About Me
Getting to know me as a designer
Hi there! Thank you for visiting my website! My name is Ash McKay (they/them/any), and I’m a costume designer, pole dancer, huge nerd and queer. This is an LGBQTA+ safe space.
I run my workshop with the help of my 11-year old orange and white cat Simba.
I got into making costumes through cosplay and Comic-cons. My first cosplay was a bubblegum hair pop princess from an anime called Gundam Seed. After creating my first costume, I was hooked. In the following years, I cosplayed at many more conventions all over Ontario.
I went to art school for 2 years before transferring to the Fashion Design program at the Academy of Design in Toronto. I trained in pattern drafting, sewing construction, tailoring, knitwear, draping, digital illustration and clothing design.
In 2015, I started my first costume company, Phoenix Costumes Canada, and I had the pleasure of creating costumes for Cosplayers, Pole Dancers and even for the Greeters at Ottawa’s 2017 Glowfair Festival.
In 2019, after moving to Switzerland with my spouse, I started my own pole journey. Again, it was love at first sight… or first spin. I wanted to properly join my two passions in one place: nerd fandom & cosplay with pole dancing.
I moved back to Canada with my spouse in 2021. It was time for Phoenix to burst into flames and be reborn again into my new project here, Galactic Polewear - For the dancer with far out style.