Darker Side of Cosplay... :: Cosplay Mayhem P5
Sadly, for every five people who are cosplaying for the fun of it, there is that person who is cosplaying to be superior or, worse yet, who don't cosplay and just want to make fun of those who do. Now we all know that people have choices in life; they can like cosplay, they can hate it, but going to the extent of making up websites just to bash those who are slightly "off" on their costume is just plain mean. Unfortunately, it goes with the territory, and there isn't much to do besides develop nerves of steel.
… and you'll need those nerves of steel when you run into the big hairy man in a little tiny skirt. But more on that later.
Costume Accuracy and Choosing Fabrics
There are always going to be people judging you on every little detail related to your costume. Most people are nice enough not to say it, but competition can get fierce at cons, and you need to be ready to deal with petty backstabbing. You haven't seen drama like this since the high school cafeteria.
Now, some cosplayers are just casual costume makers who care more about the fact that you recognize the character than that they got every little detail right. Some are lazy, and some just don't want to learn how to make real armor and figure foam will do instead. There isn't anything wrong with not having a "perfect" costume, but you have to accept that there will be those that find fault with it.
Unfortunately, there are sites and blogs out there that will rag on anyone who doesn't fit the perfect image of a cosplayer. They don't tend to pick on the small mistakes as much, if you don't have the right wig color or whatever (though probably someone will notice and comment), but if you dare to cosplay Slayers' Naga and you're overweight, you might well be a target for them.
Another point on costume accuracy is the fabrics that you choose. I've seen some neat costumers that added in extra detail, like choosing a more watery fabric for Sailor Mercury's blue or a detailed scroll print on a medieval dress. Those kind of changes can add to the character, as long as they fit into the idea of the outfit. On the other hand, I saw some cosplayers who used fancy Chinese fabrics for some Naruto costumes and, well, I don't even watch Naruto, and I immediately knew how out-of-the-norm the costumes were. I later saw the two cosplayers' pictures on one of the "cosplayers suck" type websites.
The moral of the story is, be aware when you are deviating from the accepted costume design or making odd fabric choices. Someone will pick up on it, though most will be too polite to say anything, but other cosplayers do notice.
Art by Joe Blank
Crossplay
Have you heard of Man Faye? Cardcaptor Will? Sailor Bubba? Have you noticed men in tight skirts and women with large bulges?
Crossplay is the term for this growing obsession for dressing as the other gender. Now, when a woman dresses like a guy, we hardly bat an eye. As a society, we're used to it. But when it's a man dressed as a woman, we all have to turn and stare, fascinated, and wonder: "Did I just see what I think I saw? … Nah… … On second thought, I guess I did."
For a while, it seemed like guys would only dress as Vash or Alucard, someone manly and worthy of their time. Lately though, guys have realized that if they are pretty, and dress as a bishounen, they will have girls fawning all over them.
Crossplay covers all these situations, but it's still the guy in the short shorts that makes us stop and stare. Girls dressing as boys has become a norm for anime conventions, as many characters (Xellos from Slayers is a classic example) are often seen as too feminine (or flaming) in personality for boys to dress as. Therefore a guy dressing as some of these characters (James from Pokemon is yet another example) is often far more shocking than a girl dressed as these boys.
So women will just have to try harder to shock and amaze. Hence, long discussions on proper bulge stuffing.
And thus, with that image in mind, we end our discussion of cosplay. Next time I'll be talking about explaining anime to your parents and some various gateway animes that might just get them hooked. Plus, for any otaku parents out there, later on there will be tips on making conventions fun for the whole family, from infants to teenagers.
Make-up, Wigs, and Feet :: Cosplay Mayhem P4
So the best part of cosplay is being able to completely immerse yourself in a new character, to become someone you aren't. Or at least that's why I cosplay! In order to do that though, most of us need some extra help in the way of wigs, contacts, make-up, and yes, even padding sometimes. Oh, the stories I could tell you about cosplaying Amelia from Slayers (Naga's little sister) and the number of "Your chest isn't big enough" comments another friend and me have both gotten during our experiences cosplaying as the over-endowed princess.
Hair & Wigs
Hair is difficult to talk about, because everyone has different types. Curly, straight, long, short, thin, thick, light, or dark, there is no good universal advice on cosplay hairstyling.
My hair is naturally light-colored, thin, and medium length. Because of that, it's not hard for me to pull my hair up or curl it, but I can't do Sailor Moon buns and tails, because my hair isn't long enough or thick enough for that. My favorite method of lightening or darkening my hair is to use Kool-Aid. I mix it with less water than the package says and use black cherry for darker and strawberry or regular cherry for more of a brown tint to light hair. This leaves the hair feeling a little bit sticky, but it dries quickly and doesn't stain or flake off once the hair is dry.
