Saturday 27th October 2006
I was 14 when I first found out about the London EXPO. I was talking to a girl on YouTube whose anime AMVS I used to watch. I really wanted to go, but my mum said there was no way I was going to London on my own at that age. She couldn't go with me and I can't remember why, but she said if I went with friends and their parent(s) came along too then I would be allowed to go.
So I asked around all my friends, but there was no one really who was into anime, conventions or dressing up. Eventually my friends Sophie and Tasha decided to come with me and Tasha's dad took us in his car.
The day was great and for years after it was still always considered the best EXPO we'd been to. The atmosphere of that first EXPO has always stuck with me, and that's why I continue to go!
So from this first EXPO my love of cosplay was born. I'd always liked dressing up but now I had a real reason to design, make, buy and create costumes to wear for an event with like-minded people.
The character I decided to dress up as for my first EXPO was called Freya from the anime Chobits. I had just got back into anime a few months before EXPO. I used to watch the English dubs on Sailor Moon and Digimon when I was a kid. When I was in my art class at school in 2006, the teacher wanted us to practice cartoon style and manga artwork. She showed us a selection of pictures, one of which was Princess Jupiter from Sailor Moon. It brought back memories from when I watched it as a child, so when I got home that night, I went straight to YouTube and started watching Sailor Moon again, but this time in Japanese. So after that day, anime was added to the things I loved.
After watching Sailor Moon I started watching Chobits, and then after discovering EXPO, I decided to dress up like Freya.
I bought a dress from Ebay. I bought a headband and gloves from Claire's Accessories and baby socks from Mothercare which I sewed onto the headband and then I coloured in with felt tips. To finish off the outfit I bought knee high boots from Tescos. Looking back, the outfit was maybe a bit risque for a 14 year old to wear, but I looked good and it was fun. I did end up getting a lot of looks from men while I was at EXPO, which was fun, but at the same time kind of creepy!
Unfortunately, I didn't get any photographs of myself from the day. I didn't have a camera at the time, and Tasha had her dad's so she took a few, but I believe she lost the card or the camera broke or something like that a few weeks after we'd gone. I wish I had at least one photo from that day as I'm not sure if I'm remembering the details of the outfit much anymore.
So if anyone by any chance reads this post and took a photo of a Freya at the London MCM EXPO on Saturday 28th October 2006, I would be so happy if you could send it my way!
So from this first EXPO my love of cosplay was born. I'd always liked dressing up but now I had a real reason to design, make, buy and create costumes to wear for an event with like-minded people.
The character I decided to dress up as for my first EXPO was called Freya from the anime Chobits. I had just got back into anime a few months before EXPO. I used to watch the English dubs on Sailor Moon and Digimon when I was a kid. When I was in my art class at school in 2006, the teacher wanted us to practice cartoon style and manga artwork. She showed us a selection of pictures, one of which was Princess Jupiter from Sailor Moon. It brought back memories from when I watched it as a child, so when I got home that night, I went straight to YouTube and started watching Sailor Moon again, but this time in Japanese. So after that day, anime was added to the things I loved.
After watching Sailor Moon I started watching Chobits, and then after discovering EXPO, I decided to dress up like Freya.
I bought a dress from Ebay. I bought a headband and gloves from Claire's Accessories and baby socks from Mothercare which I sewed onto the headband and then I coloured in with felt tips. To finish off the outfit I bought knee high boots from Tescos. Looking back, the outfit was maybe a bit risque for a 14 year old to wear, but I looked good and it was fun. I did end up getting a lot of looks from men while I was at EXPO, which was fun, but at the same time kind of creepy!
Unfortunately, I didn't get any photographs of myself from the day. I didn't have a camera at the time, and Tasha had her dad's so she took a few, but I believe she lost the card or the camera broke or something like that a few weeks after we'd gone. I wish I had at least one photo from that day as I'm not sure if I'm remembering the details of the outfit much anymore.So if anyone by any chance reads this post and took a photo of a Freya at the London MCM EXPO on Saturday 28th October 2006, I would be so happy if you could send it my way!
