rey cosplay Archives - The Lady Nerd

Rey and Kylo Ren Photoshoot

August 31, 2018 by The Lady Nerd Leave a Comment

As the 2018 weekend of Dragoncon is upon us, I thought it’s high time I share another good cosplay shoot on here. One of the great things about being part of the geek community is, well,…the community! While there are certainly some negative gatekeepers and nasty folks on the fringes, they are not the norm. Most of the time we support each other, lift each other, and help each other with projects. So when my friend Stephanie told me her partner had just done his very first cosplay ever and wanted to do a photoshoot, I gladly jumped in.

Stephanie and Jeremy worked hard to create as screen accurate of a Kylo Ren as they could. We partnered up with David Leo and Patrick Sun for Jeremy’s very first photoshoot (so many firsts!), wandered on down to a local park, threw up some smoke bombs, and got to modeling!

“Forgive me, I feel it again…the pull to the light.“

“You need a teacher. I can show you the ways of the Force.”

“Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose.”

“Madness is like gravity. All it takes a little push to ascend into darkness.”
(Sidenote: Many of you know of my bad complex about my jaw/profile. So you’ll understand why I flipped out over how amazing this picture is. Dramatic lighting FTW!)
“Where once was light, now darkness falls.
Where once was love, love is no more.”

Dark Rey Cosplay

May 5, 2018 by The Lady Nerd 2 Comments

2018 is the year I’m catching up on The Lady Nerd blog. I am woefully behind…(but on the bright side, it gives me lots to post when I’m unable to come up with new content! #silverlining). I just realized while I’ve shared these pictures on social media, I have never posted them here. This photoshoot is from 2016. 2 YEARS AGO! Oi…While I could heave a heavy sigh about this timing travesty, instead I’m going to finally post this shoot on this particular day because yesterday was May the 4th…

Today is Revenge of the Fifth.

Behold Dark Rey.

This outfit was a last minute decision, borne out of an unfortunate circumstance. I had just endured a traumatic breakup and hadn’t left the house yet. After a week, my dear friends at Kuiosikle Props did what they do best – cheer me up with cosplay. Our local geek bar, Battle and Brew, was having a cosplay night with the theme of villains. I didn’t have anything for it, but they brainstormed helping me put together a dark version of Rey from Goodwill pieces. It took a minute for me to get into it, but soon I realized the challenge was exactly what I needed.

So off to Goodwill we went! For $10 we found a dress to mimic the original wrap dress and a second dress with Kylo Ren-esque sleeves that we cut off to make gauntlets. I added my paltry attempts at dark eye makeup and set off to the event. So many of my friends were there and surrounded me with such love that Villains’ night turned into Hero night for me.

Then comes Kyle Matthew Williams.

“I HAVE to shoot your Dark Rey!”
“What? That was just a crappy thing I threw together for a couple bucks for cosplay night at B&B. It’s not a thought out design wise…”
“I don’t care. I HAVE TO SHOOT IT.”

My attempts to argue fell on deaf, but excited ears. Soon after we met at Mount Arabia to shoot. This is when I learned that when you have a good photographer who really knows their craft, they can make even a cheap, haphazard Goodwill costume look amazing.

So….Did anyone else think Rey was going to go dark in The Last Jedi?

The Last Jedi Rey Cosplay

May 4, 2018 by The Lady Nerd 9 Comments

This post contains affiliate links

December 2017 premiered one of my favourite Star Wars films to date (more on that later. I’ll be doing a video with a friend on this particularly controversial statement). I had no intention of doing another Rey cosplay, but I loved The Last Jedi so much that I knew I had to pay tribute to it in some manner.

I sat on the idea for a while as summertime Georgia doesn’t lend well to Skellig Island-esque views. But an opportunity presented itself in the form of a cross-country trip to the mountainous misty regions of the Pacific Northwest. What a perfect location to mimic Ahch-to, right?! Well, so I thought…alas, due to me being relegated to a tight cruise schedule and ever-changing weather, I was not able to do a photoshoot with the outfit I had put together specially for the occasion.

