August 22 - 25, 2024

Metro Toronto Convention Centre

FAN EXPO Canada

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CREATOR OF THE MONTH

LEARN MORE ABOUT SilverliningsCosplay

What city are you based in?

Calgary, AB. 

Tell us a bit about yourself!

Hello we are Lindsey & Richard! Together known as SilverLiningsCosplay and we are passionate about the fun in cosplay, and also the joy of striving for excellence in our own craftsmanship.

We are a married couple based in Calgary where we help grow our local cosplay network. Together we have over 85 cosplay costumes we have either made, bought, or a combination thereof. Yes, wigs do multiply like rabbits when left alone. We are world cosplay travelers to numerous conventions, and are Internationally awarded for craftsmanship and design in cosplay competition.

What fandoms are you into?

Vikings, FinalFantasy, Marvel, JudgeDredd, MyHeroAcademia, Dr.Who, StarWars, and lots of Anime.

Tell us how you got into being a creator.

For us, cosplay was an new and immersive way to enjoy our fandoms, a very satisfying self expression of creativity. It is a huge confidence boost and and a great way to meet new friends. We even met eachother at CALGARY EXPO while wearing cosplays, and it was love at first geek! StarTrek vs StarGate by the way. 

Tell us about something that you created that you're most proud of!

Our most memorable cosplay build was that of Dracula and Lisa from the Netflix Castlevania animated series. We traveled across the world with these costumes, all the way to northern Scotland where we took photos in an abandoned oceanside castle that was once believed to be the inspirational castle from which Bram Stoker wrote his well known tale “Dracula”.

Both outfits are built from scratch, with Dracula based on Burda 2767: 19th Century 3 piece suit, and Lisa’s velvet dress custom draped maxi skirt. We took some artistic liberty on a few areas, staying with the dark black hair of Dracula in the Netflix series, but following the ornate detail of the original Symphony of the Night game design. Lisa has a lace belt, quilted sleeves, and a 2 tier organza veil. We also incorporated hand made flowers, crepe wool beard, and satin stitch embroidery on paisley. Overall we have incorporated over a dozen different fabrics to give the shapes and textures we were looking for. We use a lot of enhanced contouring and ‘Angry’ lines on Dracula’s makeup with a BenNye eyeshadow palette, as well as wildly intense ‘bat’ eyebrows.

In 2018 we entered the C4 Clara Cow’s Cosplay Cup qualifier to select the 1st ever Canadian representatives. We took the costumes to the next level for this event, adding over 100 yards of decorative trim, tooled leather accents, 8500 Swarovski rhinestone crystals, and incorporating a full costume change on stage for Lisa into her black velvet sparkly form. We proudly placed runner up (2nd), and loved the positive sportsmanship and atmosphere of the event!

Sometimes a cosplay is never really finished, and there are always upgrades and challenges to explore!

What do you hope to achieve?

Our goal is to make a progressive difference in the cosplay world by encouraging confidence and inclusiveness, and to build a sense of community and positive support where cosplay is for everyone!

If you could give advice to new creators, what would it be?

“Buy and Modify” is your best friend. It is absolutely 100% OK to buy and enjoy pre-made costumes! And then the fun really can begin when you modify them to make them even more unique and personalized. Along the way you will learn how most things are built, and can later apply these skills to a future project. It’s OK to ask other cosplayers how they made their costumes it for construction tips. There are no secrets in making cosplay, and everyone in the community is very excited to share their knowledge!