Article:
Stage on! Introducing WindoftheStars to Alltern8.com

Being a new writer here at Alltern8, I thought it would be nice to start things off with a bit of an introductory piece. You get to know me, and maybe I can learn something about you. Plus, it's always nice to know a little bit about the person who wrote the article you reading, correct?

Like many cosplayers, what drew me to this hobby was a love to create things and Japanese pop culture. However, before I even knew about anime and manga, I was just a little girl with blonde pigtails running around in homemade costumes from Halloweens of years past. It was tradition for my mother and I to make my Halloween outfit every year from scratch. She made anything for me ranging from a Unicorn to Belle from Beauty and the Beast to, my favorite as a child, Sara Sanderson from Hocus Pocus. To this day I distinctly remember going from thrift store to thrift store with my mother finding old dresses we could alter and dye to make me my Halloween attire. I admit those are some of my fondest memories as child.

I few years after I was too old to trick or treat anymore, I discovered the magical world of anime. I loved it! Watching Sailor Moon on Toonami became a daily ritual for me. When I got to college I found the Anime and Manga Society and quickly befriended the president of the club. She not only introduced me to heaps of new material to add to my library, but she also introduced me to cosplay. At the time, the club put on an annual Halloween party dedicated to local otakus in which cosplay was highly encouraged. Being a creatively inclined person since I was young, combined with my love for Japanese pop culture, I was hooked on the idea of cosplay from the start. I was determined to have a costume for this event at any cost.

In 2004 I made my first costume, Cassandra Alexandra from Soul Calibur II, for my club’s annual Halloween party. At the time it was my favorite game plus I had her hairstyle so it seemed like a logical choice. This was, of course, before I even knew anything about wigs and their importance to cosplay. With the help of my mother, she showed me the ropes of sewing by assisting me in the constructing of my first costume. About a year later I bought my own sewing machine and started on my own endeavors into cosplay.