For hardcore cosplayers, you can actually dye your hair using permanent or semi-permanent dyes. Once I tried to help a friend dye her hair blue, and I will never dye hair again. The bleach was hard to apply and time correctly in her very dark hair, and it ended up kind of patchy. The blue didn't take very well to the hair either, and according to her hairstylist, who fixed it, blue is the hardest color to use to dye hair.
Wigs are of course the non-permanent alternative. I don't really like wigs, as my skin tends to get itchy, but if you are going to wear a wig, make sure you have plenty of bobby pins to keep your natural hair up. Wigs tend to be at their cheapest around Halloween, or you can find specialty anime wigs online and at conventions. These will be more expensive, but typically a higher quality and will come in more anime suited colors and styles.
I styled my own wig, the one time I used one, by using normal hair care products. (It was a synthetic wig, and I was cosplaying as Amelia wil Tesla Saillune from Slayers, who has short purple hair that curls outwards.) I found a wig that had the basic shape I wanted, and then used normal styling gel to make the shape more distinct. Finally I topped it off with some purple streaks from a streaking product. In contrast, the same friend with the unfortunate blue hair incident cosplayed Amelia a few years before that, and I spent a couple of hours with a curling iron and styling gel to get the same effect in her natural hair. Using a wig had more preparation time (styling the wig) but meant I only needed to tie up my hair and put on the wig at the event itself. It just goes to show how much your natural hair affects what you'll need to do. Really, both methods had their own problems and conveniences. Personally, I don't like wearing wigs, so I would have rather styled my hair if possible, while other people I know aren't bothered by wigs at all. Of course, a wig you can do yourself, while hairstyling often takes a generous friend.
Hair extensions can also be useful, and they are rarely very expensive. These can then be cut and restyled if you are ambitious. My Vampire Princess Miyu hair was done with a hair extension that I found as a braid on a scrunchy (on clearance) that I then cut off, re-tied, un-braided, and washed so the braid waves would go away. It was a much less stressful way to do a bun with a dangling hair piece than to try to bobby pin my own hair into that style.
Art by Nut-Case
Remember, cosplay can be a fun even for the whole family. Get your parents and their creativity involved!
Make-up
This is another very ethnic and diverse area for cosplay. Most anime characters are Japanese, though only some look it, and most cosplayers in America are not. Some people go with painting anime style eyes around their own eyes. Others use make-up to make their eyes wider. This is a cosplay area where talking to other cosplayers can really help. Cosplay.com has a whole forum on make-up, and you can take advantage of finding other people with similar facial styles and learn from them.
This seems as good a time as any to mention contact lenses. Plenty of cosplayers use them these days, and if you don't need them to be prescription, then they are moderately priced. Average prices seems to be between $30-$40 for solid colors, while specialized styles might cost you upwards of $160 to $300 for the most unique and anime centric contacts.
Barefoot Dilemma
Just to be difficult, some of our favorite characters like to run around barefoot. This can be quite a problem for cosplayers, as anyone that's ever walked barefoot across an asphalt parking lot can tell you. As many conventions grow too big to use a single hotel or convention center, cosplayers need to deal with traveling between buildings several times a day.
Even if you are inside all the time, in such a crowded space, toes can be stepped on, and many mysterious things can be stuck in the carpet.
So here are a few choices:
- Wear slippers/shoes/sandals when outside, and then go barefoot inside.
- Create a substitute – for my Miyu costume, I found white sandals with only a few straps. Since Miyu has a ribbon around her foot, I painted some of the straps red to represent the ribbon and left the rest white. I then tied the rest of my ribbon up my leg. (In retrospect, I should have made the ribbon on my leg shorter, because I had people stepping on it at the con.)
- Get a pair of flesh-toned ballet slippers and use those.
Certainly, with a bit of creativity you can find a solution that works for you. And when it comes time to be on stage for cosplay, it's easy enough to remove any footwear.
Next time I plan to talk a bit about the pit-falls of costuming and the drama associated with cosplay bash sites and the interesting phenomena known as cross-play.
Crafting a Costume :: Cosplay Mayhem P3
Let's talk about some basics of costume construction today.
Sewing
Do you fancy yourself good with a needle and thread? Or at least feel confident enough not to end up with too many new holes in your fingers?
Hopefully you have an idea of what exactly needs to be sewn. Depending on if you are making the full costume or just adding details to a thrift store base, you'll want to take different strategies to costume creation.
