Haters' Be Hatin'

So let me get this out, I was walking around ALA friday night in my Sheryl costume and found myself rudely awakened by these two ladies who were sitting down in the hallway. As I walked by one of them very loudly and pointedly said to her friend so that I would hear as I walked by, "Wow, look at all these SLUTS that cons bring out. I just know that they spent SO MUCH TIME working on their costumes, pft."

I was absolutely horrified. Absolutely. I didn't quite know what to say because these ladies didn't know me, and as a matter of fact had no idea what kind of cosplayer I was. I got mad and sad and hot and cold in the span of three minutes. I had worn that costume and made it FOR ME. That's the thing, I love Sheryl so much and wanted to see if I could be as confident and brave as she is. It's nothing to do with validation from other people when I'm wearing very little, no, it's for my own validation. I want to be proud and confident in my own body, and be so proud and confident that I can walk around a convention hall like that and not care that people are judging me, but know that I'm beautiful and comfortable in my own skin--enough to wear such a scantily clad outfit without people judging me. It's because of women like that that I was scared to try and do so in the first place! I learned that it doesn't matter what they think though, I think it only matters what I think--and I think I look beautiful inside and out so I shouldn't let people like that hurt me.

On another note, what shocked me the most about the whole thing is these women were not in costume either! Not to mention I had a very very elaborate costume upstairs Jane, that I had made so, I felt they were quick to judge--not to mention sad as it sounds that Jacket took a LOT of work!! I made damn well sure that it fit and looked right and that even the red details were applied in the same order as the jacket online.

So I guess in short, in the world of cosplay people shouldn't be so quick to judge, and I think that everyone should be beautiful and comfortable in their own skin. What about you guys? Any opinions? Or similar stories?