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http://www.cosplay.com/featured.php?year=2004&month=january&page=1Lillyxandra and Haruka
Cosplayer InfoCosplay Names: Lillyxandra, Haruka
Location: Houston, TX.
Cosplaying Since: 2002
Interview/Photo Dates: October 23-24, 2003
Photo Locations:Houston, TX.
Website: Firefly Path
Our Photo Gallery: 258 photos, 10 costumes CostumesLillyxandra: Ivy - Third Alternate Costume (Soul Calibur II) /// Autumn Fay (original) /// Elegant Gothic Aristocrat (original) /// Freya (Chobits) /// Clow Card Windy (Card Captor Sakura).
Haruka: Taki - Second Alternate Costume (Soul Calibur II) /// Twilight Mistress (original) /// Elegant Gothic Lolita (original) /// Chii (Chobits) /// Sakura Kinomoto (Card Captor Sakura).
Cosplaying sisters Lillyxandra (JoEllen, on the left) and Haruka (Mary, on the right) live just north of Houston, Texas. Compared to our past features, they are relatively new to the cosplay scene, but they have made quite a splash over the last two years with their stellar craftsmanship. We were also told by quite a few people that they're two of the nicest people you could ever meet, and we completely agree!
Though sometimes similar when they're around each other, each sister has a few distinct, defining qualities. Lillyxandra is the older one (21 vs. 18), Haruka the taller one (5'9" vs. 5'7"). Lillyxandra does the sewing, Haruka is the artist. But together they have a special knack for combining their talents, complimenting one another's skills to create some absolutely stunning costumes.
We spent a few days with them for the feature back in late October. The interview was a bit more laid-back than usual because I ran out of audio tape so we wound up having to videotape it instead. They are debuting two new costumes in this feature - Sakura Kinomoto and Clow Card Windy, both from Card Captor Sakura.
Kyle: First off, can you tell us how long you've been cosplaying and how you got started?
Haruka (Mary): We started cosplaying at A-Kon 2002 but we've been making fairy costumes and more fantasy-style costumes for about five years.
Did one of you start before the other?
Lillyxandra (JoEllen): I was a little more into it (cosplay) first, and Mary was more into certain other things and we kinda came together with it.
H: Even when we were younger we were really into video games and comic books. We've always admired the costumes being so cool, but it wasn't until we decided that we wanted to make that kind of stuff, and realized people dress up like this and go to conventions, that we discovered that we were really excited about that.
L: We went to A-Kon 2001 and saw all the cosplayers and . . .
H: We just had to do this.
What were your first costumes?
H: Ayane from Dead or Alive 3.
L: May from Hand Maid May.
The two of you do a lot of costumes that compliment each other. Do you tend to choose your costumes in that way, knowing that you're going to cosplay together?
H: Yeah, to me it's more impressive when you have two people doing the same thing rather than individuals because you can sort of work with each other and make it seem more impressive.
Were there any times that one of you wanted to cosplay part of a duo but the other wasn't really into it?
L: Yeah like right now she wants to do Shiki but I'm really not into SnK or any 2-D fighters.
H: I'll probably just wind up doing Shiki by myself.
What would you say is your favorite genre of cosplay?
L: As far as design goes for costumes, I'd say manga and RPG's, both of them are really elaborate for costuming and when people can really pull that off well it's very impressive to me.
H: I like game costumes because it seems like you have more control over the character and you just kinda get attached to them more. And so being in that game character's costume it just seems a bit more personal and fun to me.
Who's the better one at sewing?
H: JoEllen.
L: Yeah. In fact I do all the sewing.
H: And I do all the grunt work.
L: Yeah Mary does all the tedious things, the hand sewing additions I just can't stand to do like hand stitching and . . .
H: (laughs) Yeah whatever she doesn't want to do I do it for her. I also do all the painting, like on her Ivy costume she has that big Phoenix in the back – I did all the appliqués and painting and cutting stuff out – that was pretty complicated though.
Do you do the fantasy costumes for other events like renaissance faire?
L: Yeah we attend the Texas Renaissance Festival every year.
And do you enjoy that as much as the conventions?
L: Not as much as the conventions but it's different. It's more relaxed and you have more opportunity to show your original designs.
As far as going to renn faires and stuff, what would you say is the difference between the costumers there and at anime conventions?
L: I think cosplayers are more into their characters and take costuming a bit more seriously.
H: Yeah. The people who go to renaissance faire usually rent their costumes or they like to buy a lot of armor pieces, and usually they'll have a simple costume with just a huge piece of armor and they'll just buy those. A lot of it isn't hand made.
L: A lot of it's store bought.
Is there anything different experience-wise at a renn faire?
H: (Laughs) People tend to get *really* friendly. There's alcohol there, and so when a person says they really like your costume sometimes they'll get way too into it and touch your costume and everything . . .
