The Legend of Zelda has always been one of my favorite series of games, and Princess Zelda has always been one of my favorite characters. Even back in the Zelda I and II days, I loved the images of Zelda and wanted to cosplay her before I even knew what cosplay was. It’s still my dream to cosplay those old versions of Zelda.
My first Zelda cosplay was the Ocarina of Time version, which I first wore at Anime Expo 2001. My family and I spent a long time working on it, and it was my first experience making armor with thermoplastic and casting ears out of latex. Back in those days, no one cosplayed Zelda, and it was probably because of the lack of reference. This was before Smash Bros. Melee was released, and the only reference I had of adult Zelda from Ocarina of Time was footage from the game, which my friend had taped for me on VHS, and a tiny drawing on the cover of a CD soundtrack. Unfortunately, despite the amount of work we put into the costume, the details were pretty inaccurate. When Smash Bros. Melee came out with Ocarina Zelda as a playable character and all kinds of reference for her costume, it was both a blessing and a curse. I could finally see all the details, but I realized that in order to make my costume accurate, I would have to completely remake a significant portion of it. Maybe someday I’ll get around to it, as this is still one of my absolute favorite costumes.
The memory that stands out in my mind with this costume was running into Japanese cosplayers BK Moon (Barbie Tsukino and Kaie Tada) and Nomi backstage before the masquerade – or rather, having them run after me. My friend said, “Hey, the Japanese cosplayers are calling you, but I can’t understand what they’re saying.” Their interpreter then came up to me and said, “They really like your costume and would like to take a closer look if that’s ok.” Those three had been my cosplay idols ever since I saw them at my first anime convention, Anime Expo 1999, so it was kind of surreal to have them gushing over my own costume. My friend later realized that they were calling “Piichi-hime! Piichi-hime!” – they had mistakenly called me Princess Peach instead of Zelda. ^^; I guess even in Japan Zelda wasn’t well recognized.
This is a memory I’ll always treasure, because even now these cosplayers are my idols. I found out only recently that BABI and KAIE now have their own Gothic Lolita brand, Triple Fortune. Back then I never could have imagined them in J-rock or Gothic Lolita style! They were probably best known for their Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus costumes. It’s really inspiring to see how far they’ve come, and it helped give me the courage to continue working toward my own transformation from cosplayer to designer.