D.VA (Hana Song)

Overwatch

Academy skin

Status: Active
Cost: ~$100
Bought/made in 2019, worn in 2019

I’ve been playing Overwatch since the full game launched in 2016, and D.Va was immediately one of the characters I most gravitated toward playing often. I loved her design, her play style, and her personality. For a while, I thought about cosplaying her default skin, but I had no idea where to begin making it, I didn’t like the premade versions I saw, and I didn’t know anyone taking commissions for that kind of outfit.

Fast-forward three years later, and I still wanted to cosplay her but was considering one of her other options. While I thought about doing her Black Cat version because I liked the silhouette (and let’s be real—I just love cat-themed things), but then the Academy version came out. Guess what I love even more than big skirts? Pleated skirts and school outfits. They’re just oddly comfortable, both literally and metaphorically, to me. I bought the costume and the gun prop from Cosplay Sky and was pretty happy with it. I did take on the project of making the headphones, the watch (though it’s barely visible beneath a sleeve) and the socks and shoes, because I wasn’t impressed with what I was sent for those pieces.

I used Angelus’s acrylic leather paint for the shoes, and the base for the socks is a pair of navy knee-highs, which I then attached pink elastic to at the top. To get the right fit, I wore the socks while attaching the elastic with fabric glue in several dots, so the elastic stays in place at the top of the sock but can also stretch enough just to fit my legs snugly.

For the watch, I repurposed an old cheap watch for children (I have tiny wrists), painted it, and then added on the pink wing pieces with foam that I also painted. I used super glue to attach those pieces to the watch.

My favorite memory of this costume so far is wearing it to Anime NYC and doing a photoshoot in Times Square! The location was perfect for what we wanted to capture.

Photos by Headphone Studios