COSPLAY CORNER
SHELLANIN USES #CURLYCOSPLAY TO REDEFINE AUTHENTICITY.
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o character is out-of-bounds for the cosplayer known as Shellanin. Her work incorporates looks that are race-bending, gender-bending, and in the case of her Aang cosplay: air-bending. She takes heavy influence from her love of anime, cartoons, and video games. As a Black woman with naturally curly hair, she finds that the pop culture characters she loves rarely have her hair texture or skin tone, so she creatively reimagines them in her cosplay looks to make them more representative of who she is.
When Shellanin, the alter-ego of the Atlanta-based Shell, first discovered cosplay, she chose to only dress up as characters that looked like her. As she got more into the hobby, she made the choice instead to add her own twist on the craft — that’s how #CurlyCosplay came to life. Some cosplayers believe in cosplaying only as characters they most resemble, producing an authentic, screen-accurate replica. But others are taking a more creative approach, drawing inspiration from characters they love, but creating original looks that have
54 | Issue No. 9 | THE POP INSIDER
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3/17/21 4:10 PM