Strathmore cosplayer Autumn Desjardins, celebrated for her detailed and creative costumes, has once again captured the spotlight, winning Best In Show at the recent Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo. Her proud father, Joe Desjardins—who occasionally contributes photographs to the Anchor—shared his excitement about her accomplishments. “Well, she did it again! My kiddo, Autumn’s Cosplay, won Best In Show at the Calgary Expo, 2024! She’s headed to Toronto in August to compete in Fan Expo Canada. And…she qualified for the world cosplay cinematic summit (WCCS) last week! She never ceases to amaze me. So proud of her!” he said.
Autumn achieved this impressive feat while completing her final semester at the University of Calgary, graduating with a degree in education. “What a week it’s been! Everyone is so proud of you kiddo, and we all love you!” Joe added.
This year, Autumn and her partner Conor Anderson will represent Team Canada at the world cosplay cinematic summit, which has introduced a video division allowing competitors to showcase their costuming and acting skills digitally. “The World Cosplay Cinematic Summit did a video division over the COVID-19 pandemic because people could not do the competitions on stage in person,” Autumn explained. “People liked it enough that this is the first year they are doing it as its own entity. Now there are in-person and video divisions.”
Their video submission, created from January through March with the support of six others, will be judged in May as part of this global event. “The nice thing here is that a lot of times, competing is limited to people who make their own costumes, whereas this cinematic version of World Cosplay Summit, you are allowed to buy costumes,” she noted. “It is more about how they look overall as opposed to how they are made. It makes it really open to a lot more people who want to be involved.”
At the Calgary Expo, Autumn competed in the Master’s Division, portraying Mitsuba Sousuke from the Japanese supernatural horror comedy “Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun.” She described the extensive work involved in creating her costume, which took nine months of dedication. “There is this Japanese legend about a bathroom ghost, kind of similar to how we have Bloody Mary here,” she said. “I have been working on this costume since June of last year. This is probably the biggest costume I have put together.”
Autumn’s efforts included learning how to knit for certain costume components, programming electronic eyeballs, and even casting teeth using dental molds. Her victory at Calgary’s event has earned her an invitation to compete in Toronto this August, where she will represent Western Canada at Fan Expo Canada.
As Autumn prepares for her upcoming competitions, the local and national cosplay communities watch eagerly, anticipating more innovative creations from this talented young artist.
