With the debut of Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens, Kylo Ren has become one of the most sought after cosplay costumes on the web. While the costume may look like nothing more than a bunch of black cloth draped all around the dark character, putting it together is actually more difficult than it appears says Elisabeth of Arkady Cosplay. The cosplayer recently challenged herself to create a gender-bending version of prominent Star Wars Episode 7 character -- something outside her armored princess comfort zone.
“The hardest part of Kylo Ren's outfit was psyching myself up to do all the sewing,” Elisabeth told iDigitalTimes. “I primarily make heavily armored cosplays, so sewing is actually my weakest skill. I'm used to being able to mask any sewing flaws behind large armor pieces, but with Kylo Ren, his outer coat and hood are focal points so there's no hiding. This was only the second time I've machine sewed and drafted my own patterns from scratch, so it was very intimidating to stare at that gorgeous wool for the coat and finally talk myself into cutting it!”
If you visit Elisabeth’s Arkady Cosplay Facebook or Instagram page you can see a wide array of photos that journal the process in making the Kylo Ren costume, including various choices she made about fabrics and materials for the costume. All parts of the costume were made by Elisabeth herself, including the light saber.
For people just getting started into cosplay, Elisabeth shared with iDigitalTimes this advice:
“Be fearless. Don't be afraid of failure. That goes for learning any cosplay skill or even gaining the confidence to walk out at a convention in cosplay. You can stall yourself out by over thinking or feeling like you aren't good enough to even try,” she said. “I think we need to embrace the inevitability that yes, at some point you're going to mess up, and that's completely alright. Even if you make a huge mistake, you're still learning from that, seeing what you need to do right next time, and getting better as a result. Failure is a big part of learning and every cosplayer still makes mistakes no matter how much experience they have so don't be afraid to jump right in. You'll surprise yourself with what you're capable of when you take a deep breath and try.”
You can see the complete set of Elisabeth’s Kylo Ren cosplay costume photos by Jon Haverstick at her Facebook page or follow her on Instagram or Tumblr.
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