haven't the features for. I feel it somehow taints the integrity of that character in my mind. Also, when it comes to details, I generally don't have the time available to even set aside in my year to detail out a costume ala the best costumers and cosplayers do. Another factor might be my thinking, "why spend all this time on an outfit I probably won't wear out in public more than a few times a year?".

As I'm getting older, I feel more sure of what I want from life, and what I am happy to throw into the incinerator and burn away from myself and those that I love. I want to only invest my time, energy, and heart into the few people who have genuinely earned and retained my trust. I'm tired of being into cool crap, I'm getting tired of keeping up with what's hot in the music/fashion/scene/facebook/internets/art/politics ...which means I'm probably just "getting old"...which actually doesn't feel as bad as I imagined it would when I was 20... Another possibility is that I'm just plain tired. 2009 was a bit of a long course to stay for both Matt and I, and I want to retreat deep into the happy magical unicorn infested forests of my psyche, and daydream for long, long spells.

So, back to costuming/cosplaying: I present to you Alice, as seen in the sci-fi re-imagining of Alice in Wonderland 2 part miniseries on the SyFy channel!! (Love that place)




Much of the styling and costuming in this fun little wonderland visit is toned down cute, with lots of mod styling without being garish or humorously tacky (well, at least in my taste book). The story told has lots of nerdery within, and a super happy ending (*sigh, happy unicorn forest entrance!*), and the clothes are rather wearable. So, on my latest thrifting trip with Leigh, I dug up a few pieces for try on, just to see what it might be like to model myself a bit like this Alice.

I actually ended up taking home the boots and tights for a total of under $3, to makeover, and use for a real version of the Alice costume. The dress was a bit pricey and crappy to wear home, even though it was my beloved robin egg blue color, so I left it there with mad plans to sew myself up a more periwinkle toned version of Alice's little blue mini-dress, complete with rick-rackish details, pockets and back pleats. (As you can see, I've already done my homework)

I will TOTALLY wear this sucker in public OFTEN when I finish it; it's too obscure to reference offhand by the masses, and it's super cute! Well, the boots will look better when I finish hacking them up, I hope... If anyone wants a version of the dress when I'm done, I always save my drafted patterns when I complete them. I could even make myself up a gingham version, and maybe have a Dorothy version of myself as well.