Body Image + Cosplay

Hey there blog I've been neglecting for like a month. What's up?

Ok, what we're going to talk about today is my personal body image issues and how cosplay minimized them.

I guess I should start by telling you that I am not a skinny girl, and I never was. I'm about a pant size 10-12, dress size 12-14, and I wear a bra size of 36-38 D. All through high school and middle school, I was constantly bombarded by people telling me that I should lose weight, and that the ideal woman is skinny and beautiful.
It really hurt. For awhile there I was convinced no one would love me or find me attractive because I didn't fit the ideal. And it hurt like hell.

Getting out of that high school mentality really did help with my body issues. At college I picked up rugby, and that taught me to be tough (also that exercising is actually really fun). And I met a truly wonderful boy who loves me for me, and doesn't care what my dress size is, he thinks I'm beautiful no matter what.
Okay wow yeah that was really sappy, I'm sorry.

But lets talk about cosplay for a minute. Cosplay has really helped me with my body issues, because for at least a little bit, people who don't know me look at me as a character rather than who I am.
Instead of judging me based off of what I look like, people's first reactions are "oh you're so and so, wow thats a great wig/costume/skirt/contacts!" Its makes me feel good, you know?
Sometimes, if I get so lucky, people will come up to me and say that I make a fabulous [enter character here], and once this girl even told me that I was her brand new headcanon Roxy Lalonde!

Sure there are tons of times where I want to cosplay certain characters, but I feel restricted due to body shape (its really hard for me to pull of being male, I'm curvy), height, or even ethnicity. But then I think about it and I say "well fuck that." Because in the cosplaying community, well at least the one's I've encountered, people are really supportive. They say "go cosplay who you want to, regardless of what you look like. Be happy, and those who try to pull you down aren't worth your time."

Thanks to people like that, I've been able to do cosplay's I normally wouldn't be comfortable doing/think I could pull off!
Example 1; Sis Strider who is usually drawn as skinny and fit, blonde, and super hot. Yet I still put it together for NYC Promstuck, and I received so many compliments on it!

No idea who the artist is, please tell me!

Example 2; X-23. Still a work in progress, but she is my favorite X-Men character and wears pretty skimpy outfits, but I'm learning how to translate that into my body type and comfort zone. Plus the make up was super fun to do.

Also that comic is fantastic, go read it now.

With all that being good and said, there are still a lot of people I know who don't understand my hobby of cosplaying. They write it off as being silly, or a waste of time. I guess I get that, sometimes I write off what I don't know a lot about even though I try hard not to.

Understand it or not, cosplaying has become a big part of my life, and a very important part at that. It taught me that I can be happy with how I look, and that people will always appreciate what I put on, as well as be there to support me along the way.

Also that I don't make a terrible platinum blonde! Hehe.

Loren ♥