I was devastated.

I had excitedly told followers this shoot was happening as well as folks I had bought pieces from. I wasn’t able to hold up my end and so I sat on the outfit for months. But all was not lost. In a rare sequence of events, everything lined up just right to the epic pictures that follow.

While I was still feeling bummed out, I knew I still had to shoot the outfit. So, I approached one of my favourite photographers, Michael Rivera (who did my Bride of Frankenstein shoot, Spider-girl, etc.) to try to figure out how to shoot this look with the less-than-ideal locations we had locally. We decided on Stone Mountain and hoped for the best. Little did I know what was waiting for us at the shooting location…

We arrived at Stone Mountain on a quiet grey day and were greeted with the most stunning fog. I was beside myself with joy! While it didn’t necessarily look like coastal Skellig Island, fog always makes for interesting pictures.

Truth be told, grey days have never been my favourite – those sullen days devoid of colour, of happy light, and lacking warmth. Being a creature that seems mainly solar powered, rainy days usually worsen my depression and keep me chained with lethargy away from being productive. I loathed rainy days.

That is, until recently.

Thanks to a combination of shows like Outlander and Game of Thrones, with their ethereal locations to dreamily sighing over beautiful misty aesthetics on social media, and finally my own trip last year through the snow-laden Rockies and glacier covered Alaska, I have come to love misty days. There’s something truly fantastical about them; the way fog descends onto the treetops and eerily kisses the ground.

Now that the epicness has been addressed, let’s rewind to the outfit, shall we?

Rather than doing a full cosplay, I decided to go the ‘inspired-by’ fashion route. (Of course, once I put the pieces together I realized it looked like a cosplay and not an everyday outfit. Ah well…Rey closet cosplay!) I bought the vest and fingerless gloves from Elhoffer Design‘s first run of the Galactic Scavenger Sweater (she has a cropped version up now). The material is incredibly soft and fits me like a glove!

I purchased the shirt off Amazon from a lovely lady with her own clothing line. The hunt for pants was a bit frustrating as I had terrible luck finding anything remotely like brown capris at the time. Thankfully, my friend Kayla came to the rescue and gave me her old Rey pants as she worked on a new pair. Coupled with my Rey belt from 2 Player Game Cosplay and Props, scavenger bag donated by another friend, and the amazing 3D printed staff from The Helpful Nerd, the look completely came together!

Last but certainly not least are my beloved Po-Zu boots. I was blessed to be among the first to get the Piper brown boots when some of us steely-eyed cosplayers discovered the boots from this small London shoe company. They’ve gone on to get a license with Disney and have a whole line of new Star Wars footwear! I’m so happy for them! They certainly deserve it with their wonderful customer service and did I mention RIDICULOUSLY comfy shoes? Wearing my Rey boots are like walking on clouds (memory foam insoles are the best!). They’re made of all sustainable materials – tweed, cork, natural rubber, and coconut fibre. I can’t recommend them enough.

May the Fourth be with you!

Photograph: Michael Rivera
Hair: Gina Rivera (because I’m HORRIBLE at those stupid buns…)
Vest & Gloves: Elhoffer Design
Top: Amazon – Ooh La La
Cape: Elhoffer Design
Pants: Elendriel
Belt: 2 Player Game Cosplay and Props
Bag: Gifted
Shoes: Po-zu
Staff: The Helpful Nerd

The Last Teaser

May 4, 2018 by The Lady Nerd Leave a Comment

For May the Fourth (be with you) tomorrow, I will be releasing one of my favourite photoshoots to date! Here is a teaser of what it might be of. Stay tuned for some epicness in a galaxy far far away…

Photography: Michael Rivera
Cape: Elhoffer Design
Staff: The Helpful Nerd

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Rey Cosplay – Construction Notes 2

January 8, 2016 by The Lady Nerd 26 Comments

As a new leaf has turned over this year, I think it’s high time for an update on my Rey costume. Alas, I am nowhere as far along as I would like (perfectionism has it’s drawbacks sometimes). But as this is also a how-to-guide for anyone who stumbles across it, I feel duty-bound to update. So here goes!

