11/30/2018

GGB Reno’s October Cosplay Brunch Recap

For the month of October, the Reno Geek Girls had their second annual cosplay brunch at Liberty Food and Wine Exchange, where they enjoyed some truly excellent food and chatted about current, past, and future costumes!

Jan joined us in an incredible Boushh costume that took 6 months (!) and $4000 (!!!) to put together using a variety of materials including but not limited to epoxy clay, paper mache and brown paper bags. She will making a miniature version of the Boushh costume for her granddaughter. Her other costumes included a Storm Trooper and Witch King. Thank you for spending part of your birthday geeking out with us! Happy 60th birthday, Jan!!

Clad in a blood-red cape with a white bonnet, our chief officer, Vanessa, was dressed as a Handmaid. She grew up in a cosplay household, to be expected with Jan as her mom, and she’s raising her kids to be as involved and invested in costuming as she is! Her husband, who invited her to a costume party as their first date and they got married in costumes, fully supports this effort. Vanessa would love to do a Mrs. Banks or Mary Poppins costume, among many, many others, one day. Halloween is her happy place and she loves making costumes for her kids.

Angela, one of the officers, was dressed as Daria. A fan of practicality and sarcasm, she chose this costume because she already had the pieces in her closet – an orange top, a green cardigan, a black skirt, and black boots. She spent much longer making her son’s Halloween Pac-Man costume. ProTip: do not attempt to color in the Pac-Man design with a fine point Sharpie, unless you want a headache from the fumes and a cramp in your hand!

Paola, in a beautiful cape, learned to sew for cosplay. Some of her favorite costumes were Kaylee from Firefly and Bulma from DBZ. Nowadays, instead of making costumes for herself, she’s making them for her daughter – who’s a big fan of Finding Dory and will be wearing a one-of-a-kind ocean dress with felt Nemo and Dory and Marlin swimming in the waves.

Villain alert! Danielle came as Bellatrix Lestrange from Harry Potter in a black wig, the Dark Mark, and a wand. Cosplaying since she was 14, costumes are a big part of her life. She’s working on a fur suit for Biggest Little Furry Convention next May. Costumes from Gears of War and Red Dead Redemption are possible future projects.

Though she didn’t dress up, Connie shared photos of the amazing leather dress (floor length, riding cut, leather pants underneath) she had worn to first Reno Comic Con. With Glamdring strapped to her back, she looked like one BAMF! She would like to do a full Klingon costume (either TWG or DS9) one day.

Kate also grew up in a costuming household, with her mom making their childhood Halloween costumes. She dove into costuming and has many impressive ones, including Captain Malcolm Reynolds and Ursula. She is dressed up as Amethyst for Steven Universe today.

Kayla was dressed as a Totally Tired College Student, completed with a shirt repping her major (Speech Pathology). Of course, we have to mention her iconic Mad Max family costume. She sawed a Barbie Jeep in half to convert it into a stroller for her son, that’s dedication! Her other ideas included a Howl’s Moving Castle family costume but they won’t be matching this Halloween. She and her husband will be in Halo and War Fiend armor, respectively, and their son wants to be Optimus Prime.

As someone who doesn’t costume much, Janet was styling in her tuxedo shirt. She’d love to dress up as Totoro (or a big version of Chibi-Totoro) one day.

Unrelated: Check out the Patriots vs Bears game in the background! Both Vanessa and Angela are fans of the New England Patriots and one of them *cough* Angela *cough* was pretty distracted!

Julie loves premade dresses and accessories! She has a R2D2 dress she rocked at our January Star Wars brunch earlier this year. It’s easier for her to represent her nerdom while working with hair bows and earrings.