The Modern Shapeshifter

Claudia Blanche dressed in cosplay for 2014 Comicgong

A not so secret second life and identity is what Claudia Blanche manages to create as she transformed herself from a quiet university student to a confident and charismatic fantasy character.

It’s called cosplay and it has become a world wide phenomena. Blanche knew from a young age that she was a bit different to the people around her. Her interests were worlds away in a land of fantasy fuelled by manga and anime. She soon found it was no longer enough for her to simply observe it, she had to become it.

Spending her younger days googling characters in admiration, she stumbled upon something completely foreign and intriguing to her. They were photos of people dressed up as these characters with, what she described as, “incredibly accurate and detailed costumes.” She tells me “it was from then on I knew that cosplay was something that I just had to become involved in.”

Cosplaying has managed to create a whole new persona for Blanche, as she goes from her shy self to oozing with confidence in costume as I go to take her portrait. In costume she comes out of her shell, stating she feels “way more outgoing and confident than I do out of costume!” As I walk around the Comicgong convention with her, people ask for photos and shower her in compliments. When she tells me “It’s like being famous when you’re dressed up,” I can only agree in awe.

She no longer worries about her differences to others as her transformation into somebody else creates charisma and new friendships with people of similar interests. “I find it a lot easier to talk to strangers because there’s already familiarity established between you and them,” Blanche states.

The transformation into a character is a detailed process as she explains the need to not only look like them but to take on their personality traits as well to create the ultimate impersonation. It is an expressive art form for Blanche as well as a form of respect and admiration for characters, stating “it’s also really fun to become someone you look up to and idolise.”

A perfectionist and work-a-holic at heart, Blanche loves to enter cosplay competitions and has won a few such as at Animania Festival where she was awarded ‘Master Novice Cosplayer’. She describes the hard work she puts into her cosplays and it is evident in the pristine costume she presents herself in as we meet (see picture above). These competitions for her create “affirmation from both the judges and the crowd that my portrayal of my character was the best it could possibly be.”

Her latest cosplay sensation is Cardcaptor Sakura, as seen in the above photograph, which she describes as her best work yet due to all her effort. “I’m really proud of this costume because I made it myself from scratch, and I’ve even had people tell me that I look ‘real’ as though the character has actually come to life,” she states. All her hard work pays off in the enjoyment and confidence that cosplay brings her.

“I don’t hold back when I tell people that I cosplay. It’s such an important part of who I am.”