We were lucky to catch up with Elizabeth recently and have shared our conversation below.

Elizabeth, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

When I first got started making cosplay content, I was 17. It was for fun, and I never really thought anything could or would come from it. It was something I did mostly alone at that time, but it changed how I saw my own future. I wanted to become a creative professionally, so I set my sights on film school. Once I got to college, I met someone who got into cosplay with me, and we really made something special online.

But then there was this shift where we were posting at times to get more interaction, looking at numbers and begging for interaction on posts. I was suddenly looking at things only through the lens of being a professional, not just a creative. It stayed like that for years. Over the past year my life has gotten way more complex which I didn’t think was really possible, and I had more time to myself to think about how I related to other people and to content. I was becoming jealous and negative. I began to reflect how different things could have been if I didn’t go with a creative path. Maybe I wouldn’t care so much about how I looked, how I came off online, and felt so much of my own worth wrapped up in a social media profile.

I was stuck like that for long time. I hated creating because I felt like I was alone and isolated. I wished I didn’t have that residual feeling of how amazing it felt to create things, to finish a cosplay. That kept me going back, trying to find that satisfaction again. But I couldn’t afford to wait around, so I got a “regular” job. A full time, regular, mundane job. Until it wasn’t mundane anymore, it was stressful. I circled back around to cosplay and suddenly it had become the escape it had once been to me, way back when I was 17.

So if you had asked me last year if I was happy as a creative, I would have said no. Now I would say yes, and that is with having both a full-time, stressful job and an online presence.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am Count Elizabeth (they/them), a Professional Cosplayer based out of Chicago, IL. I went by Madame Elizabeth for years before coming out as non-binary. I have been cosplaying since I was 13, and I always get asked how I got started, what inspired me, but it’s kind of a strange story.

My dad’s friends started Indy Pop Con, a pop culture convention in Indianapolis, back in 2013. I went it’s first year, not in cosplay, having never gone to a convention before. I was recently into Marvel, specifically Loki, Supernatural, Doctor Who- it was a big deal for me. When I went, I saw so many people dressed in costumes and suddenly my (at the time undiagnosed) anxiety told me I was sticking out because I didn’t have a costume. I felt so out of place in a space that I wanted to fit into SO badly.

So when Indiana Comic Con rolled around in April of 2014, I had thrown together a really rough Winter Solider (the second Captain America film had JUST come out) and took to the con thinking nothing of it. At least I thought I would simply fit in better. Once I got there with my dad, however, people were saying “I like your cosplay!” left and right and I had never heard that word before. So when I got home I took to Tumblr and did my research. Then the floodgates were opened.

All these years later, I have become a professional cosplayer, working with companies like Sony on movie release promotion, game releases, convention promotion, and I even was a guest at a con for the first time this past summer at Louisville Pop Con 2023. I have an online print shop and even have dipped my toes into cosplay photography for other cosplayers.

My personal goal is focused on sustainable cosplay, using mostly second hand clothing and materials to not only make things more eco-friendly, considering the damage fast fashion and the fashion/textiles industry has on the planet, but also because it’s friendlier to my bank account.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

As I mentioned, I focus on sustainability. There is nothing wrong with buying cosplays, but being conscious about ways to minimize the impact you can have on the environmental fallout of the textile and fashion industry can be super helpful in creating more planet-friendly habits.

When my cosplay career was growing rapidly, I was having a hard time affording fabric to make things from scratch all the time. Part of me was lucky that I saved a lot of street clothes from when I was in high school and had build a pretty good base cosplay wardrobe, but when it came to big builds I needed to look somewhere else for fabrics. I turned to the linens section at the thrift stores near me and struck gold. Tablecloths, pillow cases, curtains- all under $5. It was a gold mine.

And then there are second hand seller apps, where I have found some of my favorite cosplay pieces, and people even sell full cosplays on there for decent prices. It has made the hobby so much more affordable, and made it easier to cosplay.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

There are two things I find incredibly important that I wish I would have known sooner: 1. A base closet of cosplay items
2. Fashion terms

When it comes to a lot of movies and costumes now, they have lots of things in common. Having a couple button down shirts, a pair of dress pants, and a tie can work into so many characters without spending a ton of money. I have pieces I bought years ago that I still use because a white button down is universal. Making sure to have those things on hand has made it so much easier to pull characters out faster and easier. I use my black and brown dress pants more than any other pants I have ever bought for cosplay. My buttons down shirts? Priceless.

When it comes to building a cosplay wardrobe or looking for items second hand, you might need a specific cut of a shirt, or a kind of sleeve. Key words in a resale app can find you the most perfect and incredible pieces you could hope to find. But if you don’t know the right words to put in, you could be missing out on so many options. Learning different cuts of shirts, necklines, sleeves, skirt types- having those terms in your back pocket can save you from never finding what you’re looking for.

Once you learn terms, you can get closer to silhouettes and know how to replicate things you see on screen too when you go searching for patterns if you sew from scratch in the future. It unlocks so many more options instead of searching “pirate shirt” every time you need a Victorian looking top.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @count.elizabeth
• Other: Tiktok: count.elizabeth

Image Credits
Count Elizabeth