Cosplay for the Recently Deceased

Well I am now back on track with this little blog so back to my cosplays of the month and this month is defo a personal favourite of mine. Any UK convention goer is bound to have seen these two around alot as they are some of the best cosplayers from this fandom I have ever seen.

So enough of me rambling and falling over myself to get to the point... Here we go!

Photo by Paul Elder

 

 

 

Photo by John Shek

 

Name: Hannah

Age: 23

Where are you from?: Swindon, Wiltshire

How long have you been cosplaying?: I've been cosplaying since 2007, but I'd only really started to take it seriously since 2012!

 

Why did you decide to cosplay this character?: As soon as I got pretty deep into the Beetlejuice fandom, I knew I had to cosplay Lydia in some form. Her character just spoke to me and I just felt really connected to her. I could sympathise with how she felt like the outcast and a freak in her own family; loving the bizarre and the supernatural only for it to turn around and bite her on the behind, in a sense. Initially I'd wanted to perfect a cartoon!Lydia cosplay, until I found a black straw hat whilst out shopping one day. Then after the first make-up test run I realised my face wasn't so badly suited for Winona and decided to give it a spin.

 

 

Photo By Food and Cosplay

 

 

It certainly helped that at that point me and Amy had met through Tumblr and had roleplaying accounts for Betelgeuse and Lydia and just-- decided to cosplay our 'muses'. We knew we just had to pursue it!

Photo by John Shek

Tell us about your costume: For Lydia I currently have the 'moving day' outfit which she wears as the Deetzs' furniture arrives/when she first spots the Maitlands, and I also have the wedding dress (which Amy did an AMAZING job creating). I love both of the outfits to death and can't honestly pick which one is my favourite, though of course the 'hat' outfit is much easier to travel with (and IN!) as the dress restricts movement quite a bit. But… nothing quite beats getting to be a reluctant bride for a day!

 

Photo by John Shek

 

The only trouble I find with both outfits is the lack of pockets, my lack of free hands due to props (the camera and the Handbook vs the bouquet) and worrying constantly about whether the spikes in my fringe will hold. Other than that… they're terribly fun outfits to wear.

I've added just one personal touch: I wear a wedding ring as part of my cosplay constantly; we try to be as in-character as possible at events so it's just as a sort of in-joke/explanation as to why Lydia and Betelgeuse would be 'travelling around' together in the first place- a post-movie marriage!

 

Best thing about cosplaying this character: Getting to be Lydia. I say it constantly after I take it off and de-make-up- it crushes me not to be her for another day, not to re-enact moments from my favourite movie like that and not get to experience the adrenaline rush I get from cosplaying. I would literally do it every day if I could. Not to mention the feedback, which is incredible! I can't believe the amount of people who have told me how much I look like Winona Ryder, it just leaves me speechless!

 

 

Photo By Aminah Meena

Name: Amy

Age: 29

Where are you from?: Brighton

How long have you been cosplaying?: I’m relatively new to cosplay ( I first started October last year) but I’ve been dressing up and running around in strange clothing since I could toddle.

 

Photo by John Shek

 

 

What did you decide to cosplay this character?: Up until the point of thinking ‘how the heck am I going to do this?’ I was running a Tumblr blog as Beetlejuice – answering questions in character and drawing stupid pictures to accompany them. Me and Hannah got chatting about how much fun it would be to have a get-together at MCM- and then it shifted to who we could cosplay as. I saw other people were having a great time dressing as him- and that sealed it.

 

Photo By Tascha Dearing

 

 

Tell us about your costume: The striped suit took the most work, and was my first project. Actually it was my first big sewing project too- always good to jump in at the deep end (several costume meltdowns later- it’s really not. Don’t listen to me) It’s more of a take on his outfit than a straight movie copy-although I’m hoping to make a faithful replica one day soon.

 

Photo by John Shek

 

I couldn’t find suitable fabric anywhere in the UK- and I’m still searching for that illusive perfect one. In the end I imported some lovely stuff from America with plush black stripes. It was tricky to stitch but looked great when aged with tea and coffee. The buttons are all different- a mixture little skulls and an antique beetle decorated one for the front.

The makeup was the hardest part- lots of trial and error. I have very long hair- and hiding it all to give him his distinctive receding hair-line was going to be the biggest challenge. Luckily I found an amazing tutorial on Youtube by a makeup artist who not only developed great technique using dyed crepe wool- but also made high quality bald caps to build the look onto. From there I found out from others sites about using train landscaping hobby grass to create his mossy stubble and what paints and powders worked. The teeth are another important aspect- they really transform the whole look into something really nasty. It’s evolving every time and I love figuring out new elements to add.

 

Photo By ShinigamiPhotography

 

Best thing about cosplaying this character: Hard to pick just one! I love being unrecognisable as me- and at the same time a character lots of people know and respond to. It’s also feels great to be really gross looking- and not have to worry when makeup gets all over your clothes. It just becomes part of the look.

 

 

Photo by Paul Elder

 

To see more of these two here is there facebook page  Cosplay for the Recently Deceased