Valentine’s Day Couples Contest Entry: Natalie & Jarrad as Jade Harley & Dave Strider (Homestuck)

Here’s one of entries for our Valentine’s Day Couples Contest! Natalie and Jarrad are cosplaying as Jade Harley and Dave Strider from Homestuck. While neither of these cosplayers used our wigs for these cosplays we have some great style recommendations in case you are looking to cosplay as either of these characters in the future. For a Jade Harley cosplay we recommend our Nyx Wig in Black. For a Dave Strider cosplay we recommend our Apollo Wig in Natural Blonde. Look on to see some more about their cosplays!

For me, this was actually my first Homestuck cosplay to start, and when I was asked to be in a large group of many others who did more the fanart designs I just had to reel in Jarrad to pair up with me as my favorite otp! c: At the time, he had not read much of the webcomic, but after joining the group he kept going and ended up really liking Dave’s character, so it all worked out! We didn’t get to do his whole full armor set, but we have it planned to finish everything for next time!

I started cosplaying about six years ago, when I started an anime club at the library in eighth grade. I had slowly come to learn about cosplay and the cosplay community after reading manga and watching anime for a few years, and knew right away that it was something i wanted to be a big part of. About a year later I attended my first convention and the rest is history. Fast forward to today and a day doesn’t go by that I’m not working on costumes! I’d have to estimate that I finish up to four a month! Cosplay is more than a hobby, it means everything to me and I wouldn’t be even a tiny bit of the person I am today without it, much of which I have to thank all my friends who partake in it for 🙂 After Jarrad and I started dating he soon came to realize there was no escaping cosplay’s grasp and now that he sees what I make he’s really starting to get into it and I just cannot wait to start sharing my con experiences with him ^_^ He’s only done about three in all, with this version of Dave being his biggest yet, but we’ve got bigger plans yet to come!

Speaking for myself, my reasons for loving cosplay go fairly deep. Cosplay isn’t just sewing and dressing up for a day for me, it’s an escape to be everything I’ve ever wanted to be. I can see myself as a person I never thought I could be, and maybe even if it’s only skin deep, I can feel great about myself, which is much more than what I can say about the every-day me. I enjoy every single part about cosplaying, from learning to sew by doing ten pairs of pants wrong, to hand embroidering an entire dress each day for three months straight, I crave the final product of the fruits of my labor to the very bone. Not to mention that each and every single friend I’ve gained along the way has been a blessing to me, I wouldn’t be anywhere without everyone and I love each one dearly.

I love that I can be great at something, even if it won’t get me anywhere really in life, I can say full heartedly that what I do, even just for fun, brings me more joy than anything else in life can offer me. And honestly, that’s more precious than any amount of money or grandeur of college degree. As for Jarrad, I think he really just loves to see me happy and to be happy cosplaying with me 🙂 Which is just as great a reason to cosplay with anyone <3