Today I have an interview with a very talented and beautiful cosplayer from Russia. She has been cosplaying for about ten years and her cosplays are amazing! After you read this interview, I strongly suggest clicking on her links and look at her amazing cosplay. I present to you, my interview with Rei.
1. Who are you and where are you from?
Hi, I’m Russian cosplayer, you can know me as Rei (or Malro-Doll), or by my real name Irene!
2. How did you discover cosplay?
That was about 10 years ago and it happened very spontaneously thanks to my friend Ryoko. She saw me as a character from her favourite anime Tenchi Muyo and next day I woke up a cosplayer. Of course our first costumes were awful, hope you’ll never see those photos x) Now Ryoko is an amazing cosplayer, her works are really creative and inspires me even after so many years. We also started our own cosplay-team in 2007, called R&R.
3. I really love your Poison Ivy cosplay. What made you choose her?
Well that’s actually started as a team project of DC characters. I really love Gotham Sirens stories about three great dangerous ladies Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy and Catwoman. And among this trio Poison Ivy is closer for me. When I started learning more about this character I loved her story most of all. Pamela Isely became a strong, independent woman, of course she’s presented as a villain, though I can’t tell that she doesn’t have reasons to be evil with some people. So Ryoko chose to cosplay as Harley Quinn. Harley and Ivy are friends too and I love cosplaying in team!
4. What other genres have you cosplayed?
Well I like trying very different roles. That’s why in my gallery you can see costumes from anime, cartoons, comics, games, films and even original designs. I even tried crossplay cosplaying James from Pokémon’s Team Rocket. I love every character and I want to try even more genres and fandoms!
5. You have a long list of cosplays, do you have a favorite?
As I’ve told I love all my roles, even if someone thinks that this or that character doesn’t fit me. That’s why it’s really hard to choose. Every new character is my favourite ))
6. Do you do other modeling besides cosplay?
Well, I don’t work as model or do any other model’s work, if you mean that. I loved this idea when I was a child, but when I discovered cosplay it gave me everything I needed. It’s wider than modeling, it’s more like acting I think. And cosplay don’t have any limits, age, or race (not for everyone, but it really don’t), or gender, or any others. Though I’d like to become cosplay model for some professional shows.
7. What is your favorite way to show off a new costume?
Of course it is cosplay gatherings and anime-cons! We have lots of them in Russia and we visited very many of them. The biggest ones are in Moscow and Saint-Petersburg of course. It would also be great to show new costumes in other country, we hope to have this opportunity once )
8. What are your plans for the future?
Well, it’s going to be more comics costumes and photos. May be even cosplay-videos, we already have some. We actually have very many plans and just needs time to make them real.
9. Where can my readers see more examples of your work?
We have many recourses. The main gallery is on deviant art rei-doll.deviantart.com/
cosplay.com www.cosplay.com/member/59221/photos/
world cosplay worldcosplay.net/member/R_E_I/
Also check out our photographer gallery www.flickr.com/photos/kifir/
and Ryoko’s gallery ryoko-demon.deviantart.com/
10.Do you have any other hobbies besides cosplay?
Actually I don’t, as cosplay eats all my free time but, hey, as I’m making all my costumes myself I need to learn very many things, make-up, wig-styling, sewing, crafting. I think cosplay combine very many other hobbies. By the way we also do some commissions, mostly small accessories for other Russian cosplayers.
