Cosplay – The Colorful World of Spectacular Costumes
Question: What happens when you mix together role playing, mangas, anime and costumes and add portion of extreme creativity with a dash of whimsy? Answer: Cosplay!
Japan’s Nobuyuki Takahashi invented the term „cosplay“ in the course of writing an article for „My Anime“ magazine in the summer of 1983. „Cosplay“ (Jap. kosupure) is an acronym formed from the words „costume“ and „play.“ Cosplay is both a masquerade trend and a hobby in which cosplayers not only look like the character they are portraying, but act like them too. It is comparable to playing cowboys & Indians or doctor & patient: you put on fancy dress and play your role accordingly.
Unlike these classic children’s role plays, characters from Asian mangas or animes and video games or movies traditionally inspire cosplayers. In America and Europe, cosplayers are more likely to play popular figures from „Western“ film productions such as „Lord of the Rings,“ „Harry Potter,“ „300,“ or „Star Wars.“ But the cosplayer community there is expanding. They may focus on different genres, but cosplayers worldwide all concentrate on their costumes.
Creativity despite conventions
Cosplayers are especially known for their creativity and obsession with details when it comes to selecting or designing their costumes. The quiet mouse next door could suddenly turn into a sexy, styled manga girl and one day the guy at the bus stop shows up with a pyramid on his head. Outsiders often think that cosplayers operate in a world of unlimited fantasy. But that is not true: their costumes are designed according to strict rules because they have to look as much like the original character as possible. The Altair costume from the „Assassin’s Creed“ video game is a first class example of their attention to detail. The apparently infinite quantity of manga comics, anime TV series, video games, and films provides more than enough sources of inspiration! After all, every manga, anime, video game and movie features more than one character that people can play. And even after cosplayers have chosen their characters, they can vary the clothing they use to express them. Many figures have a complete collection of different, sometimes crazy, outfits.
Average Western Europeans often consider cosplayers outsiders because of their costume obsession. But people who pursue other unusual hobbies do not have it any easier. You just need to remember that cosplay is not a hobby for rugged individualists – it has more appeal for fans of group dynamics. Cosplayers often get together to perform as part of competitions, for example. They all sing the theme song to the series which they are representing with their costumes, or engage each other in a spectacular mock battle. In Europe, impromptu shows are almost always a part of cosplay performances. In Japan, these shows usually have strict time limits. At the World Cosplay Summit, a type of cosplay world championship and the biggest cosplay event in the world, participants have three minutes each to impress and entertain the audience and the jury with their performances. The more expressive the show, the better the choreography, and more beautiful the costumes, the greater the enthusiasm. In Asia, some cosplayers have become so popular that they have their own photo image cards for collectors.
The cosplay trend!
The cosplay community in Europe and the rest of the world is not as developed as it is in Japan. But the scene is spreading, and it has most recently brought South America and Australia into its sphere of influence.
The costumes of the average European cosplayer – young, under 30, female – have become more and more daring and elaborate in the past few years. Many costumes take weeks or even months to create. But those of you who don’t feel comfortable using a needle and pattern can take individual costume pieces, make-up and accessories and combine them to make individual cosplay costumes. Wigs, contact lenses, monster hands, wings & tails, boots, necklaces and fans are only a handful of the accessories that cosplayers use.
Hyper hairdos + carefully chosen clothes = visual kei
Part of the cosplayer world concentrates on the visual kei style of some Japanese rock bands. Visual kei players are into extreme hair and a mix of fashion styles and outfits. They use lurid make-up, leather and latex to express elements of Gothic, punk, Baroque or Rococo style. Sounds pretty unusual and looks unusual too: don’t be surprised if you see a group of visual kei players and can’t tell the girls from the boys. Versailles and Malice Mizer (which broke up in 2001) are the two famous, visually impressive bands that powered the visual kei phenomenon. They enjoy cult status even today.
Reading that, you might think that costume play is just for young people who are more than a bit loony. But that is not true. Maturer contemporaries dress in Baroque robes gather to stroll around the palace grounds or don uniforms to reenact historic battles of the American Revolution, for example. Although these types of costume play do exhibit some parallels, they are not considered classic cosplay. That also applies to the term „cosplay“ in the context of erotic role playing, which is widespread in Japan. Cosplay cathouses and some cosplay hotels combine erotic services with an atmosphere that refers to popular mangas and animes. In maid café cosplay restaurants, for example, the waitresses are dressed as French maids or schoolgirls. The male counterpart is a butler café, where guests are devotedly served by waiters dressed as butlers.
Like we said, these forms of cosplay don’t really have much to do with classic cosplay. If you run into some people dressed like figures from the „Naruto“ manga or as video game characters from „Final Fantasy“ in the future – or if they are especially creative and colorful – then you’re probably looking at cosplayers. And just like everyone else, they’ll be happy if you acknowledge them with a warm smile!
+++ Cosplay links +++
Official World Cosplay Summit website
The official site for the „Cosplay World Championship“. Information on the WCS and the teams with photos and reports.
Cosplay.com
English language portal with a forum and countless costumes and photos
A Cosplay Paradise
English language website by cosplayers for cosplayers
Cosplaytoday
Countless cosplay photos will amaze and inspire you
Japan Forum Picture Galleries
Many high quality cosplay photos of many cosplay ladies, some of whom show a lot of skin
Cosplay Train Wrecks
Mean. „Unfortunate“ character choices and stranger than usual costumes
Tomb Raider Cosplay
A site on Lara Croft cosplay. With practical instructions on make-up and hairdo
Final Fantasy Universe
Everything about the popular video game series and its characters
Naruto Shippuden
The official website of the successful anime and manga series
Versailles – Philharmonic Quintet
The visual kei formation’s MySpace profile
