The Princess Blog

As a princess lover, I like to imagine what it would be like to live a day in the life of my favorite princesses. Thanks to the magic of cosplay, this is possible. The term "cosplay" is a mash-up of the words "costume" and "play." It originated in Japan in 1984, referring to fans who dress up at anime conventions. I learned about it through my high school's anime club, when its popularity grew heavily in America around the anime craze of the '90s. My first attempts at cosplay were feeble, to say the least. My skills took off when I studied a "Fashion Design" elective class at my school. I learned how to sew properly by both machine and hand using Simplicity patterns. After I bought a crinoline skirt at a Renaissance Faire, my gowns started to look perfectly princess. Since then, I have cosplayed as several of my favorite princesses. Cosplay is a very expensive and time-consuming hobby, so I don't recommend doing it often unless...

Have you ever wished you could put on a princess dress and fly away to a magical realm where anything is possible? The  Labyrinth Masquerade Ball  is the closest thing you can get to that, and it just came back to  the Millenium Biltmore Hotel  here in Los Angeles for its twentieth year! My husband I had the pleasure of being among its may attendees last night. As a bonus, it even gave me a rare excuse to wear my wedding dress again. I was surprised how many compliments I got on it, considering how many elaborate fantasy and faery costumes there were. Beginning in 1997, the Labyrinth of Jareth was inspired by the  masquerade scene  featuring the late David Bowie in Jim Henson's 1986 film, Labyrinth . In order to recreate the dreamlike quality of the film, the event requires all attendees to wear either formal attire and masks or elaborate fantasy costumes. People go all out for this each year, donning tons of glittery, enormous wings, face paint, ...