If you’ve ever peeped Sydeon’s Instagram feed, you know her love for New Balance isn’t just for show. So it tracks that the Twitch streamer and content creator has officially joined the brand as its second gaming ambassador — and she’s already putting in the work.
“I have put all of my friends onto this shoe. It’s the 1906L. It’s like a sneaker loafer,” the creator and Twitch streamer tells me. “It was one of the first things that I asked for when [New Balance and I] started talking about our partnership. I was like, ‘Look, the shoe is sold out everywhere. I can’t find it in any of the colorways. If you happen to have an extra one, like please.’” Her excitement is so convincing that mid-answer I find myself (somewhat unprofessionally) Googling this mythical mashup of footwear. Yes, it is cool. And now I want a pair, I tell her.
Consider me influenced.
Authentic brand–creator partnerships are like a good outfit: effortless, memorable, and sells itself. For Sydeon, although she’s made a name for herself streaming gameplay on Twitch, her content has always reflected her broader interests in fashion and lifestyle, whether she’s cosplaying as Rogue from X-Men, giving a wig tutorial, or travel vlogging foodie adventures overseas. Which makes it that much easier for a brand like New Balance to sign on. “New Balance has this really unique outlook on their brand and on culture and just craftsmanship and individualism and all those things,” Sydeon says, “and I think that kind of lined up with me as a streamer as well.”
Ahead, Sydeon shares her thoughts on personal style, makes the case that cosplay is fashion, and offers tips on how to successfully partner with brands.
Refinery29: How would you describe your personal style and how does it align with New Balance?
I like to mix a lot of different things. I really love both feminine and masculine pieces together so I’ll wear a really cute frilly top and then baggy pants and sneakers. I also really just go based off of mood. Sometimes I want a sort of athleisure look and sometimes I want to be really feminine and have lots of floral pieces. So it’s kind of all over the place, like, I would say, I am as a content creator.
New Balance is just all about being authentic, being yourself, being an individual, and they have so many different pieces that fit that mold. You have something like a sneaker loafer and then you have your everyday walking shoe, and then you also have really functional things for hiking or for basketball or whatever it is. New Balance has something for everyone and I like to be a little bit of everything in my personal style.
More and more brands are getting into the world of gaming. Where do you see that intersection of fashion and gaming going?
I think the intersection of fashion and gaming is really at the beginning of its peak. There are so many gamers and content creators who have such a love for fashion and a lot of gamers and content creators are becoming more mainstream. You see people who have loved games and have maybe been quiet about them in the past because it wasn’t as cool, and you find out now that everybody has loved games as much as they have loved fashion and sports and stuff. It feels like it’s become one of the mainstream things now, which is really exciting because you get opportunities like this with New Balance.
I feel like some people who aren’t in the world of anime or cosplay or gaming see cosplay as more costume than fashion or art. To those haters or skeptics, how would you defend cosplay as fashion?
I think cosplay is self-expression in a very niche form. Oftentimes people look at cosplay and they’re like, “Oh, you’re just dressing up in costumes, but it’s not Halloween.” Yada yada. Cosplay for me and for a lot of other people is craftsmanship. It is sitting down for hours and working on something, building something from hand, from scratch, altering things and I think a lot of people kind of forego the idea cuz it feels like silly costumes, but it takes a lot of the same craftsmanship as fashion does. Some of my favorite cosplayers do cosplay in a way that really meshes well with fashion because they’ll take their character and then [remake it]. What if this was casual? What if they were just wearing something on the street? What would they look like?
Who are some of your favorite cosplayers?
One of my favorites since the dawn of time is Snitchery and she’s one of my favorite people to watch change throughout the industry. I’ve been following her probably since like 2018 or something like that and I remember she used to do just portrait cosplay and now I’m seeing her at every world premiere for every movie and she always comes dressed according to the movie but in a fashion sense.
Method dressing!
Yeah! Then of course Stella Chu is another cosplayer I love. She’s in LA and she’s worked with me before on cosplay. She’s really sweet and she’s super talented. Like her warehouse is just full of 3D printers and stuff everywhere.
I’d love to get your two cents as someone who has built a career off of creating and streaming. Once you’ve built that community, how do you branch out from your usual lane with a new partnership or a new project that’s maybe outside of how your audience usually knows you?
I think it’s really important to explore a lot of different avenues and I think that I’m lucky that my personality just has always allowed me to do that. I think it’s a little bit scary when it feels like, ‘Oh, my audience is so used to me sitting down and playing the same game every day for 12 hours. What are they going to think when they find out that I’ve partnered with a brand like New Balance?’ Where it’s like, ‘Oh, I didn’t know you were interested in that kind of thing.’ Except my community definitely knows. I talk about fashion and sneakers and stuff like that all the time.
But maybe if a community wasn’t [aware], I think it’s just fun to challenge yourself and challenge the people around you, your community, and I think you’d be really surprised how many people are interested in the same things as you. Because people are multi-faceted. They might enjoy gaming, but they probably enjoy so many other things and I think it’s always worth taking the risk. And even if it doesn’t work out, you tried something that was authentic to you and that’s what matters the most.
What are some tips you have for creators who are looking to work more with brands?
For a creator who’s looking to work more with brands, obviously being brand-friendly is one of those pretty important things. I think if that falls in line with who you are as a creator, then it’s great to be on that route. I think that when you are yourself and your genuine interests are out there, brands will take notice. I’m not a brand, but if I were, I would probably be really excited if I saw someone who was genuinely excited about what I already do, you know?
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. For more stories like this, sign up for our Good Game newsletter.
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