Red Riding Hood Cosplay: Are You Afraid?

 

With all the attention to cinematic loveliness focused on some of the more popular fairy tale characters this year and last I'm not surprised to see people getting even more creative with their cosplay (short for "costume play") and photography.

Even though the examples here are clearly inspired by Catherine Hardwicke's recent Red Riding Hood movie adaptation, that doesn't take away from the final images. I really like the titled photo as a mock-book cover.

The title "Are You Afraid?" makes it clear the idea was to show a wary Red Riding Hood. Perhaps the apples are to represent temptation?

The cosplayer is GarnetTilAlexandros and the photographer is Мокрушина Оксана✪[MAD.CREATIVE.CHARACTER] aka mokrushina.

You can see even more photos from the cosplay shoot HERE.

Source: HERE

Alice in Steampunkland

I found this really great set of photos on deviantArt by a Cosplay group who really thought about what they were doing with the costumes, the props (yes, they made them too), the concepts and the photography. This was an entry for AFA 2009 (Anime Festival Asia) at the end of November.

Here's the story:

The Beginning of a beginning

"Off with her head!", the heartless Queen commanded.

And heartless was right - for to rule with fist and scepter, to command both fear and respect, the Queen had her own heart locked up in a secret dungeon somewhere beneath her castle's winding shadowy halls.

But all secrets find their way out.

With the help of a whispered clue from a mischevious Cheshire Cat, a defiant Alice freed herself from the grasp of the royal guards, dove into the darkness of the castle dungeons and stole the Queen's heart.

The furious Queen and her soldiers chased after her. And Alice, desperate to escape, leapt into the Rabbit's time portal and found herself in a world and time completely different from hers - one where clockwork constructs roamed the streets and steam powered engines reigned supreme.

These guys did a really great job of their own retelling of the Alice in Wonderland story. It's nice to see such a professional approach. They even made a little film:

And a little behind-the-scenes look:


These guys want to expand their team - and their characters - next year. I'd be very interested in seeing what they do next.

You can find details of the cosplay artists HERE. Check out their other cosplay shoots while you're there. Some amazing stuff!

Snow White's Make-up

Just in time for Halloween (and because I find this a little creepy), here's a make-up tutorial for how to do your face and hair as close as possible to Disney's cartoon Snow White.

Here's an excerpt from what the make-up artist, kandee, posted on her process of creating the look:

I researched the art and painting of Disney...they mixed and created their own colors! The look of the original Snow White: And the Seven Dwarfs, was soft with, bright lips and grey-brown eyeshadow...I tried to replicate it exactly as the art from the movie.

Here's the original:And here's the make-up:Transforming a person into a cartoon (which was one of her aims) will always result in some kind of de-humanization (for want of a better word). Definitely suitable for Halloween.

Go HERE for more pics, tutorial video (which is excellent if you're interested in make-up) aaaand sing-a-long. (Consider yourself warned).

"Grimm Fairytale Ball" in LA on October 30th

Celebrating Halloween Grimm-style in Los Angeles this year is The Grimm Fairytale Ball - open to everyone over 21 (and costumes are encouraged).From their ad:

Once Upon A Midnight Dreary...

Little boys and little girls stepped onto pages seeped with shadowy ink and maddening dreams, passed through contorted reflections of reflecting brass, gripped breathlessly to groundshards or towering fauna surpassing clouds, titans, and perhaps even gods. Once upon a time, little boys and little girls were haunted, desired, fooled, fought, danced, puzzled, poisened, hunted, lost, and eaten in parables far different than the happy tales with happy endings for happy children today...

Entry is $10 with an RSVP or $20 without. This is one Halloween option for those who prefer the dark side of fairy tales. Complimentary candid club photography provided by Violet Photography - no personal cameras allowed (!).

You can find the details HERE.

PS The LA Weekly is booked to do a write-up on the event so be prepared for at least one reporter and a possibly a newspaper camera too.

