Today we’d like to introduce you to Aubrey Vigil.
Aubrey, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I am a cosplayer and costume maker in Southern California. I have been sewing for nearly a decade, and making costumes for literally that entire time—I learned how to sew because I was unhappy with the available costumes for the TV show Glee in 2011 and decided I could do better. I didn’t discover cosplay for a few more years though, and I didn’t cosplay myself until mid-2017.
My first cosplay experience resulted in a panic attack and almost ended before it began. I was attending my first convention since discovering cosplay, WhedonCon 2017, and was bolstered by my ‘senpai’ Axceleration Designs to wear my costume; but I did it in a dumb way. I wore the costume for the drive—full gown and wig and hoop skirt in the trunk—but neglected to bring a change of clothes. So, I drove the two hours to the con with my mom, got out of the car and put my hoops on…and promptly had a panic attack because I knew little to nothing about the convention or the cosplay community. I knew that I followed TWO cosplayers that would be there, but had no idea if they would be dressed up on a Friday or anything. My super gracious mom, who wanted to attend this convention even more than I did, agreed to drive home so I could change and calm down but needed to use the facilities first, so we went inside. And about 10 minutes later, while washing my hands after a truly hilarious struggle with a hoop skirt in a bathroom stall, I heard a tiny gasp followed by, “Mommy! It’s a PRINCESS!” behind me. And from pretty much that exact moment, I’ve been a cosplayer. Needless to say, the little girl followed me around all con, my mom and I did NOT go home so I could change, and the rest is history.
Later that year, I began making costumes for other people and I officially launched my commission business in the beginning of 2018. I am now working Once Upon an Elephant full time, while still trying to cosplay as much as I can on my own!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
There are struggles in everyone’s journey, I think. Personally, I joined this crazy community later than most. By 2017, cosplay had been pretty mainstream for a while and had moved pretty aggressively into social media, which is hard to break into cold. At the end of this month, it will be two years since I started my cosplay Instagram page and I am still just shy of 2,000 followers. Now, it is DEFINITELY not all about numbers, in fact some days I want to delete most of them, but since my own cosplays and my cosplay page are the main form of advertisement for my business, the numbers do get a little discouraging sometimes. Beyond the sheer difficulty of breaking into the ‘scene,’ it’s worth mentioning that I am a plus-size cosplayer and a cosplayer over 30. What this means for me, is the cosplays I personally choose to do aren’t always as marketable for larger audiences. I don’t do very many/any ‘sexy’ cosplays, I don’t cosplay children. I do, though, cosplay children story characters—I love me my Disney princesses. I am also dubbed the ‘ballgown cosplayer.’ Basically, the bigger the skirt the more appealing the make is to me. I’m actually in the early stages of my BIGGEST costume yet, as we speak 😀
Please tell us about Not a Hepburn Cosplay; Once Upon an Elephant Designs.
As a cosplayer, ballgowns. All of the fluff and poof and floof and sparkle and ruffles. The more of these, the better. I am the girl that travels with way too many bags for a single weekend, mostly because I travel with a lot of equipment: a large garment steamer, usually my own iron (I don’t trust hotel irons), my dress form and often even my sewing machine— to do both finish things and make repairs. I am also a HUGE fan of custom dyeing fabrics to suit my purposes.
As a costume maker, I like to think I’m willing to try anything. It is pretty rare that I flat out decline a commission request. I’m just not very good at tailoring yet haha.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I have been BLESSED to make some amazing friends in the cosplay community. Some of the first include Ray Bender (@aunttessycosplay), Kelly Poynter (@slcgreenarrow) and Rus Sturtevant (@pointblankshot_photography). These three welcomed me into their con-fams very early on and have introduced me to some wonderful friends, and are always such supportive forces in the cosplay community. I have also been trusted by some amazing people to help bring their costume dreams into reality. I had an amazing time making a Femme! Gaston costume for Xan Dubrock (@kotastrophic) and a second version of my ShindigKaylee dress to make a KayleePool for Brian Cook (@brian.cook). I take all of this as sheer luck because really, I came into most of this as a nobody and these people all took a chance on me, and I hope they think it paid off!
Pricing:
- ShindigKaylee – $650
Contact Info:
- Website: www.onceuponanelephant.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/notahepburn
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/notahepburn
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/notahepburn
Image Credit:
Rus Sturtevant www.instagram.com/pointblankshot_photography (Rapunzel, Goddess Eevee, Supergirl, Darla), Alan Kuramoto www.instagram.com/portraits.n.cosplay (Buffy, Belle), Julio Rodriguez www.instagram.com/howl_of_dawn (ShindigKaylee)
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