Cosplay, or 'costume play', is the art of dressing up and pretending to be a character. It's something I found out about around the age of 14/15 or what I like to call my Japanese phase seeing as this is around the time I was obsessed with everything Japanese culture. Through Anime I found people cosplaying on YouTube who went to conventions and created skits. Instantly I was hooked.
To me cosplay is a creative outlet. I barely draw or paint anymore like I used to in school, I seem to have lost a lot of motivation to continue with it despite it having being a big part of my life. I've mentioned before I struggle with bad mental health and cosplay is a huge help with keeping positive. It give me a goal to work towards and I feel a huge sense of achievement by the end when I wear a cosplay.
Of course cosplay is a wonderful thing where everyone in the community interacts with you as your characters at conventions and it can lead to making new friends and learning new skills. However, there is also a negative side like everything has now. The cosplay community is full of lovely people with different skills and tips if you can find them. There are also those who find it hard to understand that anyone can cosplay and that everyone's cosplay efforts should be respected and celebrated.
It doesn't matter if you are black and want to cosplay a white character or vice versa. It doesn't matter if you want to cross dress to cosplay a character identifying as a different gender than the one you identify as. It doesn't matter if you buy or make your cosplay or do a mixture of both. It doesn't matter if you don't have the skills another cosplayer does. It doesn't matter if you weigh more or less than the character you are cosplaying. The thing about cosplay is that it should make you happy. Having made the effort to research and make/buy your cosplay is personally the best feeling to me.
Cosplay is everything to me and I'd love to learn new skills and develop my cosplays to make them the best I can. I want to build up the range of cosplays I have and build up a portfolio of sorts just for my own entertainment and the entertainment of others.
I'd love to hear from you in the comments below. Tell me what cosplay means to you and if you send me a link to where you showcase your cospalys I'd love to have a look.
Let us all support one another and celebrate cosplayers of all ages, genders, skin tones, heights, weights and abilities!