L: Yeah there's a bit too much flirtation and you gotta be really careful.
H: Yeah you bring friends with you.
And you said A-Kon 13 was your first anime convention?
H: Yes, first cosplaying convention. A-Kon 12 was our first anime convention.
Do you go to any other conventions aside from that one?
H: We're still new to conventions, this is only our third year, but we plan on going to different ones. So far it's only been A-Kon and Anime Expo. (2003)
Let's talk about wigs.
L: We love wigs!
H: Oh yeah.
What is it about wigs that you like cosplay-wise.
H: Because anime hair is so fake. You really have to have the perfect hair to pull off a specific character. A wig is so much easier, you just put on your hair and go, you don't have to worry about making your real hair stand out.
L: It just completely changes your entire look immediately.
Have the two of you always had short hair?
H: No, I had long hair for a long time.
Do you find it easier to cosplay with short hair?
L: Yes you just throw on a wig cap and it's all tucked under.
How many wigs do you have?
H: (counts on her fingers) Hmm think. We've got two chii wigs, lolita wig, my lolita wig, taki, those two pink ones, the blue one . . .
L: The purple one.
H: Yeah and the purple/black one, your long red one. Ivy . . .
Now when you go to conventions do you bring a lot of costumes with you?
L: Just one for each day.
H: Changing on the same day is too much.
L: Well we did have to do that at AX cause we got there late.
Having that many wigs how do you go about shipping them all?
Both: Plastic bags.
At Anime Expo you guys won an award, which award was that again?
H: It was the craftsmanship judge's award.
And that was for . . .
L: Taki and Ivy (from Soul Calibur II)
H: And then JoEllen won an award at J-Rock events for her lolita costume.
L: “Fairest of them all.”
Were those the first awards you've won?
H: At A-Kon we had the judge's award for Ayane and Hand Maid May.
L: Steve Bennett's award.
Do you like the performance side of things at the masquerade like at AX?
H: We were just a walk-on. We didn't realize that we were going to be in the masquerade until like a day before we actually got on the plane to go to California so we didn't have time to make a skit and just did a walk-on.
What's that experience like, going to a huge convention like AX for the first time and being in the masquerade?
H: Exhilarating.
L: You get nervous but it's exhilarating yeah.
Could you even see the crowd with all the lights?
L: A little bit. You can hear them all talking.
H: It's like right before you get on the stage you get nervous, but once you get on you just get into it and it's not as hard.
I remember taking a photo of the two of you afterwards and you both looked like you were about to just fall over.
H: Pass out yeah!
L: The masquerade ended at like midnight or one in the morning.
H: And we'd been sitting there in those costumes for three straight hours after having them on all day as well so we were just dead tired. And then you try to go five steps without someone taking your picture and then stand there for twenty minutes. (laughs)
How would you describe cosplay in Houston and in Texas ? It seems like the east and west coast get the most coverage but in the South it seems like there's a contingent of cosplayers that just don't get seen very often. And are you friends with a lot of other cosplayers here?
L: No . . .
H: Yeah we don't have any cosplaying friends here in Texas . We know a lot of cosplayers online but they all live in California .
L: Hopefully when we go to the picnic we'll finally be able to meet other cosplayers from Houston .
(ed. note – Lillyxandra and Haruka went to the Candy Hearts Cosplay Picnic the next morning but when they got there it was pouring rain outside and they didn't have a chance to meet anyone. Cosplay.com attended the event after the rain subsided a bit, but it was still really messy out and the rain came back even worse a couple of hours later.)
Makeup. I'm going to assume you two really like to do the makeup side of cosplay.
H: We're the makeup queens!
What kind of makeup do you like to use?
H: Normally just street makeup. We find that it's not expensive and it's easy to use and it just completely changes the look, you know? You can go from cute and innocent to dark and – it just completes the costume.
L: If you have a beautiful costume you should really finish it by doing your face and hair.
Do you have any makeup or wig tips for cosplayers?
L: Wear a wig cap. Do not let your hair fall out of your wig so you have different color hair mixed in with your wig, it just does not look good. So you need to pull it back under the wig cap. Or at least comb it all back so it's firmly under the wig.
H: As far as makeup goes, if you're not comfortable wearing a lot of makeup, at least wear base or a powder base because when you take your pictures it keeps your face from looking shiny and keeps a nice, evenly diffused light across your face.
From taking your photos the past two days I've noticed the two of you are very photogenic in that you tend to snap from pose to pose very fluidly. Do you have experience in modeling or do the two of you practice in front of a mirror or something?
Both: (Laughs) Yeah.
H: We do it in front of the mirror ALL the time yeah.
L: In fact when we're in front of the mirror putting our makeup on for the day we'll be posing and everything.
