Ireland 🇮🇪 & The Netherlands 🇳🇱

Bambi Lashes (solo): Dia duit! I’m Cat, aka Bambi Lashes, and I’m a 32 year old Irish cosplayer. I work as both an instructional designer and a cosplayer, so I have a busy double life! I’m passionate about community learning and I enjoy creating tutorials and patterns for the cosplays that I craft. I’ve represented Ireland before at EuroCosplay 2019, CRX Hime Cup 2022, and PGEC 2024. I can’t wait to be back on the stage!

Tara (duo): Hiya! I’m Tara from The Netherlands. I’m 25 years old and I have been cosplaying for 10 years and started making my own costumes 8 years ago. I work at an office and during my free time I am either doing research for new projects or techniques or working on a costume.

Sammy (duo): I’m Sammy, and I bring characters to life with passion and creativity! I craft costumes, props, and cosplays with dedication, and I love sharing my work with everyone. Besides that I work at the most whimsical place in the Netherlands: The Efteling.

We have been selected through the worldwide online selection and we couldn’t feel more honoured. We are so excited to represent The Netherlands and show our hard work during ICL 2025.

How did you discover cosplay and what made you start in this hobby? How long ago?

Bambi Lashes (solo): I first discovered cosplay many years ago as a teenager when my friend brought me to my first convention. After seeing other teenagers running around having fun in cosplays, I wanted to try, and I purchased my first cosplay! However, it wasn’t until several years later that I started making my own cosplays, and as soon as I did I was hooked. I’ve now been making cosplays for 11 years!

Tara (duo): I discovered cosplay at a small local convention I went to in my town 10 years ago. For the first time ever I saw a cosplayer ( I didn’t even know it was called cosplay yet) I saw a cosplayer on stage and was like ‘’I want to be like that’’. After that I started searching for costumes online and began cosplaying and the rest is history haha

Sammy (duo): I went to a convention with my sister 10 years ago and I saw people dressing up and I thought it was so cool! I wanted to try it out and make it myself since I’ve been creative for my entire life.

What does cosplay mean for you? And what is your favorite part of the hobby?

Bambi Lashes (solo): I think cosplay is a very unique hobby in that it can mean so many different things for different people. For me, it’s a way to express both my love of the art and stories of others and my own creativity. It’s also a way to connect with other likeminded fans and creatives and appreciate each others’ art and passions as a community. My favourite part of the hobby is definitely crafting, but I get my inspiration to craft from attending conventions and judging and competing in cosplay competitions. Whenever I come home from a convention, I feel fired up to get back to crafting!

Tara (duo): For me cosplay means putting my creative mind into reality. I just love seeing a character somewhere and immediately going through endless possibilities in my head on how to make the costume. Doing tons of research and after that just being behind my sewing machine to make it a reality is just my favourite thing to do.

Sammy (duo): The research. First it starts with the series. If it intrigues me enough I will cosplay from the series. Then I start researching the history, environment, techniques and way more. I love to research and storytelling. Every detail has a reason behind it.

What changes do you see in the cosplay community in your country compared to when you started?

Bambi Lashes (solo): The cosplay community has come a long way here in Ireland since I started cosplaying! In particular, crafting has taken off in a huge way and it’s so inspiring to be surrounded by so many crafters now. Cosplay photography has also developed hugely in Ireland, and it’s been so cool to watch it grow.

Tara (duo): I am not really active in the cosplay community since I just really enjoy making costumes, so I can’t really give a good opinion about that. I do know that whenever I do visit a Dutch convention the community is still so lovely and always ready to talk and hype about everything.

Sammy (duo): The community is very open. Of course you’ve some rotten apples in the community but I formed a really close friend group because of cosplay and I don’t let anything ruin my vibe.

Tell us about your experience in the online selection! Did you already have the costume ready, or did you make it specifically for this event? What motivated you to choose that character or costume?

Bambi Lashes (solo): I decided to make this cosplay out of a combination of love for the character and the beautiful design, and because I wanted to challenge myself to create something that involved such complex fabrication. It was only after I started making it that I decided that applying for ICL would be my goal with this cosplay. With so many details in one cosplay, the solo craftsmanship-only division seemed like the perfect choice.

Tara & Sammy (duo): We already had most of the costumes done since we entered a previous competition with the costume but didn’t place. So we decided to just try it out and send the costumes in for the online selection. To be honest it still feels so unreal to us that we got chosen out of all the amazing entries. The idea to make the costumes and the act idea came to us while actually watching the anime. Sammy went like ‘’’hmm it would be cool if we did this for an act’’ and after that it spiralled and we made a whole plan on how to make and act everything out.

