Cosplay (fashion)
Cosplay is a short way of saying of "Costume Play". It is an act of dressing up to be look like an anime, manga, video game, Japanese rock, or Jpop character. A person who does this is called a Cosplayer.
Cosplay can be divided into two parts, basic cosplay and masquerade cosplay. Both types of cosplay involve trying to physically look like the character, including speaking like the character, memorizing quotes and so on. Masquerading or " The Masquerade" usually refers to a cosplay competition where cosplayers demonstrate their skills in creating costumes, putting on skits, and in technical matters.
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Inspiration
Inspiration comes from the tradition of Sci-Fi cosplay associated with Star Trek or Star Wars with the Japanese variant focusing mainly on Anime and related past times. Even though cosplaying is originally from Japan, there are a number of cosplay communities in Malaysia, China, the United States, Indonesia, and the Phillipines, because of the popularity of Japanese animation, movies, and popular culture in those countries.
What to wear
Cosplayers generally make their own costumes which requires both skill and time, costumes can take a long time to build if authentic. Outside Japan the cosplay phenomenon has lead to some cosplayers making what are considered below standard costumes, photos of which are widely circulated on the internet. Basically you need to find a character from popular culture who you feel resembles your own character and go about imitating their style or costume. It is common also to memorize quotes and mannerisms to best impersonate the character you have chosen. A common misconception of Cosplay is that the player wants to become the character, in actual fact characters are usually chosen due to the similarity of the character to the player them self. Cosplay is seen a hobby due to the work that goes into the performance. Cosplay communities often hold events such as parties and conventions> Cosplay is common at The Tokyo Game Show (a showcase for new development in the games industry) held in October at Makuhari Messe Covention Centre (Chiba) every year; open to the public this event is extremely popular so arrive early and expect to queue. Details of other coplay events can be found online in general cosplay forums such as Cosplay.com and AnimeTwin.com.
Where to shop
For the actual building of the costumes, sites such as CosplayWiki provide techniques. Some of the best cosplayers can be famous amongst Otaku(an enthusiast/geek related to their particular choice of hobby). One of the most famous districts for cosplay is Electric Town otherwise known as Akihabara in Tokyo. Cosplays popularity here has lead to a growing number of themed cafes catering to otaku fans who can visit and be served tea by their favourite characters. The most famous of this style of cafes is The Maid Cafe. Please note that usually Maids flyering in the street do not allow photographs.
Related interests
Related to Cosplay are almost all aspects of modern Japanese popular culture: manga, anime, video games, music, movies......Cosplay continues to attract new followers in western countries as the hobby grows ever popular with the popularization of Japanese culture outside of Japan.
See also
Some content adapted from Wikipedia.org.
