The first two episodes of WandaVision dropped this past weekend, so what better time to talk about how I created my own Scarlet Witch cosplay? This cosplay was largely thrifted, and was revamped a grand total of three times before I got the result I have today.
Inspiration
I first started out with the general idea of wanting to cosplay Scarlet Witch to my first ever comic convention, way back in spring of 2019. I was still pretty new to cosplay, wasn’t great at sewing, and knew basically nothing about makeup. So I opted to mainly thrift it. I first gathered a folder of photo images and references for Scarlet Witch from various MCU movies, though mainly Avengers: Age of Ultron. That look – with the jewelry, red jacket, and black dress – was the one I was most interested in making, since it seemed the most doable for my low skill level.
Supplies
To find supplies, I went to a ton of different thrift stores, searching for the proper pieces to assemble the cosplay. My main concern was the red leather jacket, which seemed like it would be tricky to find. And I never did find it – my mom found it for me. It wasn’t exactly accurate to the show, but the convention was growing steadily nearer, and I just choose to go with it. I actually still think it looked pretty good! It gave the whole cosplay a different vibe, which I was still pretty happy about. The dress and shoes were thrifted as well.
Quick side note, I found the shoes about a day before I left for the con, and they only lasted about two conventions before the sole came off of one. Sad day, but at least I got a couple days’ use of them.
The jewelry was collected from various shops and thrift stores, as well as made by me, with help from my older sister. It’s all pretty simple, but together it created a nice effect. The headdress was made out of 2mm EVA foam, with an elastic strap holding it on. If you want to see the full tutorial on how I made that, you can find it here.
Makeup
The first two times I wore this cosplay, at actual conventions, I hadn’t started using makeup yet, so all I did was some black nail polish. When I finally did a real photoshoot for the cosplay in 2021, I had started using makeup, and I had gotten decently good enough at it to take a stab at some eyeliner, eyeshadow, and contour, to attempt to recreate her look from Avengers: Age of Ultron. I think it turned out pretty well! I’m still not the most experienced with makeup, but I’m getting there, and I’ve found that I really love to use it to bring a character to life.
Photoshoot
I maybe have had this cosplay since early 2019, but until a week ago I didn’t have any proper photos of it, outside con hallway pictures. And since WandaVision was coming out soon, I really wanted some nice Scarlet Witch pictures to celebrate that! I didn’t want to go out to an actual photoshoot location, so instead I set up my studio lights, tripod, and black backdrop, and took my own pictures in my room. Since my backdrop is pretty small, I could only get portrait shots, but I’m really happy with how those turned out! If you want to see how I take my own cosplay pictures, you can check out this video.
When I was editing the pictures I took, I went two different angles with them. The first was on the left, with the black and white, TV-glitching style that was in a lot of the WandaVision trailers. I also added some text to make it feel like an actual promotional poster.
The second method was red, slightly dark and dramatic, and, of course, magical. I’d never done this style of editing before, either, but I really like how it turned out! I also may or may not have based a Scarlet Witch drawing off of it.
Finished Cosplay
My Scarlet Witch cosplay may not be the fanciest, or the most complicated, but I had a lot of fun bringing it to life, and I love wearing it. Wearing all the different pieces of jewelry, and seeing myself in the mirror with the headpiece and dramatic makeup, is just a really cool feeling. And seeing myself doing magic in cosplay pictures is also pretty neat.
Again, if you want to make your own headdress, you can find the pattern and tutorial for that here. And if you want to keep up with all my cosplay shenanigans, you might want to sign up for my email list! You get access to a lot of neat stuff, like my cosplay resource library, and some insights into my life as a cosplayer. Pretty cool stuff, if you ask me.