Monday, June 6, 2016

Cosplay

I costume. I have won costume masquerades at World Cons. The costumes are good, strong, competent costumes, but the presentations rock. I've been costuming a long time.

Sometime in the 90's someone came up with the term COSPLAY. I don't recall who. I've heard the name, but I don't know if it is true even if I could remember the name. I have to admit I hate the term "Cosplay." I very reluctantly use it, rarely in fact.

The reason is simple. Cosplay, in my mind, has a sexual connotation. Similar to the one I have in my head when I hear "furry." Like cosplayers are dressing up like Spider-man and a cross played Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle are in a hotel room somewhere fucking in costumes.

Costumer is a better term for the job I do and the amount of time involved. I mainly make recreations of costumes from comics, TV,  and movies. The problem with costuming comic books is that they are drawings. Artists can draw anything they like, but much of the time never think about how the costumes really work. How do you take them on and off? How do you go to the bathroom? Why do I have so many ankle pouches? Things like that.

With superhero costumes you can put seams to get the costume on and off along the lines of the costume designs. With costumes that are variations of normal clothes it is usually easier to get them on and off. Also with the comic book costume it's a challenge to get the color right. I've shopped for fabric while carrying an issue to two with me to get the color matched. Is the color shiny or matte? Is it lycra or some other fabric? Or leather or metal? Is there a texture drawn into the image? These are all very important when trying to get a character correct.

Getting the character to look right is hard. When recreating a movie or TV character I get every video and image I can find. I freeze frame movies or TV shows on Blu Ray, then I take pictures of the costume or the equipment they might have. I will sketch things and count how many ribbons are adorning a coat to get it right. I've made costumes before and after seeing a new angle or photo or the actual piece in person, notice something I missed. Some stitching or the pattern I created or used is wrong. It's crazy how anal retentive I will get about minutiae. For one costume we made muscle suits for the costume to then go over because our skinny physiques were not at all like the superhero size required.  To see us as Wolverine and Sabertooth weighing 155 pounds would have been silly.

So when I hear the word "Cosplay" it makes the serious way I recreate a fictional character's costume seem frivolous. As good as I am, I'm not as good or creative as some of the costumers I know. They are world class craftspeople and do finish work on a costume that would make an Italian tailor jealous.

This play is not frivolous.