Aladdin

For Irvin's twenty-first birthday, he had a Disney-themed costume party, like all reasonable adults should.  He dressed as Aladdin for two reasons.  First, the movie came out the same year Irvin was born (1992).  Second, it required the least amount of clothes.  The costume - and the party - were a huge success.  The cake was a delicious chocolate magic carpet.  As a birthday present, Irvin got the first ever "Merlie" award - awards for best cosplays to be handed out at MISTI-Con.

The days surrounding Halloween 2013, Irvin spent Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday running around in different costumes, so the idea of wearing regular clothes on Sunday felt unnatural.  So Irvin decided to come to Quidditch practice dressed as Aladdin.  He lent his name to his scrimmage team - Team Ali Baba.

On March 17th, 2014, Team StarKid presented their Aladdin parody musical "Twisted" as a concert at 54 Below.  Irvin could not miss that, and certainly could not go in regular clothes, so he donned his Aladdin costume (despite the freezing temperatures) and headed to the concert.  Sitting in the front row, Irvin and the performers got to appreciate each other very up close!  Afterwards, Irvin did his usual fanboying of Team StarKid, who seemed just as excited to see an Aladdin as Irvin was to see them!  He got to take a picture with the StarKid Aladdin, Jeff Blim, and the rest of the cast.  Best of all, Darren Criss recognized Irvin from his other costumes, and said he couldn't wait to see the next one.  Yes, that was the highlight of the year for Irvin!  (Irvin wrote up a detailed recap of the concert for Hypable.)

Three weeks later, Irvin went to see the other Aladdin musical - Disney's Aladdin, which had just opened on Broadway.  It goes without saying that such a venture called for the Aladdin costume.  As Irvin stood outside the theater waiting for a friend, he became an attraction in and of himself - plenty of theatergoers wanted pictures with him, and not all of them realized that he wasn't with the show!  Afterwards, he made quite a splash at the stage door, getting to take pictures with the real Aladdin, and most of the cast.  Someone was so impressed by the costume, he gave Irvin a free framed photo of the Genie.  The Genie himself was very excited to take a picture with Irvin, and Jasmine (Courtney Reed) even recited a bit of dialogue from the show with Irvin. ("Do you trust me?" - "What did you say?" - "Do you trust me?")  All in all, the costume served well for this superb Aladdin double feature!

The outfit is good to have on hand for all manner of Disney events.  In March 2018, Irvin attended an event called Disney DJ Night for the first time ever - an NYC dance party of exclusively Disney music.  He brought the Aladdin costume back, since it is a perfect costume to dance in for four hours and still be comfortable.  This ended up being a good choice, because Aladdin got up on the stage to belt out all the hits from the movie - including a very romantic "A Whole New World" with a Jasmine cosplayer who also happened to be there.

That worked out so well, Irvin wore the outfit again a few months later to Disney Prom, a concert by Disney rock cover band The Little Mermen.  In the band's lead singer, there was a kindred spirit and fellow Aladdin cosplayer!  Irvin sang and danced his heart out, but a definite highlight was when he was invited up onto the stage as a finalist for Prom King.  (He lost out to Pinocchio, which is understandable.)  

In the same vein, Irvin wore the costume to an Under the Sea Rave in June 2023 - a newish Disney dance party that took place at the Mercury Lounge, the same place that Disney DJ Night had its humble beginnings.  It's essentially a new tradition now, he'll wear it to every new Disney-themed event that crops up.  Aladdin is definitely a staple costume now.

In September 2020, Irvin and his friends did a weekend getaway to the Roxbury Motel, where they stayed in a room themed as the "Genie's Bottle."  Naturally, this proved too enticing a backdrop for Irvin to pass up recreating his Aladdin cosplay, especially since they had a perfect replica of the actual Genie's bottle that Irvin could use for photos.

The same weekend as the Under the Sea Rave, in June 2023, Irvin dragged the costume to Philadelphia, for Aladdin to make his non-New York debut at the "Disney 100" Exhibit at the Franklin Institute.  Evidently, cosplaying is not so much a par tof Philadelphia culture, given that everyone at the Institute asked if he was part of the show, and the thrilled coworkers confessed that no other adults had come in costume throughout its run.  Clearly, Philadelphia needed Aladdin to come in and brighten their days!