What Is Cosplay?
If you’ve been to San Diego Comic Con, WonderCon, Anime Los Angeles, Anime Expo, Anime Pasadena, Nerd Expo, LA Comic Con, San Diego Comic Fest, Comic Con Revolution, ANIME Impulse, or even Long Beach Comic Con/Comic Expo, you’ve seen cosplay. It is known worldwide and is a constantly growing community.
For those of you who want to know a little history on how cosplay came about, please read the excerpt below:
“Cosplay, a portmanteau of “costume play”, is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture, and a broader use of the term “cosplay” applies to any costumed role-playing in venues apart from the stage. Any entity that lends itself to dramatic interpretation may be taken up as a subject. Favorite sources include anime, cartoons, comic books, manga, television series, and video games. The term is composed of the two aforementioned counterparts – costume and role play.
Cosplay grew out of the practice of fan costuming at science fiction conventions, beginning with Morojo’s “futuristicostumes” created for the 1st World Science Fiction Convention held in New York City in 1939. The Japanese term “cosplay” (コスプレ, kosupure) was coined in 1984. A rapid growth in the number of people cosplaying as a hobby since the 1990s has made the phenomenon a significant aspect of popular culture in Japan, as well as in other parts of East Asia and in the Western world. Cosplay events are common features of fan conventions, and today there are many dedicated conventions and competitions, as well as social networks, websites, and other forms of media centered on cosplay activities. Cosplay is very popular among all genders, and it is not unusual to see genders switched.”
— Wikipedia, Cosplay
The TL;DR version: Cosplay is dressing up as your favorite character from any realm of popular culture.
Some of My Cosplays Include, But Are Not Limited To:
Master Riana (Original Concept)
Star Wars Meets Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Haida (Aggretsuko)
Retsuko’s coworker exploring LA’s Little Tokyo.
Modern Day Witch (Original Concept)
Just a neighborhood witch enjoying nature.
Jedi Master Maleficent (SW/Disney)
It’s 2 against 1. May the odds be in my favor.
Brother Jebidiah (Castle Dark 2019)
From the Dark Harvest Scare Zone.
Eric Draven (The Crow)
Heroes Helping Heroes…or so it looks like that.
Sith Lord Maleficent (SW/Disney)
This is currently a work in progress cosplay.
Wayne Campbell (Wayne’s World)
No Stairway? Denied! (Not in this case…)
Scott Pilgrim (Scott Pilgrim vs. The World)
Fighting 7 Evil Exes? No, just going to Starbucks.