WCS 2009 Team U.S.A.

In August 2009, cosplayers from around the world will gather in Nagoya, Japan, for a summit and competition to determine which nation boasts the best of the best in cosplay talent. Meet the 2009 World Cosplay Summit (WCS) Team U.S.A!

The WCS is still many months away, but preliminary rounds have already started in several countries. On Sept. 27 at the New York Anime Festival (NYAF), America officially selected who will represent it as Team U.S.A.

The winning cosplayers, Elizabeth Licata and India “Dia” Davis, were selected from among a host of impressive cosplay teams who performed at NYAF for the chance to go to Japan and compete. Read on to find out more about India and Elizabeth, their winning costumes and skit, and their hopes for WCS 2009. (You can also view their skit via a link at the bottom of this post.)

Q: Which manga inspired your skit and which characters were you each cosplaying?

India: CLAMP’s manga “XXXHOLiC.” I cosplayed Himawari Kunogi.

Elizabeth: I was Yuuko.

Q: What made you choose this manga and these characters in particular?

Elizabeth as Yuuko from"XXXHolic"

I: I’ve been a CLAMP fan since I first got into anime and manga many years ago and “XXXHOLiC” is one of my favorite works of theirs. Also, who can resist the fantastic costume designs?

E: I’ve been a huge CLAMP fan forever.  When we decided to pair up for the WCS, we went back and forth for a couple weeks discussing potential costumes. I picked the Yuuko ensemble because it was so dramatic. I love a diva.

Q: Since the characters were created by CLAMP, it’s no surprise there is a lot of detail in the designs. What made you want to take on costumes like these?

I: I’ve been sewing since I was quite young, so I really love a challenge. I also have a keen interest in historical costuming and this costume gave me an opportunity to explore that a little further.

E: I always wind up picking a costume that’s a little harder than the last one I did. It’s just more fun to keep doing things that are more challenging. Also, we knew that everyone would bring their A games for the WCS, so we wanted to pick something particularly elaborate and detailed so we could keep up with the rest of the crowd.

Q: The lights were a great effect. Would you mind telling us how that worked?

I: This was tricky to work out! I’ve never used anything like them, so I had to do a lot of thinking. I ended up getting three units of battery-powered LED lights on wires. I was able to thread the lights throughout my headpiece and waist decoration, gluing them in place as I went, and then hide the battery packs in my bustle, under the peplum of my bodice. This allowed Elizabeth to easily access the power switches while onstage.

Q: Even without the lights, the costumes themselves were stunning. What was the most challenging part of making them? And how long did these dresses take to sew?

India as Himawari Kunogi from "XXXHolic"

I: Thankfully, my outfit isn’t terribly complicated when you break it down. The artwork is kind of ambiguous in certain ways, so the most challenging part was translating it into real life, for a real person.

E: We finally settled on the costumes about a month before the con, so we had to sew pretty quickly. The deadline was pretty stressful. For me, the most challenging part was the top of my skirt. My fabric didn’t stretch, and for the dramatic silhouette I had to take all the ease out of it, so it was really unforgiving and had to fit perfectly.

Q: Could you let us in on a little of the process behind making these costumes?

I: I was lucky enough to already have made a suitable corset, based on one from 1898, so I worked around that. I reworked a basic bodice pattern to fit perfectly over the corset and draped the skirts myself. I also made a mid-Victorian bustle to wear underneath and attached two extra petticoats for lots of volume. The most annoying part was making all of the trim by hand!

E: Once we picked the characters and specific costumes we were going to do, we went shopping. We took the pictures with us and went all over the garment district (of New York City) trying to match fabrics. I had a design in mind for a corset and a lace-up skirt. And since my hat was so huge and “Hello Dolly,” I thought a great 1890s mermaid skirt would be the right silhouette to balance it. So I knew I’d need a lot of fabric. I picked a heavy, drapey satin and India picked a gorgeous silk dupioni. We tried to pair up the colors so they’d be complementary.

