Featured Cosplayers: Frozen Rose
How did you guys come up with the name "Frozen Rose"? We were competing for the first time, and needed a name. Rose [Laura] has had her nick name forever, her early screen name R0se_0f_Fire. Frozen [Dani] (pre-Disney's Frozen mind you) had a reputation of coming off as an "ice queen" to strangers with a bad case of resting bitch face, despite her friendly nature. She also used her favorite ice summon Shiva in her first screen name. We combined the two to form Frozen Rose. It seemed well received, and we just never bothered to change it.
How did you get started in cosplay?
[Frozen] As a child I loved playing dress up and making crafts with my mother. I discovered what cosplay was in early high school, but as I grew up in bum nowhere Green Bay, conventions were out of my reach, and I never really got the chance. I instead spent my time reading comics and playing video games. After high school and moving, my friend at the time invited me to my first con (ACEN). I threw together a cosplay of Mitsuru from Persona 3. It was a mess, but I loved the community, and was hooked. Now just have to see how deep the rabbit hole goes.
[Rose] For the part of just wearing a costume, I started when my then boyfriend came across a cosplay for sale that both fit my measurements and was a character we knew. (Chii, Chobits) For cosplay as I see it now, the process of making and designing a costume to fit a human. That would be the year after. I decided that I really wanted to try my hand at competing, with that I also realized that I could add all of the tiny details that were important to me to the costumes. Before that, looking at the costume I wanted it wear I found myself getting annoyed that things like the bows weren't right. When I make a costume I can make those little bits fit how I have seen them. (Rozalin, Disgaea 2) From there it was just a short fall down the rabbit hole.
What is your favorite part of the process? [Frozen] I love learning new things, so when I’m not on a time crunch, I like to really dig deep into research and network with other cosplayers to see how they have done something. I have never met a more creative bunch then cosplayers, and as an art student, that says something. Someone is always coming up with a new process, and when I find them I get all giddy at the prospect of trying it out for myself on my own costumes. Even better when I can tweek an existing process and change it up a bit to make it work for me. I also really enjoy that end part of the process once it’s all on, and you see yourself completely put together when you don a cosplay. Having invested many hours into a costume, seeing the end result and the transformation still makes me smile every time. [Rose] As a whole it would be wearing the costume. The making of it has too many ups and downs for me personally to say I enjoy it all the time.
What is your favorite costume to date? [Frozen] I actually really like my Nayru costume. I enjoyed the process of creating an original representation of the Golden Goddess of Wisdom while drawing key design elements from cannon images of her. It was a really fun experience, and the costume is simple, comfortable, and yet refined and pretty. Plus it’s a lot of flowy organza and layers. [Rose] Uggh. I’m horrible with this 'pick one' thing. I like and hold all of my costumes dear for different reasons. If I really need to just pick one, I would say my Princess Serenity dress. It was such a dream cosplay that I never considered doing it before we came up with the idea. I love how it flows and I always feel like a Princess when I wear it.
What is your dream cosplay? [Frozen] The term “dream cosplay” is always so loaded. I have lots of different costumes I want to do for different reasons. I would have to say Sara from the ball scene in “The Labyrinth” is likely my current “dream” cosplay. [Rose] Another pick one.... >.>;; It kind of changes every time I look at my list, I still have WAY to many costumes I really want to do. I guess Rachel from BlazeBlue and Bayonetta from Bayonetta 1 always stay at the top of my list. So I guess those count as my biggest dreams?
Where do you see yourself in the future when it comes to cosplay? [Frozen] Honestly, I’m unsure. I would like to keep creating and wearing cosplays as long as I can. I see no reason why I would ever HAVE to stop, but life takes us wired places. In an optimal world, still competing (hopefully outside the Midwest at some point), maybe judging a few conventions, still making new friends within the community, and adding to my ever growing bucket list of costumes to create as more pretty and interesting costumes emerge.
[Rose] I hope to keep competing as it’s something that seems to help me grow. Someday I wish to try for some of the international level competitions
Keep an eye out for Frozen Rose Cosplay on their Facebook Page!
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Bloggers: Kate of Organized Chaos Costuming & Kiki of KikiCraft Photos: Chase of Nure Carbon Studios