Executuve Ariel Cosplay

 

 

 

I have always loved dressing up. I love creating costumes and I live for Halloween, fancy-dress parties and any other excuse to dress up like my favourite characters. For a long time, I have been really interested in cosplay and have followed lots of different cosplayers on social media. I was blown away by their skills and creativity and I always thought that I would love to do it myself. I suppose my main worry was always the amount of money it would cost to buy and make costumes. It goes without saying that some of the materials and wigs can be pretty pricey. However, cosplay doesn't always have to be expensive and some of the best cosplay ideas that I've seen have actually been quite simple looks. I decided that there was no point in holding back anymore and I may as well give it a try and see what I could come up with.

 

There are so many characters from films and TV that I love and I'm always looking out for new costume ideas. For this look, I chose my go-to Disney gal, Ariel. I suppose my initial interest in doing this look stemmed from the fact that I wouldn't have to wear a wig as my hair is already red! However, I have seen so many unique Ariel cosplay looks and I think she is a character that you can really have a lot of fun with. Disney princesses are so well-known and I always love when cosplayers take these traditional looks and put their own unique spin on them. One of my favourite cosplayers Ashlynne Dae has done a whole collection of Disney princess/Princess Leia crossovers which have been absolutely fantastic. (Check her out on Instagram @ashlynnedae)

 

For this look, I was inspired by my love of vintage style. I had initially planned on doing a pin-up style Ariel but decided to try something a bit different and go for a more sophisticated business look as it's something I had never seen before. The style of clothing for this look was heavily inspired by the character Joan Holloway in the TV series Mad Men. I love Joan's office looks and I thought it would be really fun to mix this up with Ariel's purple/green colour scheme.

 

 

The outfit itself is pretty simple but I think the colours really make it stand out. It was so hard to find a green pencil skirt so I had to settle for a jersey midi-skirt which works just as well. For the top half, I went for a purple peplum-style blazer with a purple vest top underneath. I really like the peplum look as it looks a bit like mermaid fins! I wore nude heels with this but seeing as Ariel doesn't wear shoes, you don't have to stick to one colour and you could wear any shoes that you like!

 

For my accessories, I kept it pretty simple again and tried to stay in keeping with the whole office theme. My glasses are retro cat-eye glasses that I got on Ebay a few years ago and I thought these gave the outfit a quirky touch. I didn't want to go over the top with jewellery, as Ariel doesn't wear any in the film, but I did throw on a fake pearl necklace that I found in one of my old jewellery boxes. To complete the look, I added my beloved holographic shell bag as well as Ariel's trusty dinglehopper!

I am not skilled in the styling department but Ariel's look is fairly easy to recreate. For the hair, I loosely curled the ends and then swept my hair over to the side to create Ariel's signature side fringe. (I wear clip-in hair extensions but they were not co-operating with me on this occasion!) For eye makeup, I kept it simple as the main focus of this look is the red lip colour. I wore a coral colour on my lids with a very slight cat-eye liner and a highlight on my brow bone. The eye shadow wasn't really that important as I ended up wearing massive false lashes so you could barely see it anyway! For the lips, I used Kat Von D's Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in the shade Santa Sangre to achieve a vibrant red pout. This look is super simple and there are no specific products or materials that you need to create it. There are lots of great makeup tutorials on YouTube that can give you some inspiration but this look is open to interpretation so use whatever you have and whatever you think looks good on you!

What I Wore:

Blazer: Ebay
Vest: Boohoo
Skirt: Boohoo
Glasses: Ebay
Bag: Skinnydip London



 

The Five Emotional Stages of Clearing out Your Wardrobe

 

 

 

 

Ah March, that time of the year when New Year's resolutions already seem like a distant memory. When all those hopes you had of going for runs every day and drinking green smoothies have been tossed in favour of spice bags and cans. If you're like me and have accepted the fact that you have no willpower when it comes to dieting, you begin to look at other areas of your life and wonder what you can do to feel less shit (with absolutely minimal effort). Of course! A spring clean. A new outlook on life, out with the old and in with the new, a healthy space leads to a healthy mind...and all those other 'feel good' slogans that you see printed on Pennys workout gear. What better place to start than your wardrobe. They say that a wardrobe clear out can do wonders. You throw out all your old crap and suddenly find your true sense of self as you're free from all the bad stuff that's cluttering up your life. Sounds like a wonderful, spiritual experience right? WRONG! Maybe I'm not a mindful person. Or maybe I'm just the human equivalent of Oscar the Grouch. Either way, I think we can all agree that clearing out your wardrobe can be an extremely stressful task. Here are the five emotional stages one goes through when attempting a wardrobe clear out...

 

Determination

You start of with the best intentions. You're sick of looking at a messy wardrobe and you want a fresh, new start. You have your roll of bin bags on hand and you're ready to get ruthless. You're going to get rid of every piece of crap you haven't worn in the last six months. One bag for the bin and anything that doesn't have tan or any other unidentifiable stain on it will be sent to the charity shop (because you're new-found Zen has made you care about the human race). You're ready to get stuck in and not stop until every peplum top from 2010 is out of your sight for good.

 

Confusion

About mid-way through (when your organisation technique is slowly beginning to wear thin) you're hit with that nagging confusion and begin to wonder how the hell you managed to accumulate so many clothes. Where did they all come from?! And how, despite this mass cultivation of crap, do you never seem to have anything to wear? This question is later answered as you delve deeper into the abyss and discover things which make you question your own mental stability. A metallic wrap dress with a Boohoo tag still attached to it. Purple jeans that have zips going down the side of the legs. When were these ever a thing and why on earth did you pay money for them?!

 

 

Nostalgia

After the determination has worn off and you become buried under a mountain of polyester, you begin to dig out some old gems that briefly distract you from the horror at hand. That string top you wore every day in summer 2007, your first pair of converse, numerous items of clothing that you 'borrowed' from your friends. Each one reminds you of a different period of your life, both good and band, which makes it hard to ever get rid of them. This nostalgia usually leads to you wasting at least thirty minutes trying to squeeze back into your old bodycon dresses and convincing yourself that you can't throw out those diamanté cowboy boots. Sure if you throw them away then there's no doubt you'll be invited to a Western-themed birthday party next week and you'll be absolutely raging.

 

 

 

Regret

After the nostalgia has worn away, and you finally accept the fact that you're just not fitting into those old disco pants, you begin to wonder why the hell you started this in the first place. Sitting on your bedroom floor, as mountains of clothes pile up around you, you cast your mind back to a few hours previous when you had such high hopes of getting your life together. You were so determined to get this done and, like a fool, you believed in yourself! As you look around the room, surveying the chaos that you created, you start to imagine how big the crane will be when they have to rip off the roof and lift you out after you become consumed by the mess in your cesspit of a bedroom.

 

 

Acceptance

After numerous mini-meltdowns you eventually pull yourself together and decide to power through so you can finally be rid of this horrible task. You're filling up bin bags left, right and centre and you finally start to see the mess subside. Your wardrobe becomes visible again and you start hanging and folding every item of clothing neatly and precisely. You promise yourself that you will continue doing this from now on and you will never let your wardrobe get that bad again. As you stand back and look at your newly organised wardrobe, you feel a great sense of pride and accomplishment. You remind yourself how good it feels when things are neat and in order. But who are you kidding? Although this provides you with a mild sense of satisfaction, you know deep down that you have no real intentions of keeping things tidy and those bin bags full of clothes will probably sit on the landing for the next two months until you finally get rid of them...