MEET TARA REICH
Design: Arcee – Transformers
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Tara Reich started Cosplaying in 2002. Her first costume was Lina Inverse from Slayers. Since then, she has been challenging herself to improve with each successive costume. She relates that she got to the point where she felt in order to really improve she needed formal training. She attended Chicago’s Columbia College from 2006 to 2009. There she focused on designing garments that would lay the groundwork for costumes that she wanted to make in the future. Her senior thesis was inspired by 1960’s futurism and science fiction; but making use of higher quality textiles with a more modern, stream-lined look. Tanya has competed and won awards for craftsmanship at several conventions in the Midwest, including Anime Iowa and Acen. After she graduated she began designing apparel more often that was inspired by Sci-Fi and fantasy television and movies. These pieces tended to be subtly “Geeky” in theme. She started with her ten piece Doctor Who collection and has been designing from the science fiction genre ever since.
She chose to design a dress inspired by Arcee because “When I was little, I would rent Transformers- the Movie over and over again. I have always liked her as a character and even today I still appreciate the early Generations of Transformers – even with all the cheesy one-liners.”
Today, she works at Vee. Corporation in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she builds costumes for Sesame Street Live and sports mascots for a number of teams across the country.
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