Why I chose this costume:

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is the newest generation of the My Little Pony franchise. In this series, Twilight Sparkle has been sent to Ponyville to learn about the magic and power of friendship. She takes her best friend, a baby dragon named Spike, along for the journey. It’s a cute show with a positive message and amazing friendships between many characters. Princess Cadence is the kind, loving, alicorn (unicorn and pegasus) ruler of the Crystal Empire.

How I made this costume:

This entire cosplay is handmade with a lot of love and is my own original design. The pink dress was first crafted with a shiny pink taffeta fabric, however, after cutting and pinning just the top for 6 hours and then realizing it wasn’t draping the way I envisioned, I scrapped my hard work and bought six yards of a cotton stretch fabric instead (and used it all!). This time the work was quicker and the final outcome was much more like my design! The top is fully lined and the bottom consists of three full skirts. The entire dress just stretches over my head and fits perfectly without the use of a zipper or any closings. I wasn’t sure about adding the sleeves, but in the end I like the way they look. I used about twelve yards of gold trim that I found in Joann’s to finish the end of the sleeves and skirts. The corset is made from white jean fabric, cut to size and fastens with two large snaps at the back. I added the gold filigree to make it blend with the rest of the dress and then hand-sewed each crystal in place. For the back of the dress, I sewed three panels of gold, pink and purple casa fabric then attached them to the back of the dress with three, large diamond crystals. This became my royal train, and also serves as the colors of her tail!

The necklace (cutie mark inspired) and crown are made of Worbla and large jewels. The wig was three identical wigs brought from Epic Cosplay in Hestia style and then I cut my own wefts from the pink and purple wigs and sewed them into the yellow one to create a bright, bold, beautiful wig for Princess Cadence. Her pink horn was supplied by Yaya Han’s accessory shop. The initial wings were bought off eBay, but I then heavily altered them with stronger feathers, better boa for the trim, lots of hot glue, and some spray paint for the gradient from pink to purple. These are worn with simple elastic bands as a harness (backpack style) and are very light to wear.

Thoughts on this costume:

This was a magical cosplay indeed! Just when I thought I needed to give up, something would click and everything would be even better than before. I love Princess Cadence and the love she shares with everyone on the show. I am happy to be able to covey her in an elegant light!