When studying law all gets too much…
A super brainy Cambridge law student called Alex has found a novel way of taking a much-deserved break from the stress of public international law papers.
When he’s not stressing over his PhD, the international law student entertains a kooky pastime as an SFX make up artist and amateur costume designer.
His creations include the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Insect Overlord and the Phantom of the Opera.
The self-taught artist admits that his outfits can take weeks to make, but maintains that crafting his creations is only a “hobby”.
Speaking to the Cambridge News — which nicknames the public international law scholar the “Doctor of Gore” — about wearing his Ghost of Christmas Past costume, Alex said:
I walked through the centre of town to the party and scared quite a few people. Their faces went white and one poor lady screamed and jumped into the road.
The 25 year-old continued:
At one point I could hear two kids about 10 behind me arguing about whether I was a real ghost. They decided I wasn’t because I was wearing trousers underneath, and ghosts don’t wear trousers.
It’s safe to say that dressing up in horror film inspired costumes and writing extensively on pro-government intervention in civil wars are pretty polarised interests — but the Cambridge law student seems to do a good job of balancing the two.
When we spoke to Alex, he told us:
[M]y PhD is full time, so I have to fit my costume hobby around it. If there’s a party coming up I might spend most of the weekend on the costume, or an hour an evening over a couple of weeks, but it doesn’t take as long as you might think. Most of my costumes are a mixture of cardboard, tinfoil and latex, which are very easy materials to work with.
What’s undeniable is that, despite the obvious time constraints, the aspiring lawyer is excelling at both law and his macabre hobby.
It has been reported that Alex regularly scoops prizes for his gory makeovers, and here at Legal Cheek we think the pictures speak for themselves. All the while, the Oxford grad boasts a more than impressive CV, including a strong list of scholarships and prizes from the London School of Economics and Blackstone Chambers, and winning the New Statesman/Webb Memorial Trust essay competition.
So what’s next for him?
It’s looking like a toss up between academia and the bar. Or maybe a horror film, if forging a career in the legal profession doesn’t work out.
With an academic track record and a kooky hobby like his, Legal Cheek is confident Alex has a glittering — and very bloody — legal career ahead of him.