If you want to make your costume from scratch, well, good luck. I've only made one costume entirely from scratch, and that was my set of Vampire Princess Miyu robes. My mother helped me, but essentially we took a night robe pattern that was the right length and created two robes. The interior robe was her red robe and the exterior the white, though we didn't put any sleeves on the interior one since that would be more cumbersome and they would not have shown. I then sewed a long sash with pointed ends for around my waist. (Reference picture ( http://www.yukishirocosplay.com/miyu.jpg))
This would be the convention where I learned that a sash is not really enough to keep a robe like that closed, no matter how Miyu might fare on TV. Keep that in mind--you might need to make minor alterations to make the costume feasible for an actual human to wear.
The nice thing about simply adding details to an existing piece is that you can do it anywhere. For my first convention, a good part of my Lina Inverse costume was made in the back seat of the car on the way to the con. Of course, we also had only decided a week ago that we wanted to cosplay and one of the members of our group had already gone crazy trying to sew four cloaks in five days.
Finishing an existing piece mostly requires figuring out what needs to be added and then hand or machine sewing it. In fact, glue will work for some details, but it might fall off after repeated use.
Any time you are using fabrics, especially more difficult ones, make sure you know what the washing and ironing needs are. Most fabrics should be washed before you start sewing or before you wear them, but that isn't always true or necessary. Ironing can also be a tricky thing, because it might need low heat. If you don't have a lot of experience sewing, ask someone at the craft store. They are usually full of information and very friendly.
Art byNightambre
Hot glue guns are your friend!
Armor & Weapons
Tricky, tricky--armor and weapons pose a problem for any cosplayers who don't have the money to buy these items. But it is a challenge that many people enjoy.
Now, I'm not really comfortable with a blowtorch or metal working tools, so I tend to make my armor out of more harmless things, like flexi-foam. If there are any local historical reenactment groups in your area, that would be a great place to start if you want to learn how to build real armor.
There are a lot of ways to make armor and the internet is filled with ideas on how to make the needed pieces. In fact, you might even be able to find instructions on how to make the specific character you need. I found a great site with instructions on how to make armor out of many different materials.
Other accessories
Jewelry can be tricky to come by, as often the character wears a very specific piece. Most craft stores have a jewelry section and making a piece might be your best bet, at least for simple necklaces, earrings, or bracelets. Thrift stores can be a good source of jewelry, but it often isn't exactly what you want, and you might need to modify it with paint or glue.
If you have the money to spend, you might be able to purchase a good match at stores such as Claire's and Hot Topic, which tend to carry a lot of different styles and colors.
Other accessories such as gloves, boots, and belts are also best found at thrift stores. Each of these can be made, but they probably aren't something you want to try without knowing something about it first. For odd colored boots, you can make fabric boot covers. Make sure you measure well and I've found it's easier to use a real boot underneath, with a way to tuck the top into the original boot (this way the solidity of the original boot keeps the cover straight and boot-like). A friend made boot covers over a pair of ballet slippers, but they weren't as solid as a real boot base would have been and the fabric over her leg kept trying to slip down, despite using elastic.
There are quite a few websites that sell cosplay accessories like ears, contacts, wigs, and other specialty items. If you are particularly good at making specialty accessories, you might make some extra money by selling your own products.
Hopefully I've given you a base to start on your costume now and some ideas on how you will tackle each aspect. Next time I'll talk more about altering your own appearance: make-up, wigs, contacts, etc.
Thrift Store Scavenging :: Cosplay Mayhem P2
All right, so this time we're on to planning out your costume and a little bit about shopping for clothing to remake into costume parts.
Planning Time
Well, now that you know a bit about the glorious traditions you're upholding, let's start with some planning.
First, why do you want to cosplay? Do you just want to do something fun with your friends? Do you like showing off? Or do you want a chance at winning the cosplay events?
Each of these goals is going to take a different strategy, so let's start with the simplest.
All of my cosplaying has been a result of me and friends just wanting to have some fun at a convention. None of my costumes took more than two weeks to make, and many were sewn in hotel rooms and cars. Of course, none of these costumes have been winners, but it was still fun to walk around, be recognized by others, and do group photos.
Before you get started, let's make a plan for the costume. Find some good color pictures that show as many angles of the character as possible, and then start to dissect it. Look at all the elements of the costume and think which pieces you might be able to find at a thrift store (such as a white button-down shirt) and what you might need to sew and craft by hand.
Also, keep in mind what the character looks like in general. Do you need contacts/wigs/special make-up for this costume? If you're on a budget (or have little time), it's good to take a look at the whole costume right now.
Sketch out each element of the clothing. Figure out what layer might connect to another. Now is a good time to think about how you're going to make other items like armor or jewelry.
