“Fashions fade. Style is eternal.” – Yves Saint Laurent

…And in the middle of it all, there are trends.

The latest trend in the cosplay world is the idea of a cosplay aesthetic. This is the idea of putting together a collage of imagery that best illustrates your cosplay character and the way you portray them.

So, since I’m all about style – and, to a lesser extent, trends – I decided to try my hand at a cosplay aesthetic for Alice Cullen.

With this, I tried to really bring the most important elements of Alice’s life and character together. I wanted to use a combination of photos, featuring me, Ashley Greene as Alice, and Alice as she’s portrayed in the illustrated guide. My cosplay has been majorly influenced by all of Alice’s forms in film, print and illustration, so it only seemed fitting.

Here’s how I made my choices, panel by panel:

1. First of all, I knew I wanted to showcase her name. When Alice woke up, she didn’t remember anything about who she was, where she came from, or even what her name was. She chose the name Alice Cullen after a baptism by fire, where she was shown a glimpse of who she could be if she had the strength to pursue a vegetarian lifestyle. Becoming Alice Cullen was the first decision she made as a newborn vampire, and it altered the course of her destiny.
2. Secondly, I wanted to showcase her golden eyes – another extension of the choice she made upon waking. Plus, I invested good money in theatrical contact lenses – I like to show them off!
3. The third photo is a candid that my Bella, Christilynn, took of me at the Carver Cafe during our trip to the Twilight filming locations. I like this photo because I think my expression looks enigmatic, which is how I think Alice would look much of the time when she’s at school or around humans.
4. There was no way I could include a cosplay aesthetic without including the most important person in Alice’s life: Jasper, of course. I’ve always loved this photo because it illustrates Alice and Jasper’s relationship the way Bella saw it: intense intimacy while barely touching – the opposite of Emmett and Rosalie’s ostentatious relationship.
5. The next set are two photos are from my We’ve Met Before photo shoot. I’ve always loved the imagery of Alice sitting alone at a diner day after day, waiting for Jasper to arrive, which is why I wanted to create my own version of it.
6. I also included a close up photo of the gloves I wore that day. Alice understands that true fashion is in the details, and I really wanted to illustrate that point by showing I’d imagined Alice in that scenario from head to toe to the tips of her fingers.
7. The seventh photo is one of my expressions that portray Alice having a vision. I can imagine that Alice has several visions a day and has likely schooled her expression into remaining neutral during them – after all, she can’t let everyone know that something is different about her, although humans can usually tell. Still, I think that Alice wouldn’t be able to help herself during a particularly worrying or odd vision, which is why I included a somewhat pensive photo.
8. Lastly, we have Alice as she appeared in the Twilight illustrated guide – likely the closest portrayal we have to Alice as she appeared in Stephenie Meyer’s mind. I love this version of Alice because she doesn’t look like Ashley Greene, or Rachael Leigh Cook, or any of the other actresses that the fandom has suggested as the perfect Alice Cullen. This version of Alice is the product of pure imagination – just the way I like her.

I won’t lie: it was hard choosing only eight photos. I wanted to include shots with Bella! Of me in the driver’s seat of a yellow Porsche! But in the end, I wanted to portray who I think Alice is, and that isn’t defined by her friendships or the cars she drives.

If you’re a cosplayer, consider making your own version of a cosplay aesthetic – it’ll get you thinking about your character in ways you might have overlooked before!

xoxo,
Alice