I love cosplay but wanted to step out of doing exact replicas of the characters; instead, I wanted to do my own take on the characters by adding my own flare, while still giving ode to the characters and their essence.
I came up with the idea for my Venom Mask dress while looking at another well-known character’s poster on my wall and realizing their helmet resembled a skirt. I went through my favorite fandoms to see if any of my other favorite character’s helmets and masks could translate as skirts and dresses and to my delight they did !
Venom happened to be one of my favorite characters whose mask also translated well as a dress. I sketched, designed and decided to construct it for NYCC, especially with the release of the movie that same weekend.
I created the mermaid dress pattern by hand. I free handed the patterns for the tongue, teeth and gums which were hand sewn on as appliques. I added a hoop to the bottom of the dress to keep its flared shape. The eye, which I wanted to be 3D and sculptural, were drawn and cut out, stuffed and hand sewn on. The tongue “train” is attached to long fingered glove with nylon thread and a ringlet. Makeup was done by my partner Ty.
Venom’s tongue kept getting caught on fellow con goers and their bags. The most hilarious thing was the way I had to “walk” to get through the con. I had to take quick tiny shuffle steps as to not trip on the hoop and keep my left hand extended so the tongue didn’t get step by on it tripped over. It was weird, it was was a sight, but I didn’t fall !
I’m a Fashion Artist and Costume designer and I’m always up for a new project. Be on the look out for more costumes from my “Helmet Series” at future cons !
Cosplayer : Delta Major / Photo: forallnerds.com