Angela Clayton is an eighteen-year-old costume designer from Long Island, New York. She first started sewing three years ago when she got interested in cosplay; now, Clayton attends events less often, and has evolved to focus more on original designs. Her projects can take as long as 250 hours, and Clayton once used 11 meters (12 yards) of fabric for a costume!
“I hope that there is a future career that I will get out of it,” Clayton told Cosmo. “I love making costumes and I love bringing ideas to life. If I could do that for fashion, especially for theater or film, that would be awesome…I would rather go straight into that if I can instead of spending four years at school.”
Angela started sewing when she was just 14
“The first thing I really finished was a school uniform from an anime show when I was 14. It took me about two months”
“I was into cosplay, making costumes or wearing costumes to conventions, and I couldn’t afford the costumes that were available online”
“I was like, ‘Oh, I’ll make mine! That will be great and easy!’ It really wasn’t but I really enjoyed it”
“I have one that I’ve been working on since January and I’m still not done with it, but I hopefully will be finishing it soon”
“I continued making the costumes because I enjoyed the sewing aspect of it”
“I decided to just give myself more freedom for focusing on historical projects and original design”
“If you practice, you can definitely do it. It might take you a while”
“It comes naturally to some people but it is definitely something you can learn how to do”
“I really enjoy doing it. I love making costumes and I love bringing ideas to life”
