Food and Cosplay

I discovered Raven Star Cosplay from a recommendation from a friend, and I’m so glad I did! I fell in love with her Aloy the moment I saw it and I don’t doubt you all will too. This wonderful cosplayer has found success in her home country and abroad, with very good reason.

Age: 30

Location: Netherlands

Favourite food: chocolate, fries and mango – not combined!

What’s your favourite part of the costume making process?

I really enjoy the planning stage. Looking for fabrics, thinking about patterns, taking my time to find everything I need and to figure out how to do it. I also enjoy armour and prop making over sewing, mostly because I’m still super insecure about my sewing skills. But nothing beats wearing a costume out to a con and seeing people recognise you and/or the hard work you put in!

Your costumes all seem quite complex, what has been your most complicated costume to date? How long did it take you compared to other costumes?

I think that’s a tie between Bayonetta and Aloy. Aloy was complicated because of ALL THE DETAILS. The skirt alone took me 100 hours. It wasn’t extremely complicated, but VERY time consuming. The entire costume took between 200 and 300 hours, which is still the most I’ve spent on any costume to date. Bayonetta was complicated because I’d never made a bodysuit before and because I made all the guns by hand individually (there’s four of them and each gun took 25 hours start to finish).

Do you have a dream cosplay you’re looking at building one day?

I still want to do another armour of Aloy’s, possibly the Shadow Carja one because it’s just SO beautiful. I just need to steel myself before I go into that detail hell again, haha. I’d also love to make an armour from Final Fantasy one day. There’s something so ludicrous about the details and intricacy of some of those armours that just speaks to me, but I’m afraid I’d go mental trying!

Going back to Bayonetta, are there any techniques you wish you’d have known when you started the cosplay?

I wish I’d have been more experienced sewing stretch. I figured it out on the go, but more experience with spandex and body suits would have been great! If I’d have been better with casting, I would have definitely have just cast the guns and most of the accessories. As much as I like making individual things, it would have ensured more consistency.

If you could give any advice to a new cosplayer starting out, what would it be?

Just go for it! Don’t worry about being perfect and try to focus on having fun with friends! Stop comparing yourself to others and just go out and have fun! Just start somewhere and see how you improve over time.