Dress Like a Nerd
By: Fiza Pirani | Categories: Alumni Association News
The idea emerged during a pandemic walk in 2021, as Georgia Tech alumni Vincent, CmpE 15, and Jasmine James, STC 14, yearned of being sun-kissed along the beaches of Mexico, where the pair later ventured for a much-needed reprieve. What came next was a concept born of the couple’s shared love of all things cosplay, fashion, and creativity.
The first time that Jasmine, a social media influencer who’s garnered a following of more than 600,000 on TikTok (under the name Cutie-PieSensei) and nearly 400,000 on Instagram, posted Vincent’s photo of her in a cosplay-inspired swimsuit prototype for their new brand Fira X Wear, internet trolls went on full attack mode. The trolls complained that their concept just didn’t count as traditional cosplay.
Cosplay refers to “costume play” and involves dressing up as characters from movies, books, video games, or other pop culture references, oftentimes for comic or pop culture conventions, such as Atlanta’s Dragon Con or San Diego’s renowned Comic-Con. Fira X Wear designs are meant to make cosplay more inclusive and wearable for eco-conscious nerds with a knack or desire for fashion who want to take their play beyond the more obvious, costumey fandom apparel typically found in stores.
“Let’s just say, we kind of took the trolling personally,” Jasmine jokes.
The couple put their heads together to combine the complementing skills they’d built at Georgia Tech and beyond. Merging Vincent’s background in computer engineering, customer-facing satisfaction, and photography with Jasmine’s expertise in fashion design, marketing, and branding, they focused on designing more detailed, character-inspired bikinis and swimsuits that could not only be used for cosplay conventions but, in an effort to promote sustainability, could be reused for, say, a trip to Mexico.
“Think of a bikini inspired by a princess character costume, for example,” she adds. “Something pink that’s feminine, kind of royal, but not overly frilly, maybe with draped sleeves or a sweetheart cut. This could be a primary cosplay piece used for Princess Peach, Princess Bubblegum, or even Barbie costumes.
Avoiding wastefulness in the face of fast fashion was key, Vincent reiterates. They wanted to go beyond the single-use costumes often seen at conventions. Embedded in the behind-the-scenes of the operation, he zeroed in on finding ethical, sustainable manufacturers to turn Jasmine’s innovative visions and designs into reality without sacrificing premium quality. But trying to find the right fit during a global pandemic was a challenge. There was a lot of back-and-forth with numerous language barriers to overcome, and conducting business solely online across time zones was no simple feat.
Jasmine tested every sample to the nines, even soaking them for hours in chlorinated pools to see which fabrics and colors really held up. As an advocate for inclusivity in fashion—and someone itching to see more Black women like her and other people of color in the world of cosplay and fantasy—Jasmine tested her designs on models of various sizes, colors, and backgrounds.
“Being someone who’s already underrepresented in this particular space,” Jasmine says, “I wanted Fira X Wear to feel welcome to all."
When she first began cosplaying in college, Jasmine had no idea what she was getting herself into. She was a full-time student with no money who simply loved to design costumes.
“There are a lot of characters in pop culture and media that don’t look like me,” she says. “But we can all find ourselves within these characters and feel connected to their stories. And when I embody these characters, I think that resonates with people."
As Vincent and Jasmine continue to expand their two-person company, they also anticipate broadening their size range, adding petite sizes, and creating more gender-neutral options.
Looking forward, the entrepreneurs are hard at work on a winter collection to add to their cosplay-inspired repertoire, one filled with joggers, hoodies, and athleisure-like items that are cosplay-friendly for the cooler months, yet fashionable and wearable for non-cosplayers. The larger vision, they say, is to partner with pop culture franchises and companies to build seasonal Fira X Wear collections for the beloved fandoms that bring so many of us together.
