The Dress Up Diaries

My very first time cosplaying was back in 2022. At the time, I had been excited for the upcoming release of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Magic, especially since it was the first time seeing more of the Scarlet Witch since the end of Wandavision. Since the Scarlet Witch is one of my favorite Marvel characters, I had decided I wanted to dress up as her when seeing the movie.

I decided to base my cosplay on one of her simpler outfits. It was one that she had worn in one of the episodes of Wandavision, and it was closer to her outfit from the comics. It consisted of a red bodysuit, pink tights, red gloves, a red cape, red boots, and her red comic crown. I already had previously purchased a version of her crown that I wanted to wear that was similar to one at the end of Wandavision. However, that was the only part of the cosplay I already owned, so I tried looking around online for places to get the rest of the outfit.

As I was trying to find items that were fairly inexpensive, my search led me to Shein. I had never ordered from Shein before, but it appeared that they offered several items that would work for the outfit at cheap prices. Unfortunately, that should have been my first red flag. I ended up ordering a red one-piece swimsuit (for the bodysuit) for $9.00, red gloves for $3.50, and red over-the-knee heeled boots for $45.00. For the red cape and pink tights, I just ordered those from Amazon.

My first impressions when trying everything on were that all of the items seemed fine, although the boots were extremely uncomfortable. I ended up wearing the cosplay to see Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness along with at two other conventions, and that was where I learned of the true lack of quality in the swimsuit/bodysuit and the boots.

At both conventions, the boots were extremely painful, and they had no padding to help provide any comfort. Even my own additional cushion inserts and arch support did little to prevent pain. As for the swimsuit/bodysuit, one of the straps broke during my third and final time wearing it. I was forced to use electrical tape to tape the top of the swimsuit to me in order not to flash anyone at the convention.

Along with some additional ethical concerns, my negative experience with both of those items has led me to not purchase anything from Shein since then. I would much rather pay a little bit more for higher quality items that will last much longer. For anyone looking to get into cosplaying, I would recommend not purchasing anything from Shein, as it is not worth your money to pay for products of such low quality.