Numerous special guests provided excellent entertainment for the evening, with songs and performances galore! The lineup included Yaya Han, returning cosplayer and model from the US; Giorgia Vecchini, well-travelled cosplayer from Italy; Tough Love, a steampunk themed band; Sonia Leong and Emma Vieceli, famed UK artists proving their vocal abilities; and returning as the MC of the evening, Johnny Lazer! Mid-song costume changes, an aerial acrobatics display and a multi-lingual Disney medley dominated the stage while the dancefloor itself was never empty.
The upper balcony this time was transformed into a Hansel & Gretel themed photoshoot area for cosplayers to commemorate the night to film, while cosplay trinkets and accessories were on sale at stalls on the ground floor, as of course, were drinks! Always important.
For those who've missed out on this very unique event on the cosplay calendar, the Grand Cosplay Ball is a fine excuse to realise those dream costumes stashed away in that art book or seen in that-scene-that-time, even the one that barely fits through doorways, or the one so covered in sequins you're worried it'll blind someone! The kinds with more fabric flowing off than actually covering you, or the kinds with enough starch and interfacing in to build a bridge out of! There is no end to the elegance and extravagance of the costumes on display here. With such a specific focus and taking up only a single evening, those more awkward but gorgeous outfits make a more confident appearance, beautifully composed against the decorative background of, well, a ballroom!
You won't find many Naruto and Bleach costumes here, but plenty of original themed designs make appearances, as do rare sights of high-class costumes; princes and princesses, the magical, the spiritual, and the otherworldly!
