the last jedi rey Archives

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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.