'Steamy' Fairy Tale Costume Prep & Meet-up (for DragonCon '09)

And by 'steamy' I mean steampunk, of course (well, this time I do anyway! :D ).

There's a group encouraging people who do 'cosplay' (short for costume roleplay) to try a new theme - fairy tales.

If you're not familiar with cosplay this is no dress-up thrown together in a few minutes so you can accompany your kid on the annual Halloween candy hunt. It's actually a form of performance art and these people take their costuming seriously (having a lot of fun in the process). The participant entries tend to range from well put together costumes to incredibly detailed (and mechanically enhanced) outfits that would rival any professional costumer's work.

Here's one of the organizers of this event's costume plan for The Swan MaidenI'm including the post details below so anyone interested can get involved but even if you're not, take a look at some of the ideas that are being put forth for presenting fairy tale characters. It may make you think about your favorite fairy tales a different way and perhaps prompt some creativity of your own...(you listening artists and writers?)Here are some ideas put forward to get people going (I'm quoting from this post HERE with tiny edits for readability). People get to 'claim' the character or choose one of their own. Quite a few are already spoken for (you can find the claimed list HERE):

• The Big Bad Wolf - Dresses like a gentleman, but that's offset by pointed ears, fangs, and a wicked claw device on one hand. Also, wicked mutton chops.
• Swan Maiden - A white feather robe on one side, a clockwork wing on the other.
• Little Red Riding Hood - I need a companion for my Big Bad Wolf, but other than the red cloak/cape it's free reign. In my head, she seems like she could have more of an 'early aviator' style, with flight cap and goggles, and probably oil stains on her cloak. A hatchet or raygun would probably look pretty awesome too.
• Puss in Boots - Cat ears and tail. Very noticable boots. (Sword?) -Plenty of Swashbuckley potential. Steampunk-ing the boots would make them more noticeable, especially if you limit the amount of brass on the rest of the outfit.
• The Girl Without Hands - Free design. Clockwork/mechanical silver hands.
• Aladdin - Arabian inspired outfit. Carry a lamp. (Conversely, could do a steampunk rendition on a genie.)
• The Genie- Could be awesome as some kind of robot. He'll perform any 3 tasks you wish, but then you have to use the lamp to recharge him!
• Peter Pan- Green suit and a jetpack, probably a good candidate for flight goggles and an aviator cap. Dagger/small weapon at the belt maybe?
• The Firebird -Reds yellows and oranges. Clock work wings in the same color scheme.
• 12 Dancing Princesses - bustle the skirt to ensure the "dancing shoes" are visible and find a way to make the shoes look worn and steampunked up a bit. A princess crown and carrying a branch from a "gold", "silver" or "diamond" tree would finish the set out nicely.

You can find even more ideas HERE and HERE.

Steampunking fairy tale characters is becoming more and more popular and I've noticed a few photoshoots happening around the web just this year. Below is Red Riding Hood from a shoot in April in Brooklyn:And HERE is a blog entry about it with more fun pics.

Doesn't it look like fun?

Here are the details of what's happening for the DragonCon '09 Steampunked Fairy Tales Group and where (they'll be having a meet-up and photoshoot) from the cosplay.com post (which you can read all of HERE):

Okay folks, it's time to prepare for Dragon*Con 2009, and my friend Pyro_Ike has started organizing a fun idea for a costume group. The theme is Steampunk Fairy Tales. It just seems to fit together, because they're the kind of stories that would likely still be around in a Neo-Victorian society.

Meet-Up Time & Location
Date: Sunday, September 6th (tentative)
Time: 5:00pm (tentative)
Location: Marriott Atrium Lobby Level, carpeted space next to Atrium Ballroom - across from Pulse (sailboat) Bar (May move elsewhere after gathering to get good photos.)

I'm looking forward to seeing the results!

NOTE: You can see where each of the images are from by clicking on them - you'll be taken to the owner's websites where you can find lots more fun stuff. :)