About Altered Ego

This site was designed by Apollymi of One Song Designs. Original layout image created by Marika Ikeda, with all coding by Apollymi. All cosplay items were created by Marika Ikeda, and all anime/video games/etc are copyright to their original creators and associated license holders. No copyright infringement is intended.

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In 2001, I was approached by a group of friends about going with them to Otakon in Baltimore, MD. Because I liked the idea of taking a break from school, I agreed to it. While the girl who was organizing things for our group was explaining to us what an anime convention was, she made it a point to say that we should think of it as a 3-day Halloween without candy, and that we would feel more a part of things if we dressed up.

My very first anime costume was Nuriko from Fushigi Yuugi. I'd had experience with sewing Renaissance dresses with my grandmother, helping my mother make Shaker clothes for a craft show, and making my own Halloween costumes, but taking something that was entirely 2-dimensional and bringing that into the 3-dimensional world was completely new. Like all things, my first costume wasn't so great, but it was a learning experience.

As the number of costumes increased, so did my experience. My grandmother taught me how to read a pattern, how to assemble a pattern, how to put in a zipper. A costume piece for a friend taught me to how edit a pattern. Another taught me how to work with heavier materials like vinyl and upholstry fabric. Each one added little snips of information to the pile.

I don't claim to be an expert, and I'm not a professional seamstress. Everything I know was learned by doing, and aside from what I picked up from my grandmother while working on a Renaissance dress, I'm entirely self-taught. I'm particular about what materials I use, even if it means the cost goes up, but I can and will work with a budget. When it comes to the actual construction, I'm excruciatingly particular - I had a costume fall off on stage during a school play, and since then it's left me with a paranoia of having anyone but myself make my costumes for fear of having a repeat of that event.

While my gallery isn't large, it is something I'm proud of, and I look forward to watching it grow in time.