Is this your first time competing in an international cosplay competition? What advice would you give to someone who wants to start cosplaying or join competitions?

Bambi Lashes (solo): This is my fourth time competing internationally, but it’s my first time competing in a craftsmanship-only division. I’m looking forward to a different challenge! For anyone who wants to try out competing, my biggest piece of advice is to just jump in! I think cosplay competitions can be intimidating if you haven’t experienced them, but the best way to learn whether you enjoy competing or not is to give it a go. Smaller local competitions can be a great place to start.

Tara & Sammy (duo): So far we both have only entered competitions that were in the Netherlands. Therefor this will be our first international cosplay competition and we couldn’t be more excited to expierence this. For anyone out there who wants to start cosplaying or join competitions. Our advice would be ‘’as long as you are passionate about your project and are proud of what you do you will get there’’

What has been your most memorable cosplay experience so far?

Bambi Lashes (solo): It’s so hard to pick just one, but I think I would have to say competing in the final edition of EuroCosplay at London MCM. It was my first time competing in an international competition and my first time at a big convention outside of Ireland. I was incredibly nervous as I had no idea what to expect, but it ended up being an amazing experience. I’ve experienced cosplay competitions in many different countries since, both as a judge and a competitor, and looking back on it reminds me of how much I’ve grown since then!

Tara & Sammy (duo): For us both it’s whenever people come up to us and tell us that we have inspired them to make their own costumes or even that they started cosplaying. It just makes us so happy that we can inspire people with our work that we put so much love in.

What inspires your work the most—series, characters, craftsmanship, other artists…?

Bambi Lashes (solo): I definitely take my inspiration from multiple sources. What usually inspires me to make a cosplay is a love for the character, story, and design. For crafting, though, I’m most inspired by fellow cosplayers and crafters. I’ve learned so much from the online community in cosplay and I love discovering new guides, techniques, and resources. I am also hugely inspired by the cosplays I see at conventions and one of my very favourite parts of competing is getting to ‘talk shop’ about all kinds of crafting with fellow cosplayers. I also love to venture outside of cosplay to incorporate techniques and fabrics inspired by my favourite designers.

Tara (duo): For me it’s watching a show and seeing a costume that I immediately can imagine in  my head what kind of fabrics, techniques etc I can use. I also get a lot of inspiration from historical costumes I always try to find out where the show is bases place and time wise. That way I will search for the costumes they wore at that time period and get my inspiration from that.

Sammy (duo): Storytelling. The story behind a character or series must really get me.

What are your expectations for your visit to Spain? Is it your first time in the country?

Bambi Lashes (solo): I’ve been to Spain a few times, and I’ve also been lucky enough to visit Japan Weekend before! I love the energy and atmosphere at Spanish conventions so I hope we can give them a good show. I can’t wait to be back and am particularly excited to take a trip to the Artist Alley, which my wallet may not be happy about.

Tara (duo):  I have been to Spain since I was a baby to go on a family holiday in Torremolinos/Malaga every 2 years. I haven’t visited any other place in Spain so I am really excited to visit Madrid and explore what that is like.

Sammy (duo):  I’ve been to Spain… I want paella and sangria. IT IS THE BEST!

Describe the cosplay community in your country using five words.

Bambi Lashes (solo): I think I would use two words in English; ‘welcoming’ and ‘creative’, and three in Irish;‘craic agus spraoi’. Roughly translated, it means ‘fun and play’, but it’s a phrase we use for the kind of good-natured antics that you can only find in Ireland!

Tara & Sammy (duo): Warm, special, openminded, excited and curious

Link to your Facebook page, Instagram and Twitter (add other social media if relevant):

Bambi Lashes (solo): 
https://www.instagram.com/bambilashesdesign/
https://www.tiktok.com/@bambilashesdesign
https://www.facebook.com/bambiilashes

Tara (duo): 

Insta: https://www.instagram.com/tara.cosplay

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tara.cosplays

Twitter: https://x.com/taracosplays

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tara.cosplay

Sammy (duo): 

Insta: https://www.instagram.com/sammyscosplay/

Twitter: https://x.com/sammyscosplay 

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sammyscosplays

Bambi Lashes, Tara and Sammy were selected Online.