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Recently Chuu has been using her time at convention panels
to promote body positivity. She organized “Underwatch”
at Katsucon 2017, for which she designed and created
lingerie in the style of characters’ costumes in the game
Overwatch. Her designs were modeled by people of all
genders, races and sexual identities.
“I want to make being sexy a norm,” she says.
Overwatch has been insinuating itself into much of Chuu’s
work recently. She just completed what she reckons is the
most intricate build of her career, the game’s Raptorian
Pharah skin.
“It took me a little under a year to complete, with many
breaks to reassess,” Chuu said. “Although I was working
with my favorite material, EVA foam, it was still an
overwhelming challenge. I rushed the build for Anime Expo
and ended up scrapping the whole project because I wasn’t
happy with the result. The craftsmanship was very sloppy
and the glue wouldn’t have dried in time for me to wear
the costume on the show floor. I put it on the back burner
for half a year and dedicated that time to honing my armor
building skills. I also completely redesigned all my patterns
in Adobe Illustrator. I use a method similar to origami or
pepakura but instead of using a 3D engine, I hand drew
each polygon. It’s a slow process and I should probably
learn some 3D modeling so I can be more accurate.”
Learning is a continuous progression for Stella Chuu.
Despite the overwhelming pressure to churn out costumes,
she knows that her fans expect to see her work with ever
newer materials and media. Schooling herself in vacuum
form and the use of a CNC machine (a kind of computer-
controlled lathe) are in her immediate curriculum.
For all of us with faces pressed against the glass on the
outside of this candy factory, the pace seems breakneck, if
not downright unsustainable. Chuu, however, believes it’s
all getting easier, for her, and every cosplayer.
“There are so many resources out there that we didn’t have
in the past,” Chuu reminded us. “It’s so much easier to
make a great costume and photograph. Jump on YouTube,
join a forum, and ask your friends to help!”
The most important resource, and a recurrent one in the lives
of just about every successful international cosplayer with
whom we speak, is a partner who “gets it.” Stella met hers
back when she day-jobbed as a mobile apps developer.
“One month into the relationship, we attended Katsucon,”
she told Cosplay Culture. “On the last day of the con, I told
him that I wanted to become a cosplayer like Yaya Han and
Vampy Bit Me. He nodded at me. I thought that he
misunderstood me so I further explained that I wanted to
travel the world from convention to convention dressed up
as my favorite characters and somehow make it a career.
He nodded again and replied ‘Yeah. I know. Just tell me
what you need me to do. I want to help.’ He was ready and
willing. We’ve been on this journey ever since that day.”
Stella and Jeff have been married now for two years.
YOU CAN FIND STELLA CHUU ONLINE HERE:
There are so many resources out
there that we didn’t have in the
past. It’s so much easier to make
a great costume and photograph.
Jump on YouTube, join a forum,
and ask your friends to help!”
“
COSPLAYCULTURE 49