H: Like for our chii costumes we'll be looking through the manga and seeing what they do together, to get a feel for how they act, so that when we pose together it looks more natural. So we do a lot of posing in front of the mirror and . . . so yeah it's really sad.
So the two of you live together?
Both: Yes.
Is there any competitiveness between the two of you when it comes to cosplay?
H: Nah, we get along really well.
L: But if I'm working on a costume for myself and it's starting to look a little better than Mary's, Mary will be like . . .
H: I'll be like “you should probably add this to my costume too!”
Do you feed off of each other that way?
L: Yeah.
H: Yeah, and we don't want one costume to drown the other out, they have to be even so they work together.
What about fabric, do you try to get the same types of fabric to go together for the costumes?
L: Yeah. For Card Captor Sakura I used the same yellow in my entire dress that I used in her skirt.
H: We try to keep the color palettes the same.
L: And even in our Taki and Ivy, the inside panels of my tails are the same gold fabric that I used in the lining of her kimono.
H: We always have something to tie them together.
How do you draw your designs out for your fairy costumes?
H: We go through artwork that other people have done and find little pieces of it that we like, and sort of incorporate some of it into it. But we draw different designs for each and just kind of find what we like the most. It'll take a while before we actually make a costume based off an original design.
L: Also a lot of our inspiration comes from just being outside all of the time and seeing certain colors contrasting and thinking they'd look gorgeous in a style of dress. We just get inspiration from everything. And Mary's really good at sketching things. Mary's the artist and I then put it into an actual pattern.
How long does it take you to make your costumes?
L: I don't like spending a lot of time making costumes.
H: My Sakura costume took like two days.
L: When I sit down I cannot stop, I just gotta do it and be done with it, because if I sit down for too long of a time I get bored with it and just get sick of it.
Are there any costumes that the two of you have planned for the future that aren't a secret?
L: Yes, I want to do a Venus weed from Castlevania.
H: It's just one of the monsters you find in the castle with this girl and these vines that whip out. No one would probably recognize it except for Castlevania fans.
L: Also when we met cosplayers there's these girls from paperwings.org, they were just really sweet to us and they helped me a lot with ideas for making stuff for my big bow.
Do you have a lot of accessories that you use? Do you find it anywhere?
H: Nah, they used to sell the clow cards at Suncoast, but it was a really long time ago so I had to scour eBay and I kept losing the bids so I had to put in a bid that was way more than it was worth in order to get it. But it's worth it I needed it. (laughs)
And the wings – you also sell those online?
L: We have them up at
www.firefly-path.com which we started about a year-and-a-half ago. About the same time we started cosplaying. And what we do, pretty much right now a lot of it is our fairy stuff, elf ears, wings, chii ears – Mary makes chii ears like crazy she gets like three orders a day sometimes.
H: “Make me into chii!”
L: A lot of people seem to like our stuff. Customers who buy wings and stuff are usually grateful but cosplayers when they buy even the smallest things . . .
H: They get all enthusiastic and thankful when they get their item. Cosplayers really do seem to appreciate other people's work.
What inspired you to start Firefly Path?
L: Well really since we were children we've always had this obsession with fairies. We watched that movie Legend over and over and we wanted to be like that so bad.
H: And we saw wings on the internet and they were beautiful but they were so expensive. So we thought, “You know, we can make this.” And when they turned out pretty good we figured we could make money with it.
L: We plan on breaking up Firefly Path into three separate websites, one for the wings, one for our costumes for sale, and then another one called Morning Bell which will sell anime and gothic inspired clothing.
Kind of like your J-Rock jacket?
L: Exactly.
H: Yep, unique stuff that people can wear outside of conventions.
Do you ever plan to do anything like go to school for fashion design?
L: I actually did an internship with a fashion designer and learned a lot from that. One thing I learned is that I don't want to own my own shop and would rather just do all of my business online with it.
The two of you have a lot of really cool photos on your website, who's the inspiration behind the poses?
H: I love taking pictures. We take pictures of each other though. I love having a set to go with our pictures, like with our Chii we had a little tea set cause you know it wouldn't really look right with just Chii and a forest.
L: Yeah we try to incorporate a lot of props and sets into our pictures.
H: Cause where we live it's just pretty much woods and you just kind of have to make something out of it. But it's good for our fairy costumes.
What kind of reactions do you get in public when you're in your costumes?
L: Well most of our photoshoots are right in our neighborhood and most of our neighbors are pretty used to us going around in costumes in their yards and thinking “there they are doing their faces up again” and yeah they're pretty used to it.
How's your family with it?
L: They're very supportive of it.
H: They love seeing us making costumes. They really don't understand who the characters are or anything, but they're really happy to see us using our artistic skills and think it's important that people really appreciate the things we're doing.
(end)
