Fairies provided a mythical escape for Bless Hutcherson (she/they) during lockdown, launching her journey into content creation. “I started posting content back in 2020 because of quarantine,” they say. “I just really liked how the women on Pinterest dress. It all started with cottagecore actually. After that, I started to draw inspiration from fantasy books, because I love anything fantasy and movie related. I really do draw inspiration from a fantasycore and cosplay as a fairy on the internet.” Spreading her wings allowed her to begin romanticizing herself. “When I was in high school, I was very insecure about my body and fashion as a teenager. Growing up and being with other kids, it’s really hard to have that self-confidence. Once I started being empowered by dressing like a fairy on the internet, it really helped me to grow my own self-confidence.” They believe in catering to their audience. “Even though I love dressing like a fairy every day, I like to do different types of things too. Anything my audience likes to see, I try to make that come alive for them.” The intention is that by using their platform to illustrate copious self-love, their audience will be compelled to feel the same. Just be confident and have as much self-love as I do, even if it starts very, very small. Because when I started doing it on my own, I didn’t have the most self-confidence and then I started to grow. I almost grew with my following and I started to grow my own type of self-confidence. Even if your self-confidence is super small, like a mustard seed, it’s still something to work with.”
Bless is ecstatic for her new merch drop, Beyond the Garden. “I wanted to do something that was connected with me and something that my followers can have a piece of, even if it’s just a little sticker. I started brainstorming the idea around January last year and then I found an artist that had the same vibe and style and ethereal vibe that I wanted and that’s how I started creating the sticker idea.” The stickers are meant to inspire her followers to be themselves. “I always get DMs from my followers telling me how I give them confidence to dress the way they want to dress or to start creating cosplay content or even start drawing in different styles. So I hope that what I do gives them the spark of confidence or inspiration to continue what they want to do.” Their positive impact is evident, as they’ve almost reached one million followers on TikTok! Even Bless is surprised by her rapid growth, noting that she’s only been making content for a few years. They humbly acknowledge all the opportunities they’ve been given and the reality that many similar content creators cannot enjoy the same successes. “It means so much. A lot of Black creators won’t get the opportunity to work with the big brands I’ve worked with and be in multiple spaces where they can do what they want to do by connecting with different people and finding new opportunities,” she points out. “I want to write fantasy books and act in fantasy movies. Reaching a million followers is a really big milestone for not just me, but people that look like me in my community and have the same identities.” Her platform is symbolic of her community and all the people rooting for her. “I’m doing a lot of big things and my platform is more than just me. That’s how I get motivated to keep going. Even though some days I may feel like I have no ideas to create, I always try my best to keep going because I know that my platform isn’t just me.”
Their dreams go far beyond cosplay. “My whole life has been in theater and musical theater. I play multiple instruments and I’ve been in multiple plays. I really want to take the fantasy world I’ve created online and show my audience that even though I do dress up as a fairy every day, I can also act and write. I’m writing a screenplay for a queer romcom and I have some aspirations to get myself into acting more. I’ve done acting and theater, but I really want to try to take it from the stage to the screen.” They want to ensure everyone is included across genres. “I want to start making my way into the film industry. I’m a writer and an actress as well. I hope that I can incorporate the things that I like and my passions into film and getting people that look like me and Black people and people who identify as queer into films. Even with drawing different types of people as fairies, I hope that I can really cover the masses and make everyone in my audience feel seen.” There’s nothing out of reach when fairy magic is involved. Beyond the Garden drops November 25th.
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Creator Bless Hutcherson Inspires Self-Confidence with a Sprinkle of Fairy Dust. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Bless Hutcherson.