After that, we started sewing. I made the corset top first, then the base of the skirt that went from my waist to my knees. I made a cage from there down and just made it as big and swoopy as possible. Then I applied the ruffles to that cage and sewed it to the base of the skirt around my knees. It wasn’t a very complicated construction, but it took a lot of time to do because it was just such fiddly work.

Q: I’ve heard that the judging was really close this year. What was it like when you finally heard that you were officially going to be Team U.S.A.?

I: I actually started crying a little bit! It was just so wonderful to hear - we had worked so hard and to hear that it paid off was incredibly gratifying.

E: It could have gone any way, so I had no idea what to think. There were a lot of gorgeous skits. I really adored the “Oh My Goddess!” dance skit with the wings, and I laughed so hard during the “Kingdom Hearts” skit about anti-Sora going on a date.

It was a little odd at the con. People kept coming up and hinting that they’d been eavesdropping on the judges and saying things like, “Congratulations!” But I’ve seen that happen a lot and they’re wrong about 75 percent of the time, so I didn’t believe it until they called India’s name. I still don’t really believe it.

Q: Do you have any ideas for what you hope to ultimately showcase at WCS 2009? Can you let us in on any of the details or is it still too early to say?

I: It’s definitely up in the air, but we have a few ideas. Because we’ll end up needing three costumes each (for press, the parade and the competition) we’ve got a lot of choices.

Q: When did you both start cosplaying?

I: I started cosplaying in 1999 or 2000 - I don’t really remember at this point.

E: I used to go to comic conventions in grade school and high school, and I started dressing up for those. My first costume was Ranma from “Ranma ½” in 1997 or 1998. There were other people doing the same thing, and even doing anime characters at those conventions, but I didn’t hear the word “cosplay” until I went to my first anime convention, Otakon, in 2001. So my first official “cosplay” was Cardcaptor Sakura in 2001, but before that I dressed up as anime characters at conventions and didn’t know there was a name for it.

Q: What kinds of characters have you cosplayed in the past?

I: I’ve done a wide variety of costumes over the years - ranging from popular anime to very obscure artbook characters, with pretty much everything in between.

E: I don’t have a particular type that I like to do. I’ve dressed up like guys or worn uniforms, but I also really like to do enormous, ridiculous gowns. I tend to do things from series I love, like “12 Kingdoms,” “Saiyuki,” “Project A-ko,” “Samurai Champloo” and “Fullmetal Alchemist.” Right now I really want to do a “Keroro Gunsou” costume, because I’m obsessed with it.

Q: Are your cosplay talents at all useful to you outside of the world of anime?

I: I just received my BFA from the Fashion Institute of Technology in Fashion Design, after receiving my AAS two years before. I started designing clothes when I was 8 years old, so I’ve wanted to be a fashion designer for a very long time! Cosplay is just a fun offshoot of that.

E: In college I split my time between Japanese art history and theater design. I worked in the costume shop, but I was more of a set designer. After college I worked at a couple theaters doing wardrobe and sewing. When I was sewing for a living, I hardly cosplayed at all. When I went back to grad school for Japanese I really got back into it. On my rare off hours, I really wanted something to do with my hands, so I sewed as much as I could.

Q: NYAF took place in New York City, but for the WCS competition you’ll be traveling to Nagoya. Have either of you been to Japan before?

I: This will be my first time in Japan! I’m most looking forward to the shopping and the food. I can’t wait to find some great clothes and eat everything delicious I can find.

E: I’ve been a couple times. Before I finished grad school I lived in Yokohama for about 6 months on a FLAS fellowship. And I went on vacation for a couple weeks. I love it.

Yuuko and Himawari

**Photos used with permission from Ghinto**

To view India and Elizabeth’s winning skit, please go to: http://www.acparadise.com/acp/vid/4503/l

For more information on WCS, please visit: http://www.tv-aichi.co.jp/wcs/e/

Stay on top of Team U.S.A.’s progress by following their blog: http://community.livejournal.com/wcs_teamusa09/