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I grew up thinking Halloween was the best holiday ever. It
was more than the candy. It was the costumes. My uncle always put them together
for me and my siblings, and I have to tell you, we were the hit of our rural
community. One year, I went as a nun, which amongst my primarily Polish
Catholic neighbors, was fantastic. Another year, my ten-year-old brother
dressed up as Mama from the show Mama’s Family. I don’t even
remember what we were that year. Nobody saw us. They were too busy paying
attention to how fabulous my brother looked.
When I moved away to college, however, I discovered
something terrible. I had not inherited my uncle’s wonderful creativity when it
came to costumes. I grew to dislike anywhere I had to dress up because I had no
idea what to be or how to put together the pieces of anything that looked
remotely good. I stopped wearing costumes of any sort, though I secretly
coveted every single wonderful get-up I saw on other people.
Having kids of my own forced me back into the costume game.
It was easy when they were tiny. There are a million adorable costumes for
small children. But then a miraculous thing happened.
I realized my daughter had inherited my uncle’s gift.
She loves cosplay. She could put together
the most random items and come up with an insanely creative idea. It started to
come together in a more cohesive way three years ago when she turned eleven.
She was in love with Dr. Who and decided she wanted a themed
costume that year. I thought she’d pick Ten. She’d been in love with David
Tennant from the moment she saw him.
Nope. She went for the more challenging costume. She built a
TARDIS. Not a clothing version. A five-foot box that she painted and rigged out
with lights and sound effects.
This year, she’s trying something new. She wants to be
Dancing Baby Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy. Complete
with music and flowerpot. We’ve been out shopping for the various material
she’ll need for the upper half, but we’re still in design stage for the pot and
music. She tackles each costume like an engineering project, which turns me
into a proud mom every single time.
So to say that I have a soft spot for brilliant,
scientifically-inclined girls who like cosplay is an understatement. I am not
embarrassed at all that I took inspiration from my daughter when it came to my
heroine in "Pure Rose". Rose is a computer software engineer
who works for a digital audio company, games online in her free time, and has a
closet full of costumes she built from scratch. Her costume as Frenchie from Grease might not be the technical challenge others might be,
but she sure as hell went for realism as much as possible.
Because when it comes to cosplay, it’s the attention to
detail that always wins. People notice. And sometimes, like for Rose, it can
mean gaining something you never would’ve anticipated as a reward.
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