To start, one of the lovely members on the RPF fixed my artwork to match Rey’s costume (as I originally drew the artwork before we knew what the back of her costume looked like). So here’s the updated version for those of you who have been using my turnaround for reference. 🙂

Since I’m a linear thinker, I’ll be starting from the top in updating both my progress and observations for Rey. (If any of you reading this have any questions for your Rey cosplay feel free to leave a comment and I’ll help out where I can!)

Hair
I’m still trying to figure out how to do her hairstyle, to be perfectly honest. I am an absolute dunce when it comes to hair (I can barely braid!). There’s a wonderful tutorial on Youtube that I’ve been trying…

Though, I realized that longer hair doesn’t work as well with this hairstyle. It may just be me and my clumsiness, but my hair kept getting horribly tangled in trying to put up the buns. So since I needed to chop off my unhealthy hair anyways….Major thing to note on Rey’s hair that I haven’t seen mentioned anywhere. Upon viewing The Force Awakens for a second time, I realized that the top of Rey’s hair is actually braided (or pulled back into a mini tail). I’m not sure if it extends farther than the top piece. But it’s certainly something to note.

Undershirt
I bought the Hemp Jersey cotton fabric from Dharma Trading. Still need to wash it before sewing. The length comes down to brush her hips. One interesting thing to note is that the sleeves of the undershirt are two different styles.

Alas, I do not know enough about sewing to know what the different techniques are called to achieve the effect (I’ve heard the term “lettuce hem” thrown around a few times).

Wrap dress
I’m still debating the right fabric for this as the bottom of the wrap shows a thatching sort of weave. But the top is much thicker and gathered, where that thatching is not as apparent. I’m going by the listing from Star Wars Celebration that the wrap dress is viscose. The only one I’ve been able to find that seems close is the viscose silk blend from Dharma Trading.

Arm wraps
I’m currently in the experimenting phase of trying to find the right material for the arm wraps. The general consensus is that the arm wraps of medical gauze. The trick is finding the right one. I’ve got differing styles from Ace, Band-Aid, Walmart generic, etc. ranging from self-adhering to fabric. Next is to tea dye them, distress them up a bit, and see which one looks best. Though one major thing to note, in the film costume they used a sleeve underneath to attach the wraps too. (You can see it in the first scene Rey shows up in where she drinks from her cantina. There’s a gap in the wraps where you can see the undersleeve. It appears to be a similar colour as the wraps.) You can actually see it poking out of the top of the left arm wrap in the picture I posted above in the wrap dress section.

Cuff
I bought a wonderful looking cuff from the folks at Leather Clad Legends. A beautiful, reasonably priced piece.

Belt
I haven’t started on this piece yet. So I’ll save that for another update.

Pants
I made the mistake of buying the raw silk from Dharma Trading thinking it was the right fabric. But then I got my hands on a hi-res picture of Rey’s pants and realized they’re not nubby. They’re smooth and have a sort of crepe feel to them. Alas, I haven’t been able to find a suitable alternative yet. And since I have 3 yards of raw silk, I’m going to use it. However, the team I’m working with to make this costume found that the back side of the raw silk was smoother and less nubby. So we’re going to try making the pants out of the wrong-side raw silk and see how it looks.

Boots
I got the screen accurate boots from Po-Zu (courtesy of a kind boyfriend taking pity on me for having to use the money I had saved up for the boots on medical bills). They are marvelous! No exaggeration, they are the comfiest shoes I have ever worn in my life. The inside is plush almost like memory foam so it gives the feeling of a slipper more than a boot. But the rugged outside made out of all natural materials (seriously! The soles feel like rubber but are actually made out of beeswax and cork. I wish more companies that), keep it a boot.

Staff
I haven’t started on this piece yet. So I’ll save that for another update.

Bag
I haven’t started on this piece yet. So I’ll save that for another update.