Neytiri.

Avatar stayed with me from the moment it came out — visually, it was stunning. When I discovered cosplay some time later, Neytiri quickly became a dream project, without me really knowing where to begin. I ended up bringing her to life by collaborating with a makeup-artist friend for the face and body transformation. We presented it in the cosplay contest at Japan Expo in 2012, where it received a special prize.

I made the whole costume and the wig myself: a top with beadwork, feathers and painted details, a flowing skirt, a braided belt. The armband and accessories are shaped from hot glue, then painted. The wrist beads are modelled one by one in polymer clay, in the colours of the character. The wig starts from a standard base, on which I built braids and added extensions, with beads threaded strand by strand.

The nose prosthetic, bought and then reworked by the makeup artist to blend into my face, took several hours of fitting and painting the morning of the convention, plus touch-ups throughout the day.