Lady Integra Interview

We interview the radically cool cosplayer Lady Integra from Belarus about her passion and what 2017 may hold in terms of cosplay!

Welcome to Impulse Gamer Lady Integra, so how did you get involved in cosplay?

I knew about cosplay about 12 years ago. I was interested in Japanese culture and heard about it from like-minded people. In 2006 with my friends, we made cosplay-group CosMo and tried to cosplay together… It was funny! I always love creativity and acting, love performing on stage and love a lot of anime and manga series. It so cool to create something with own hands and perform on stage like your favourite hero! And do great photos, of course!

Who was your first cosplay character?

For my very first cosplay I used clothes from my cupboard and I dressed like Integra (so my nickname, yep) from Hellsing and Triela from Gunslinger girl. The first cosplay I sewed was Belldandy from Oh! My goddess! I did that costume for the first Belorussion anime-convention Higan in 2006. I did part of costume and my family helped with the harder parts.

Tell us who has been your favourite?

I do characters that I really like, so it hard to choose one. Last year I fell in love with Harley Quinn and made about 10 of her costumes, so that girl really is my favourite. It is so comfortable to me and I feel so much in common with her ^^ But I love all characters I do. Strong Illyria from Angel (I’m a huge fan of Buffy), Lady from DMC3, the amazing Tiara from Shamanic Princess, Maetel from Galaxy Express 999 (I love old Anime), Black Cat from Spider-man (one of my favourite comics woman), Satine from the French musical Dracula l’amour plus fort que la mort (I love musicals too!)… there’s too many!

Where do you get your inspirations from?

As you can see I love a lot if things! Anime, manga, series, films, musicals and animation. I get my inspirations from everything. Sometimes it music or people as they give me inspiration too.

What made you create Harley Quinn as a pirate?

NoFlutter did that great design! I love her works and pirate Harley hits me in my heart. I love Harley, love pirates and the amazing style of NoFlutter works. So I did that costume!

What’s the coolest thing you own for cosplay?

Haha, I don’t know … I have a whole wardrobe of wigs, material and I have a mannequin for cosplays. I have swords, big hammer and knives that may be the coolest.

Tell us your funniest cosplay story?

During the most of cosplay photosessions people cannot understand what is happening. Once, a taxi drives up to the place of my photoshoot as Harley. The taxi driver asked me how much I got for an hour. He think that I was going to the children’s party as an artist :)

What about most embarrassing cosplay moment?

Something happens all the time when I’m on stage! Some parts have fallen off from the costume, although it was tightly sealed but it still dropped – anything can happen!

If you had unlimited time and money, which character would you create and why?

I always try to make my dreams come true, so I try to fulfill all my plan.

Who do you hope to cosplay in 2017?

I hope to finish the costume that I started some years ago. So will see!I also have some plans with The Witcher, Firefly and some new Harley costumes :)

Lady Integra Gallery