Cosplaying - Costume Play

After last week's post being focused on Steampunk with a heavy influence on fashion (in both costume and everyday wear), I thought it would be good time to talk about the activity of Cosplay.

Cosplay is...

                        short for "costume play." It is the act of creating elaborate costumes based on characters and dressing up in them to become the character or to emanate the aura of the character the cosplayer is dressing up as. You don't necessarily have to create the costume nor do you have to wear the costume in order to be a part of all of this. 

So How is This a Sub-Culture? People of All Fandoms Do This

True, the act of cosplay stretches across all fandoms (and sub-cultures centered around fandoms - like the Bronies for example). But there are people who solely do cosplay as an art. Yes, they may be a fan of a movie or a manga, but they don't limit themselves to just that one work. Just as with all the subcultures, they have their own competitions and even hold their own meet-ups (outside of conventions). Sounds like a sub-culture to me.

But they are most well known for their presence at conventions where they can show their work to a larger audience. Even beyond conventions, many gain their fame from online communities where they can regularly post their work and update one another on the progress of their projects.

Examples of Cosplay

So some people take the act and hobby of Cosplay as very serious like these guys who made this Warhammer cosplay costume:

Want to see more pictures of this outfit? Check it out here: http://kotaku.com/now-this-is-some-serious-warhammer-40k-cosplay-478399030

Disney is also a favorite inspiration for cosplayers:

A lot of them also like to add their own little flair to the disney look might I add.

Because it is all about fun, right?

Then there is the inspiration from Japanese manga and anime, which there are so many it's an endless source of material:

Vocaloids are a popular choice of characters for cosplayers. 

Then there are those who not only cosplay for fun, but do so tongue-in-cheek:

If you can't remember, refresh your memory here: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/24/world/europe/botched-restoration-of-ecce-homo-fresco-shocks-spain.html?_r=0

And then go here:http://img3.joyreactor.com/pics/post/funny-pictures-auto-jesus-restoration-lady-371093.jpeg

Feel the need to join in with cosplayers? Check out these sites below:

Hello Cosplay: http://www.hellocosplay.com

Cosplay Magic: http://www.cosplaymagic.com

Cosplay House: http://www.cosplayhouse.com

Or if you prefer, you can peruse to your own liking by simply typing in cosplay into Google or even looking on deviantArt for inspiration. (WARNING - I have not touched on it at all in this post, but a lot of the cosplay shown online can be considered distasteful/scandalous to some - I chose not to show or mention that because that is a whole other issue that would be good for a gender and media kind of class and I feel that it goes beyond the boundaries of this blog's purpose).