Spider-Gwen has one of the most popular costume designs in recent memory, but a new cosplay has created a version that’s totally unique. With gorgeous detail and glowing webbing, the Spider-Verse ballgown is truly a triumph of style and a perfect example of how versatile Marvel’s arachnid heroes can be. Spider-Gwen may be overdone in terms of fan cosplays, but this version is like nothing you’ve seen before.
Creator @official.j.ives has created an incredible cosplay that puts an entirely new twist on Gwen’s costume by turning it into a spectacular ballgown. The top half of Gwen’s costume including hood remains intact, while the bottom half opens up into a hoop skirt which highlights and expands the use of the pink that makes up the underarm and hood interior of the original costume. The rest of the original’s color palette is also perfectly represented, using the black and white in sharp angles to draw the eye. The entire cosplay is enhanced by the gown’s webbing, which literally glows thanks to the use of approximately 50 ft of EL wire, which the creator credits to @ellumiglow. Posing during Emerald City ComicCon 2022, @official.j.ives also credits the photography of the cosplay to @josh_shot_cosplay, @journeysincolor and @girl_with_the_blue_hair.
Spider-Gwen’s Costume Becomes an Epic Ballgown
Gwen Stacy – known as Spider-Woman or Ghost-Spider in-universe – is the pre-eminent hero of her native Earth-65. In this reality, it’s Gwen, not Peter Parker, who is bitten by a radioactive spider and given Spider-powers. Gwen’s been a breakout star since her very first appearance in Edge of Spider-Verse #2 by Jason Latour and Robbi Rodriguez in 2014, with multiple ongoings and miniseries since. Part of why Gwen has been such a star is because of how amazing Rodriguez’s design for her is. Instantly iconic with its prominent use of white and pink, Gwen’s costume is an instant classic, and one that stands out among the usual blue, red and yellow outfits of heroes. It’s no wonder then that the costume has become a staple of the cosplay circuit. Like so many cosplay classics, a large part of the joy is in how artists reimagine a costume.
Spider-Gwen Is a Marvel Icon for Good Reason
Gwen’s star has only risen further with her appearances in the Spider-Verse films (voiced by Hailee Steinfeld, with the second, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, releasing in June. This cosplay celebrates the fashion potential of superheroes – something Marvel has committed to in a big way with its annual Hellfire Gala, which includes one-time high fashion costumes for select characters, with Gwen’s ally and love interest Miles Morales getting a jaw-dropping costume in the 2023 celebration.
Gwen is no stranger to being redesigned. Her most recent series, Emily Kim and Kei Zama’s Spider-Gwen: Shadow Clones, is all about new variations on Gwen, in this case clones mixed with the DNA of some of her greatest villains. However, few of these new versions of Gwen are as ambitious as this gorgeous cosplay, which shows how fans can elevate even iconic characters like Spider-Gwen by making their designs their own.
Source: @official.j.ives