Luna Lovegood

Luna Lovegood is Irvin's absolute favorite character - the one he identifies with, idolizes, and has a crush on. To that effect, he was very resistant to cosplaying Luna for years, afraid that he could not do her justice. However, Jo Rowling's writing on Pottermore (about the 2014 Quidditch World Cup) described such incredible cosplay-able outfits for Luna, Irvin knew immediately upon reading that the time had arrived. Never before had Irvin been so grateful for Rita Skeeter's gossip!

The piece de resistance - the most ambitious outfit Irvin had attempted to date - was the robes Luna wore to the 2014 Quidditch World Cup. Per Rita Skeeter:

"Luna has been sweeping around the VIP section in robes composed of the flags of all sixteen qualifying countries."

Irvin thus set out to create such robes. He first procured the sixteen appropriate flags: Bulgaria, Brazil, Japan, USA, Wales, Germany, Jamaica, Poland, Fiji, Ivory Coast, Chad, Haiti, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Norway, and Nigeria. Then, under his friend Deanna's tutelage, he learned how to use a sewing machine, and sewed the flags together into a two-piece outfit after he and Deanna decided on a flowy top and flared skirt. To accessorize, Irvin fashioned ersatz earrings out of radish refrigerator magnets, and the outfit was complete.

Determined to properly display his work, Irvin entered a fashion show for the very first time, and the outfit made its debut at MISTI-Con 2015's Merlies. The fierce gusts of wind were not ideal for the outfit, as Luna's modesty was severely threatened at points, but the outfit was duly admired. The dress was awarded a Merlie for "most international outfit."

Rita Skeeter also mentioned another outfit of Luna's:

"...Lovegood’s wedding dress—rainbows, spangles and a tiara of silver unicorn horns, voted ‘Most Hideous Outfit of the Year’ by readers of my regular Daily Prophet column.”

Naturally, such an outfit called to Irvin, and he decided to bring that to MISTI-Con as well. The Merlies would be followed by a Murder Mystery dinner, so Irvin just changed Luna outfits and stayed in character. To cover the "rainbows" part of it, Irvin dug out the most colorful items in his wardrobe, including a tube top donated by Deanna and a scarf from Sybill Trelawney. He then found the most colorful skirt available online and bought it. The unicorn horns proved more difficult... in the end, they were approximated by a silver Statue of Liberty headpiece, which had to be stuffed to give the horns their form. Lastly, a veil and white gloves were added to signify a wedding dress, and the radish earrings were left in.

While slightly puzzling to people at first, it was agreed that the outfit made perfect sense as Luna's wedding dress (and no one considered it all that hideous, so take that, Rita!). The Murder Mystery Dinner turned into Luna's wedding party, since Harry and Ron were also there, and gave Irvin the great idea to have a proper bachelorette party for Luna at some future event.

Because Irvin did not spend much time in the flag robes at MISTI-Con (and because he was very proud of them), he decided to wear that outfit again to Harry's 35th Birthday Party, thrown by TGTSNBN on July 31 later that year. Unlike the bitter cold of MISTI-Con, the day was blisteringly hot. But the flag robes made an excellent addition to Irvin's summer collection, as they're very light and flowy; aside from the wig it was very comfortable. Irvin traded in the earrings for Luna's trusty Spectrespecs to block out the sun.

Because many in the Group had not seen the robes before, or at least not up close, the costume was once again a big hit. This may also have been partially due to the dearth of cosplaying at the party, as the heat proved an apt deterrent. But Irvin was not deterred - how can one dress as a muggle for Harry's birthday? At the party, Luna acquitted herself very well at "Wingardium Leviosa," a game of keeping balloons airborne, and helped Ravenclaw win the 2015 House Cup.

Both Luna costumes were brought to the next convention Irvin attended, Leviosa 2016. Luna in the wedding dress was the outfit Irvin donned for the Welcoming Feast, since it's bright and stands out, setting the stage for all the cosplay to follow that weekend. Later in the convention, there was a fashion show, and Irvin intended to only wear the flag dress, but was convinced to do both Luna costumes. He pulled it off, with one of the fastest costume changes he's had to do ever, and paraded around in his Luna robes for all to admire. He stayed in the flag robes for karaoke that night, because they really are very comfortable.

Later that month, there were plenty more opportunities to cosplay because the script book of Cursed Child was being released. Given that the flag robes are both impressive and very comfortable in the heat, it became Irvin's go-to summer cosplay. He wore it to the Today Show, where it was appreciated by all the other fans, though not by the muggles judging the costume contest. He also wore it to the midnight release of the book, where he party-hopped between Books of Wonder and Barnes & Noble. This time, the media paid attention, and he was featured in an article about the event (as well as being in the banner image) on Stirr.com, where the URL is now unfortunately defunct.

The costume took a summer off, then was brought back in July 2018 for a special Harry Potter Day at Target celebrating the 20th anniversary of Sorcerer's Stone. It was a very comfy way to flounce around Target and trounce little kids in trivia.