Welcome back to another edition of Fandom Flair. This time, I want to show you some easy (and one not-so-easy) way to do casual cosplay for Wheel of Time characters.

For those who don't know, cosplay is when a person dresses up as a specific character.  These costumes can be super elaborate, as I'm sure you've all seen from conventions like the San Diego Comicon, or even our own Jordancon.  

Casual cosplay, however, tones it down just a bit.  It's normal clothes that you can wear in public but is still based on the ideas or themes of a specific character. I love to casual cosplay at work!  Most of the time, no one can tell I'm wearing something special.

So, for Wheel of Time characters this can be pretty easy.  I have two cosplay outfits that were put together pretty effortlessly.  Let's talk about those first.

Aviendha

I love Aviendha, and the Aiel in general.  Their culture is one of the most fascinating in all of Randland.  And Aviendha is a strong, capable, but still stubborn, woman.  I love how unbreakable she is!  

Putting together an Aviendha outfit was the simplest of the bunch.  I based it off her Wise One outfit, choosing a brown, bulky skirt and pairing it with a white shirt.  Though Wise Ones shouldn't wear one, I did have a black scarf to be my shoufa.

For accessories, I switched Aviendha’s bracelet and necklace.  I wore “snowflakes” around my wrist, and a flower (substitute for ivory rose) necklace.

I also have super adorable turtle earrings that remind me of the turtle brooch angreal Aviendha borrowed from Elayne.

Mat

There could be better ways to cosplay Mat, but I put this together with clothing I already had.  I would rather have a military-esque coat to give more allusion to Mat’s purpose in the novels, but, whatever works.

I started with just jeans and a black shirt.  I wore a green cardigan over, and added a black scarf to cover the hanging wound.  Lastly, I wore boots.  

I wish I could have had lace or maybe even a pink scarf.

For a final touch, I added dice to a hair clip.  For this, I bought a five pack of dice and had an adult drill through the center with a very small drill it.  The hole is only about 5mm.  I slipped a thin, metal wire through the hole and twisted the wire to fasten it to the clip.  I have five dice total, but could only incorporate two.  I'll keep thinking of a clever use for the other three.

Rand

This one took some thought.  I wanted something grand for the Dragon Reborn, so I modeled this off Paul Bielaczyc’s amazing Rand cosplay.  

I started with a crimson shirt.  Next, I found gold iron-on fabric at Joann Fabrics.  It was about $5 for one sheet of the metallic material.  I only used one sheet, so not a bad price.

First: the dragons.  One major characteristic of Rand is his Dragon tattoos.  I printed out a copy of the Dragon from the chapter heading onto cardstock.  I cut it out, then traced it on the back of the gold fabric.  Then, I flipped it and traced it facing the opposite direction.  I needed two because, “Once the Dragon, for remembrance lost. Twice the Dragon, for the price he must pay.” (The Great Hunt, Chapter 26, “Discord”)

After that, I decided to add swirls to the neckline of my shirt.  I drew two different swirl patterns and traced them, reversing one a few times so it would go in opposite directions.

I cut out all the gold pieces then played with positioning.  Once I had it right, I ironed them in place.

For the outfit, I paired the shirt with a black skirt, a headband with golden leaves, and my Aes Sedai necklace and Great Serpent ring, since Rand is an Aes Sedai after all.

It wasn't a difficult project, but it was a lot more time consuming than the others!

That's all for this week.  Let me know who you like to cosplay as!  Thanks for reading!