2018-11-10

Leta Lestrange Cosplay


Hello all you lovely people,
I am here with a new blog post about my first ever cosplay! Yay!!

For years I have been interested in cosplaying. It seems like loads of fun and I've always wanted to try it, but I've been hesitant... For many reasons. One, being that I can't sew. Well... I suppose that's not true anymore, because I did sew! I made a whole dress, from my own pattern and with a tricky fabric, and all the obstacles could still not stop me! I actually made my own dress! I can barely believe it myself.




The second reason why I've previously hesitated to cosplay was that I just never found the right character. I didn't know who to cosplay. As a woman of colour I have always wanted to cosplay a character of colour too. I wanted a character that was a woman of colour, because it is important to me that we are seen! As the massive Potterhead that I am, I've always wanted to cosplay a Harry Potter character, but there hasn't been many options (pre Black-Hermione), and the options I had I didn't quite like. Enter Fantastic Beasts! Suddenly there are many more POC in the Potterverse, and they are interesting characters!




Leta Lestrange interested me from the get-go. Her relationship with Newt is something I'm very curious about and her character seems to be a complex one (which always sparks my interest). When I saw the costume that Zoƫ Kravitz wears as Leta Lestrange in the second installment of the Fantastic Beasts series; The Crimes of Grindelwald, I knew I had found my character to cosplay!




With the seven photos of the costume that has been released so far I embarked on my journey of sewing myself Leta Lestrange's burgundy dress. It's a very fun design, there's a theme of triangles on this dress. The sleeves have triangular pieces and there's a cape that is attached in a triangle in the back. The dress is however softened by the circular patterns on the skirt and the elegant cape that drapes the back of the dress.




It took me a little more than a week and a half to finish the dress. I won't lie - parts of it was tricky, but it was so much fun, and I really think that sewing can become a pastime of mine. My sister and I defied the cold weather to take some photos at one of the oldest buildings in my town. It was built in the 1920's and currently holds a school. It really has a gorgeous architecture that fits nicely with the era of The Crimes of Grindelwald.




Do you cosplay? If yes, what made you start? And how do you choose which character to cosplay? I had endless fun putting this together, and I do believe I can call myself a cosplayer now. A Potterverse cosplayer, at that! As of today, it is three days left until I see The Crimes of Grindelwald (*excited*), I'm seeing it on the 13th of November and I can't wait! Are you seeing it? When, and how excited are you? And what are your hypotheses on the new characters?




So the dress is made by me, but the wig is from Amazon, and the wand is Leta Lestrange's wand from Noble Collection. The book I'm holding in some of the photos is actually a stationery set made by MinaLima, that I got at the WB Harry Potter studio tour. All the photos are taken by my lovely sister, and edited by her and me.





Much love,
Mona

9 comments:

  1. Wyvern Hattori15/12/2018, 18:48

    Good evening, just a guest to your site here. I have to say I really like this post and I will explore your blog further :)
    Especially I love pictures (I hope I counted right) 1, 6, 7 (I think you have a very pretty and recognizable profile), 9, 14, 17 and 22 (the last one). I came here because I searched for Leta Lestrange. Loved her dress from the first moment, too and I have very high respect for everyone who makes cosplay dresses by him-/herself. I really can't sew :/ If you are able and have the time I think photos in this dress with a landscape in snow would look totally great! Wish you a merry christmas time!

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    1. Hello, and welcome. Thank you so very much! I appreciate that so much.
      Oh gosh, you are too kind <3 Thank you. Those exact photos happen to be my favourites too.
      I'm very honoured you came to my page, and I agree, Leta's dress is magnificent.
      I agree with you, I think it would look lovely with a snowy landscape. I will try to do that. At the moment it is super cold in Sweden, but as soon as it warms up, but the snow is still around I will do another shoot.

      Thank you so much for your comment and your suggestions. Be well.
      Much love

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  2. I love love LOVE this post, Mona! (I'm catching up on blogging, so apologies for only getting around to leaving a comment now.) The photographs and styling are beautiful! And I can't believe this is the first garment you've ever sewn. That's seriously impressive! I hope you do continue to sew as it's a fun and rewarding hobby.

    I finally saw Crimes of Grindelwald for the first time last week and really enjoyed it. I loved Leta's character and thought her dresses were absolutely stunning. There were also a few lovely coats in the film. I'd love to see it again just to ogle all the costumes in detail!

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    1. Oh thank you so much Jo!!
      Oh wow, thank you so very much! Coming from you that means a lot <3 Sewing this was a lot of fun, so I will continue! ;)

      It's an amazing movie, I enjoyed it very much too. I agree, Leta was gorgeous, as a character and her styling. Yes, there were some lovely coats and beautiful costumes in the film. Haha, same here. It's out on DVD soon, yay!

      Thank you so much for your comment and the kind words.
      Much love

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  3. Hello Mona! I am new to your blog, just stumbled on it a few days ago. Your costume turned out brilliant! Leta is an interesting character, so I'm excited to have seen someone cosplay as her xx. Do you mind mentioning the materials you used to make her dress? I really want to cosplay as Leta next year and create the outfit myself. I hope thats not too much to ask ><

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    1. Rogelyn Johnstone08/03/2019, 21:41

      I forgot to put my name in the message XD Sorry!

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    2. Hello Rogelyn, thank you so so much for your kind words <3 it means the world to me. Leta is indeed a very interesting character.
      I'm so sorry for the late reply, the materials I used was a duchess fabric in a wine red colour. And then I bought button-makers so that I could use the same fabric for the buttons by the sleeves. And that's really all there was to it I think... The pattern was self-drafted. I really hope you cosplay as her - it was fun! Best of luck darling.

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  4. Your work is very good and I appreciate you and hopping for some more informative posts. Thank you for sharing great information to us. dragon ball z costume

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