Here's my report on Leipzig Bookfair.
For the first time in years, I decided to attend Leipzig Bookfair both on Saturday and Sunday. Usually, we'd drive to Leipzig by car on Saturday morning and leave by dusk. This year, though, we decided to get a hotel room close to the con site and to stay for another day. What a great decision! Not only is it much less crowded on Sunday (so you can actually leave the main hall and check out the publishers' booths), the extra day also significantly lowers the stress level for any cosplaying visitor such as myself.
I had early on decided to bring my Wonder Woman costume on Sunday, because I thought it would fit the architecture of the hall. For Saturday, I wanted to bring a new costume. I was torn between cosplaying the Ghibli classic Nausicaä and Batwoman, whose stand-alone series I had only recently been introduced to. Asking my friends for advice didn't help either, as there were more "votes" for Nausicaä, but the people in favour to Batwoman brought up much better arguments. In the end, I decided on Batwoman, as I could not think of any other con that she whould "fit into" in terms of weather, architecture and comfort.
It was my dear Aera who had introduced me to the Batwoman series somewhen in early 2012. J.H. Williams III's art style (his panelling in particular) totally drew me in and the story and characters are what kept me even when Williams III passed the pen and continued working on the series as "just" a writer. In light of recent decisions made by DC and Williams III's quitting the series altogether, I'm not so sure if I want to continue reading anymore, though...
Saturday
 | Batwoman / Kate Kane (Batwoman) I had early on decided not to buy a skinsuit, but to draft a pattern myself, because I wanted it to have as few seams as possible. I came across this very helpful tutorial, which I used for the most parts. The most difficult part about this costume were the cape and the mask and I'm not fully satisfied with how either came out, but everything looks quite good together, at least. Luckily, I had purchased a pair of flat boots earlier that winter, so I didn't have to worry about that, too. Wearing sensible shoes for this cosplay was really important to me, as Kate points out herself how little she thinks of heels for combat. For more information on my construction process, please read my WIP posts on tumblr: ONE | TWO | MAKE-UP . Pictures below taken by EvaYabai (1st row) and DarkAge (2nd row) |
Needless to say, hardly anyone recognised me as Batwoman (I did get a few "BatGIRL!"s, though), but the costume proved to be quite comfortable despite the tight suit and mask. My personal highlight that day was the little photo shoot I had with DarkAge. It was my first time working with him and I was suprised how much thought he had put into everything. He wasn't really familiar with the comics, either, but had researched covers and iconic scenes in order to recreate them in his pictures, some of which you can see above.
Sunday
 | Wonder Woman (Wonder Woman: Odyssey) I had worn this costume only once and received so much nice feedback on it that I knew I would wear it again eventually. Leipzig Bookfair was a great opportunity, because the venue seemed very fitting. I only needed to fix minor parts on the costume, such as repainting the belt, whose paint had rubbed off. Diana was a great deal more popular with the crowd, but also more uncomfortable due to the shoes. Some male "humans" apparently also thought I was wearing these clothes just to please their eyes and therefore were quite... startled when I turned down their grunted "offers". For more in-depth information on this costume, please read my WIP post. 1st row pictures below taken by Franky. 2nd row pictures taken by Acorea. |
Altogether, I had a great time at Leipzig Bookfair, as every year. This year, though, we not only had perfect weather; new acquaintances also added to the wonderful experience. Staying a second day was a good idea, as well and I'm sure that I'll be attending the event for two days once more next year.
Right now, I'm preparing for my trip to Connichi, which is the biggest con I usually attend (and the biggest con in Germany, period). I'll bring two new costumes: Sofia Sartor from Assassin's Creed Revelations and Princess Sapphire from The Princess Knight aka Ribon no Kishi.
Unfortunately, I didn't have time to write my big pre-Connichi WIP post this year, but I promise to add lots of WIP pictures and in-depth descriptions of my new costumes in my upcoming con report on Connichi.
Until then, you might want to check the WIP tag on my tumblr for that.
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