09/22/2026
15 years since I first started cosplay, so it was only appropriate to wear one of my first two cosplays I ever did to this last con. 🌷
Around 2 months ago, while was celebrating their 20 year anniversary, this year's Matsuri landed on almost exactly the 15 year mark of my 1st convention & my 1st time cosplaying.
End of July 2011 was when I went to my 1st con - Otakon, in Baltimore MD at the time - because some friends invited me while on a trip to MD.
I wasn't really sure what it even was at the time, I had seen some portrayals of cons on TV, & was curious to see what it was like. I was told that me cosplaying wasn't required, but my response was "well if I'm gonna go, I might as well go all out!" 😂
The two cosplays I did were & Princess Kraehe, since was one of my favorite shows as a child (& Jupiter my favorite of the scouts), & Princess Tutu was an anime I came across in high school that I really enjoyed the story of.
For Jupiter, I had a friend help me make my wand, help paint my shoes, & made the pink bows.
At the time, cheap wigs weren't as common to find & I didn't want to spend a bunch on expensive Arda wigs that I'd only use once, so I used my own hair, & specifically chose characters that had black/brown hair so I could do so (even if the shade was wrong lol)
I made some mods on dance wear I bought for the outfit, happened to find earrings that matched hers, & made the rest of the accessories myself.
A few years ago I decided to upgrade it by finally buying a wig, & also made a new more accurate headband. But I only wore it briefly for a small local event at the time, & that was pretty much the only other time I had worn that cosplay since that first con. & I had never gotten proper photos of her.
Whenever I go to cons, I pray about which cosplays I should wear, & I ended up having a dream about bringing this one when prepping for Matsuri. It was after having that dream that I realized it would be on my 15 year cosplay anniversary.
So it seemed to line up perfectly! I brought her to Matsuri & was finally able to get decent photos of my very first cosplay ❤️
