What is Cosplay? & What is a Cosplayer?

Most of us were undoubtedly told as children that we could be anything we wanted to be. While the premise is ambiguous, kids may take this literally to mean their favorite fictitious character and think, “Yes, that’s what I want to be.” Today, you can ‘almost’ be your favourite character, easily – through Cosplay.

‘Cosplay’ is a portmanteau word that combines two or more words and expresses the meaning of all these words; Word ‘Cosplay’ is a combination of’ costume’ and ‘play.’ A person who loves to do cosplay is called a Cosplayer.

What is the meaning of Cosplay?

Cosplay refers to dressing up as a fictional character from movies, television series, graphic novels, books, video games, and other forms of media or a concept. It is essentially putting yourself in your favorite character’s shoes, literally and figuratively, complete with clothes, accessories, wigs, and other props, and whatever it takes.

Cosplay is an activity that tests the limits of our creativity, gives us a break from reality, and entertains us as an art form. It is a mass entertainment source for many people interested in fashion, costumes, and fictional characters.

Cosplay is a form of fan identity, where the fans identifies themselves as the character they admire. So cosplay cannot just be limited to the costumes and stuff – it is much more than just dressing up as a character. Cosplayers go to great lengths to imitate a character’s mannerisms and actions. 

Who is a cosplayer? How do cosplayers dress up?

In cosplay, the costumes mimic everything of the characters from anime, comic books, television series, and video games, including clothing and hairstyle to the point of perfection. Everything is matched as much as possible.

Cosplayers not only make genuine costumes, but they also act in character and are usually experts on the characters they are portraying. Some fans will go to great lengths to fully embody the character’s attitude and mannerisms.

Because many of these costumes are constructed by hand, a lot of cosplayers are experts at everything from makeup and fabric dyeing to metalwork and robotics.

Cosplay is all about having a good time, whether you buy your costumes online or make them yourself.

Why is Cosplay so popular?

Cosplay is all about pretending to be someone else; it gives us a venue to take a break from reality and immerse ourselves in another world that is fantastic and out of this world.

In a world of harsh realities that are hard to digest and full of stress and pressure of everyday normal life, cosplay provides its followers a reason to be happy and enjoy themselves as some one else.

Taking on the vibrancy of these characters changes them into some one who can conquer the world or vanquish all the enemies or in short, live a fantastic life so unlike their ordinary lives.

Where did cosplay originate?

Cosplay today enjoys worldwide recognition and followers, but it essentially started gaining the current popularity and momentum in the last few decades in Japan, where anime and manga characters enjoy massive fandom.

Cosplay definitely existed before this – The first world science fiction convention in 1939 and its subsequent gatherings always attracted many attendees. In 1939 during the World Science Fiction Convention, Myrtle R. Jones, also known as Morojo, appeared in a science fiction-inspired costume she developed for herself. She’d also made one for her boyfriend, Forrest J. Ackerman, and the two of them arrived as time travelers, based on H.G. Wells’s novel Things to Come (1936). But it was not called cosplay, nor did it have the universal popularity that it gained in the streets of Japan.

In 1984, Nobuyuki Takahashi, a Japanese animator, first coined the term ‘kosupure’, which means ‘ To portray a character. By the 1990s, his term had caught on; Kosupure or cosplay had become a popular pastime in Japan.

Cosplay today encompassed not only anime but also comic books, movies, television series, and video games.

In which cultures/countries is Cosplay more popular?

Today cosplay is popular throughout the world, although it is most popular in Japan, the United States, South Korea, and China.

In the United States, costuming is popular during Halloween. Graphic novels have always been very popular from the 1930s. Comic book characters form a very important part of popular culture in America. Superhero books and novels and popularity of fictional characters like Harry Potter have made people wanting to be them, or atleast looking like them. Comic cons are getting increasingly popular. Wide spread use of social media has made cosplay more popular in the US than earlier. 

But, no one does cosplay quite like the Japanese, who consider cosplay to be more than a pastime – it’s a way of life for the scores of fans there.  

In Japan, there was already a popular subculture called Otaku consisting of anime and manga fans. Cosplay is a significant part of this Japanese subculture.

How to start your own cosplay

Consider your favorite comics, TV shows, and movies. Pick a character you want to dress up as. You may want to dress up as someone you identify with or wish you were like. Some people want to dress up as someone entirely different from their own real personality.

You can even dress up as a meme or a concept. 

You have 3 options – Purchase your costume components or make them yourselves or do these two together.

You can find cosplay-specific items on sites like amazon, and ebay or specialized cosplay stores or assemble them from everyday clothes available at your local stores. If you have the budget, and/or if you do not know how to sew, you can hire a dressmaker to create the outfit from scratch. 

Some more questions on Cosplay