Make a list of each piece that you need to buy, from clothing to jewelry, including accessories. Know when you make out this list how much time and money you have. Many cosplayers I've talked to who have complicated costumes have saved up over a year to put them together, buying the perfect materials whenever they could afford it. How you want to spend your money is up to you, but unless you have a well-paying job, you should take the money issue into account upfront.
Art by Annie Jia
And don't forget to think about the issue of safety while cosplaying. Large wings and blindfolds may be cool in anime, but don't always translate well to real life walking.
Thrift Store Scavenging
If you're planning to cosplay, the first thing you should do is become familiar with your local thrift stores. Typically, you have two types:
Goodwill/Salvation Army/Donation Stores – These are purely subject to the whims of the donating public. They have the cheapest items and an interesting selection, but you may need to visit quite a few to find everything you want.
Consignment Shops – These are slightly more expensive, and the owners get part of the sale money. Often these stores cater to a certain audience, like vintage, formal wear, or military, and you can sometimes find some great designer clothing and formal wear.
Find out the location of all of the stores that might have what you need. Sometimes even your local megastore (Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target, etc.) might have clothing items you can get for cheap that are the style you need. One nice thing about going to stores like that is you will get a better size and color selection.
Most of my costumes came from thrift stores. I trimmed shirts, hemmed pants, and even cut open a robe to make Miyaka's priestess outfit. With some ingenuity and creative talents (and a fear of sewing a whole costume), a lot of pieces can be created out of already designed clothes. The nice part about that is you don't have to do all the work, especially when the item you need is something ordinary, like a blue button-down shirt. Trying to sew a shirt is much more difficult than finding one.
Still, these costumes can sometimes seem less professional, so take your time and make sure you are still putting in your best effort, even if you are mostly reassembling pieces.
Next time we'll talk about sewing costumes from scratch. A difficult, but rewarding part of costume making.
Now cosplay is an extremely personal and individual creation. I won't claim to be an expert, but I've been around, done my own costumes, and generally enjoyed the experience. Cosplay can be a lot of fun and a lot of hard work, and it's up to you how you balance the two. I've seen costumes that took a year to make and costumes that were created over the week beforehand (or the night before).
Some of my advice might seem obvious, some might make the reader go "duh" in retrospect. In writing the column to be helpful for the general reader, it's necessary to start at the beginning. If you already enjoy cosplay a lot, I suggest you check out cosplay.com , where there seems to be an expert in every aspect of costuming, from making your eyes look Japanese to the intricacies of how to sew with different materials. And never underestimate the help of a crafty family member. Sure, they might look at you funny, but plenty of parents, grandparents, and others are happy to help out.
The History of Making Excuses to Wear Costumes when It's Not Halloween
As anime cons made their way into America back in the 80s, cosplay was immediately a popular event. Cosplay is the name used by otakus to distinguish it from that of a Masquerade, which is the typical term for the costume events at a science-fiction or comic con.
Masquerades often served as the only event where people were in costume, and the rest of the weekend would be filled with "normal" clothing. This difference in costuming attitudes is one of the reasons for the name distinction. Cosplayers at an anime convention often also hold themselves to a higher standard of acting in character, a trait that was brought over from Japanese counterparts.
So in other words, the term cosplay only refers to costumes related to Japanese medias, or at least that's how the most serious cosplayers define it. I've seen long debates break out on message boards about what exactly is allowed as part of cosplay. Some people will go so far as to say that video games, even when based on games from Japan like Zelda or Super Mario Brothers, are not permitted in the cosplay events. The term cosplay is beginning to creep into the general lexicon as a word that just means dressing in costume, and every year I see more and more cosplayers at anime conventions dressed as American creations.
Most actual cosplay events do place standards on the costumes, meaning they have to have something to do with anime. While it might be fun to wear your Harry Potter costume around the con (and I saw a wonderful Harry Potter cosplay group at Anime Expo once), those wouldn't be acceptable entries in the actual cosplay events. We may see a lessening in the stringency of these rules over the coming years as arguments for shows like Avatar are made. It will also depend on the focus of the event—some are more focused on anime in America, while others keep to a more traditional "anime is only from Japan" approach.
By Nightambre
Get ready, get set… start sewing all night long!
Okay, next I'm going to go into some of the basics of different steps used to put together your costume, from tackling a pattern to thrift store scavenging (my personal favorite--almost all my costumes are recreated from thrift store clothes). I would love to read extra advice in the comments; I know plenty of knowledgeable people hang out on theOtaku. If you want to post more detailed cosplay advice on your theOtaku Worlds or myOtaku, please let me know, and I'd be happy to link to you.
