Poison Ivy Cosplay
As a little girl, growing up a tomboy the idea of dresses or even dressing up was my ultimate nightmare. I absolutely hated anything that was feminine. Pink, purple, skirts, dresses, even Barbie, I wasn’t interested. Also growing up as a natural redhead I dealt with quite the teasing, just like most other natural redheads do.
Halloween was the pure exception of dressing up. It was so freeing to feel like I could become another character, and the more closer the details the happier I was. It was so fun to see so many people out dressed up in something they enjoyed and occasionally you’d see a really amazing pun-styled costume. Halloween unfortunately is only one day a year, but it really shined a light into my love of costumes.
As I got older I was introduced to the world of “Cons”, or Conventions. Comic Con, Galaxy Con, Anime [insert city name], etc. My first con was actually PAX in Boston, I went as my own rendition of “Super Girl”, I wore red jeans, a tight blue shirt with a superman symbol in a silver foil, and had my hair straightened in pig tails. Threw on some Superman shades, had my superman sweatshirt tied around my waist, and thought I was the coolest person ever.
When I saw the true Cosplayers walking around I was star struck in a way. I went up to almost everyone and asked “can I take a picture with you!?” There were so many amazing costume designs and friendly people. I have never been in such an amazing place full of nerdy diversity.
With my recent modeling for my own photography content I thought it was time to reach deep down and pull out that confidence, and do my own cosplay photography shoot. I chose Poison Ivy among the list of potential cosplay characters I’m comfortable with doing (Kim Possible, Ariel the Mermaid, Daphne from Scooby Doo, and Merida from Disney’s Brave). In my mind portraying Poison Ivy will be a challenge more than my other characters. I had a quick thought of Black Widow, but I am not confident enough for that just yet.
Creating this look has been more challenging for me than I originally expected. My first speed bump was just ordering the outfit I wanted. I had no issues getting gloves, boot covers, and green tights from Amazon. I had ordered a one piece velvet green strapless body suit as well, but Amazon had issues and lost the order, but was nice enough to give a refund in exchange. With the body suit on hold I got discouraged a little bit while I scoured the internet for the same suit, in the right size and color, but from a different company. After waiting 3 weeks from ordering from JT’s Designer Fashion, I was finally able to acquire the body suit.
After testing that the whole costume pulled together, I headed out to Michael’s to buy fake ivy. I spent close to $70 on the fake ivy and costume at this point. Michael’s had a 20% off coupon listed online. With wire cutters I was able to cut off the fake ivy leaves from the “stems” and used hot gorilla glue to attach them to the velvet suit. I used my handy grass mannequin to hold the suit while I made a few adjustments.
I decided to use darker leaves for the body and and have it cover the edges of the back end because its a bit more revealing than I’m comfortable with. I grabbed lighter leaves to glue to the edges of the gloves. The gloves have caused my second hiccup with the leaves popping off as I put the gloves on. It’s going to come down to hot gluing while I’m wearing the gloves.
The third speed bump is makeup. I have never done my makeup as an adult and do not own any. I have been reaching out to tons of friends for ideas of where to buy it since I am completely lost. Youtube tutorials are my newest binge watching.
I’ve decided to do an interior home studio shoot for the first reveal. I do have the abandoned greenhouse as the perfect place to do a shoot, but it’s still really warm out and I don’t want to be uncomfortable when I try this out for the first time. Today I shot a couple of practice shots to get an idea of poses, and I had one that really was inspiring to me. It reminded me of the reason why I started this project in the first place.
I’ve been so anxiety ridden about this project coming out “internet worthy” but I forgot the real reason behind this shoot. I want to look like a total badass and I’m turning 32 this upcoming Wednesday so this is the perfect confidence booster.
The photos will be posted soon. I appreciate all your continued support. Look for me on Tiktok and see each step of my Poison Ivy Cosplay project.
Tiktok: @ginger_with_lyme
IG: L.B_Images
