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COSPLAY
Cosplay (コスプレ kosupure), short for "costume play",[1] is a type of performance art in which participants don costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea. Characters are often[citation needed] drawn from popular fiction in Japan. Favorite sources include manga, anime, tokusatsu, comic books, graphic novels, video games, hentai and fantasy movies. Role play includes portrayals of J-pop and J-rock stars, Taiwanese puppet characters, science fiction characters, characters from musical stories, classic novels, and entertainment software. Any entity from the real or virtual world that lends itself to dramatic interpretation may be taken up as a subject. Inanimate objects are given anthropomorphic forms and it is not unusual to see genders switched, with women playing male roles and vice versa.
Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture centered around role play. A broader use of the term cosplay applies it to any costumed role play in venues apart from the stage, regardless of the cultural context.
MORE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosplay
The cute Japanese school girl just fit so nice in her purple Cosplay costume. Cosplay isn’t just dressing up, instead it’s about taking the personality of the character you are dressing up as. You can have your alter ego here. Say it, you want to be Naruto Shippuden, then dress like him in orange.
Cosplay popping up more and more in Second Life circles - especially among those users that chose to design their avatars to look unusual and not like themselves. People are getting scary good at replicating the unreal!
MORE: http://www.animasport.org/purple-cosplay-costumes/
Cosplay has spread across the world in recent years, joining with costuming at science fiction conventions in North America and Europe. The main difference between cosplay and costuming in the United States and Europe is that in Japan people typically dress up as characters from Japanese animated films (anime), Japanese comics (manga), or Japanese video games, as compared to dressing up as Star Trek characters or in Renaissance-era costumes. The other difference is that most costuming in the United States and Europe is centered on particular events such as conventions or festivals.
MORE: http://cute-kawaii.com/kawaii-styles/cosplay.html
MORE: http://photo.mmosite.com/content/2008-11-22/20081121222744932,1.shtml
Big videogame conventions always have amazing cosplays, for example, the cosplays in TGS 2010? But not everyone can make high quality costumes and lively poses, and there are even some guys do bad cosplays in purpose, just want to tell you, don't take cosplay too seriously.
MORE: http://photo.mmosite.com/cosplay/
MORE: http://k0kseng.blogspot.com/2009/04/cosplays.html
The Hottest Cosplay of Ivy Valentine in Soul Calibur 4
MORE: http://www.ebaumsworld.com/pictures/view/945382/
MORE: http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=236388
COMIC CON 2009 COSPLAY GALLERY
MORE: http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/comiccon_2009_cosplay_gallery_600_amazing_costumes
MORE: http://hubpages.com/hub/GirlsFromCosplay
Now cosplay is an extremely personal and individual creation. I won't claim to be an expert, but I've been around, done my own costumes, and generally enjoyed the experience. Cosplay can be a lot of fun and a lot of hard work, and it's up to you how you balance the two. I've seen costumes that took a year to make and costumes that were created over the week beforehand (or the night before).
Some of my advice might seem obvious, some might make the reader go "duh" in retrospect. In writing the column to be helpful for the general reader, it's necessary to start at the beginning. If you already enjoy cosplay a lot, I suggest you check out cosplay.com , where there seems to be an expert in every aspect of costuming, from making your eyes look Japanese to the intricacies of how to sew with different materials. And never underestimate the help of a crafty family member. Sure, they might look at you funny, but plenty of parents, grandparents, and others are happy to help out.
The History of Making Excuses to Wear Costumes when
It's Not Halloween
As anime cons made their way into America back in the 80s, cosplay was
immediately a popular event. Cosplay is the name used by otakus to distinguish
it from that of a Masquerade, which is the typical term for the costume events
at a science-fiction or comic con.
Masquerades often served as the only event where people were in costume, and the rest of the weekend would be filled with "normal" clothing. This difference in costuming attitudes is one of the reasons for the name distinction. Cosplayers at an anime convention often also hold themselves to a higher standard of acting in character, a trait that was brought over from Japanese counterparts.
So in other words, the term cosplay only refers to costumes related to Japanese medias, or at least that's how the most serious cosplayers define it. I've seen long debates break out on message boards about what exactly is allowed as part of cosplay. Some people will go so far as to say that video games, even when based on games from Japan like Zelda or Super Mario Brothers, are not permitted in the cosplay events. The term cosplay is beginning to creep into the general lexicon as a word that just means dressing in costume, and every year I see more and more cosplayers at anime conventions dressed as American creations.
MORE: http://www.theotaku.com/fanwords/view/14466/a_history_of_costume_addiction_%3A%3A_cosplay_mayhem_p1/
TO BUY COSTUMES: http://www.hellocosplay.com/
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