Another week had passed and this week I’m super excited to let you meet our next featured cosplayer of the week. It has been an honor for me to interview cosplayers around the world and today I can finally say I have landed another country’s representative. Her name is Lena from the Czech Republic one of the countries I’ve visited recently and her major success cosplay work for me is this Rapunzel girl cosplay. 

Why would I say that? cause I think that even if I go into her other cosplay works Rapunzel has hooked my heart. For its genuine style and presentation. Sometimes when you see cosplayers do their work there’s this kind of spark that you’ll see in their eyes and that magic that comes to it. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m so proud to present to you Ms. Lena Cosplay a joyous person with a big heart. Thank you again for letting us discover and be part of your story. Thank you for sharing every single detail of your cosplay life. 

Rapunzel Girl Cosplay

Rapunzel girl photo by Kosupics

I am Lena from Lena cosplay and mostly anime cosplayer from the Czech Republic. I started with cosplaying in summer 2014 and since then, I’ve made almost 20 cosplays.

My greatest success was when I won cosplay competition at AnimeFest 2017 (Czech Republic), I’m invited as a cosplay guest at Tsuru Japan Festival 2016 and 2017 (Poland), Anime SHOW & GAME EXPO 2018 (Slovakia), Ostrakon 2017, NatsuCon 2017 and For Games 2017 (Czech rep.).

Also, I was chose as one of six representatives from Czechia to European Cosplay Academy 2017 in Lithuania and visited there NowJapan and GameOn as a guest.

First Convention and Experiences

Rapunzel girl photo by Kosupics

I was 15 when I started with watching anime thanks to my cousin and then I found on the Internet that people dressed like my favorite anime characters. I was curious what it is. Then I found out that it’s a hobby called, “cosplay’’ and I wanted to try it by my own.

I liked the idea that person can bring their favorite characters to life and become one of them for a moment. I always wanted to be someone else so this hobby suits me pretty well.

My first convention was Advik 2014 in Prague (Czech Republic). I was there as Lucy Heartfilia from Fairy Tail, SeeU from Vocaloid 3 and Yui Komori from Diabolik Lovers. I really enjoyed that convention, I met a lot of new people who had the same hobby, I made a lot of new friends and realized that I like to be dressed as someone else and I want to continue in this amazing hobby.

From this moment on, people found me interesting, I became an idol for some of them and I got their respect which I’ve never earned before.

Costume/Gear/Props/Armor

Rapunzel girl photo by Loïc Ambrosini Photography

My first sewed costume was Lucy Heartfilia in her classic version and during my cosplay “career” I’ve made about 16 costumes by myself. I prefer sewing, wig styling, and make-up.

I’m not much into making armors or weapons, but if my cosplay has some small details, I’m able to make them on my own or if it something bigger and more complicated I would ask someone and pay for it.

I have to say that I’m really proud of my Lucy no matter how many sewing mistakes it had, but I made this costume completely on my own without any help and the result wasn’t that bad! I got a lot of attention thanks to this costume and people couldn’t believe it was completely my first work.

Unforgettable Experience

Rapunzel girl photo by Dasgeminii

When someone told me that I have to burn my costume, that the character doesn’t suit me. I know that some of my costumes are better than others, but it’s still my work, I made it with my own hands and I love them.

When I got a comment, “Burn it, it doesn’t suit you”, I was really mad because this person showed, that he doesn’t have any respect for the works of others.

I don’t like when someone comes for a photo and touches me on the waist, chest and other places without even asking. They just grab me like a doll and when I say, “Don’t touch me there!”, they become mad at me that they can do whatever they want. I don’t like this acting either.

Definition of Cosplayer

Emilia photo by Blue Potion Photography

Thanks to cosplay I became stronger, more skillful and I started to believe in myself much more than ever before. I learned how to behave to people on the Internet or how to talk face to face with ‘em.

Now I’m not scared to stand on the stage in front of hundreds of people. I also started to communicate in English much more and my English is so much better than before. It’s still not fluent, but it’s better.

But the most important thing for me is that I can bring my favorite characters alive and become one of them. I don’t know better feeling than that, to dress as one of them, feel them and when people recognize the characters and tell me, “you look exactly like the character” or, “the costume is perfect and it suits you very good”, this makes me really happy.

Admiration

Emilia photo by WORLD by HOKA

I really look up to Calssara from Germany. I started to follow her when I noticed that something like cosplay even exists. I love her work so much and when she made the same character which is on my wish list too, I always take a look at her photos and try to make it the same way as her.

Sometimes I’m chatting with her and we planned one group cosplay together.

Also, I follow Kinpatsu which is really talented and her costumes are amazing! I wish that my costumes would be as perfect as hers.

Achievements

Enoshima Junko photo by Butrix Production

It’s really hard to say because cosplay is still my hobby and nothing else, but I can say that I’m invited to a couple of conventions, I found 4 wig sponsors, I won the biggest cosplay competition in my country, I have a great community on my page which is supporting me entire time.

Maybe in the future, I would like to hit 10,000 followers on my Facebook page, but we’ll see that by the time. I still want to bring my favorite characters to life and this makes me happy so far.

Piece of Advice

Enoshima Junko photo by Inari Photography

Cosplay characters you love. It doesn’t matter if you gonna buy the costume or you gonna make it by your hands. Just enjoy it and bring your favorite characters to life.

Maybe if you want to make your first cosplay, start with something easy and don’t hesitate to ask other cosplayers for help (how to sew this, which fabric should you use, which material is the best for armors etc.).

Cosplayers should help each other because everyone started with no skills and no experiences!

Open Message

Kotori Minami photo by Butrix_production

You can meet me mainly in Czech Conventions, but the next year I’m going to visit Anime SHOW & GAME EXPO 2018 in Slovakia, AnimeFest – Advík – NatsuCon in Czechia and I want o try to visit Connichi in Germany.

And you can follow me on my social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Patreon, and please do subscribe to my YouTube Channel. 

Rapunzel Girl Cosplay by Lena, Czech Republic