At Disney’s D23 Convention, it struck me how creative Disney fans are with their cosplay. They are masters of the fandom mash-up! This year, I saw Disney Princesses from the Spiderverse, from Pixie Hollow, and from a galaxy far, far away. You also see this creativity in Disneybounding, which is rife with character outfits in the styles of specific fashion eras.
I was so inspired, I did my own mash-up cosplay at this year’s D23 Expo. It was a cross between Rey and Mulan, two of my favorite heroines. The challenge was figuring out how to represent both characters in a recognizable way. Turns out, it was very similar to how I usually build my character-inspired outfits! Plus, I’ll show you how I did a mash-up Disneybound to take to the Disney Parks.
Mash-Up Cosplay
This year, I made Rey’s Jakku costume for Comic Con. So when D23 rolled around, I stuck with that costume as my base. Rey’s Jakku costume is also her most recognizable one, which makes the mash-up more obvious. For the Mulan part, I picked one of her outfits and broke it down by color as I would for a regular Disneybound.
I chose Mulan’s blue dress for the color-base, making the Scavenger wrap dress blue and using a red and pink sash for a belt. Then, I changed Rey’s iconic 3-bun look to 2 buns and left the rest of my hair down. I switched my staff for a fan – because Mulan uses one against Shan Yu – and topped the costume off with a flower hair comb. To my delight, people recognized what I was going for throughout the day – and I ended my con with a pic with a Jedi Prince Phillip.
Crossover Disneybounding
Since Disneybounding is about characters inspiring outfits, there’s a lot of room for genre and style mixing. A week after D23, I was presented with the perfect opportunity to continue my fandom mash-up fun when I took a friend to Galaxy’s Edge. Also happening that weekend was California Adventure’s Marvel’s 80th Anniversary celebration.
So instead of choosing between Star Wars and Marvel for my outfit, I said, why not both?
If you’ve read my Sartorial Geek Galaxy’s Edge posts – Light Side Style and Dark Side Chic – you know I love dressing to match the immersive aspect of the land. Therefore, I decided my style would be Batuuan and Jedi/Sith-inspired. That left me with figuring out how to Marvel-ize the look. Luckily, I’m a die-hard Loki stan, and I can come up with outfits based on his look for days.
Lovable Scoundrel
As with my Rey-Mulan cosplay, I looked for Star Wars style pieces in Loki’s dominant colors of green, black, and gold. Now I had the opportunity to wear a linen shirt I had sitting in my closet. It was the perfect green for Loki and already looked Batuuan.
The cut of the shirt did most of the work in terms of Star Wars style, but I added a black duster to mimic both Loki’s costume and Sith cloaks. My Rey-inspired belt from Galaxy’s Edge cinched it together. Since it was a hot Californian day, I wore shorts but paired it with dragon-scale tights for some off-world texture and edge.
To finish it off, I fancied up my ponytail with braids and accessorized with gold necklaces. One of the pendants is a gold swoosh like the metal hardware on Loki’s Ragnarok costume. The other is a key. Special thanks to my friend for letting me borrow a lightsaber.
So there you have it: two fandom mash-ups! I encourage you to look at your favorite fandoms and see where they can intersect the next time you’re outfit-planning! You might be surprised at how much they make sense together!
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