For those who don't know, what is cosplay?
Officially it's short for "costumed play" or "costume roleplay" (depending on who you ask), and the short of it is that it involves dressing up as a particular character from fiction - generally manga, anime, sci-fi, comic books or video games, though the scope is very broad. In the traditional sense that also involves doing a 'skit' - a short performance, with audio-visual elements, at cosplay events - but a lot of the time just the costume (and a photoshoot) will suffice. I have been known to wear mine around the house!
How popular is cosplay in Australia? And why/why not?
There are pockets of devoted cosplayers and I think it's certainly catching on. I know plenty of people who cosplay outside of the convention/event circuit. If you include things like steampunk and historical costuming groups then it's probably even more popular than initially thought. Having been to Comic-Con International in San Diego, I'd say that cosplay based on anime and manga is a big deal in Australia; in the States most of the cosplayers I met were more geared towards comics and sci-fi TV and movies.
What kind of major cosplay event are there? Are there many in Australia?
In terms of major "pop culture expos", there is Supanova, Manifest and Armageddon. Sadly, Gen Con in Brisbane just cancelled due to an unstable financial climate. Elsewhere there are lots of smaller cosplay events, photo meetups and the like.
What's the atmosphere like at the events?
Amazing! If you're in costume, you can expect to spend most of your day standing in the one spot while people take photos of you. The mood among cosplayers is ebullient; everyone discusses costuming techniques, wig suppliers, the best shade of contact lenses, and so on. Excited hugging abounds.
How would you describe the 'culture' of cosplayers?
Close-knit. Cosplaying is an entrance card to a club - I've made some great friends at events and everyone helps each other out with advice and feedback and moral support at 3am when trying to finish a costume the night before a con.
How long have you been doing it, and why did you start?
I've been costuming long before I heard of cosplay. I was always the kid with a dress-up themed birthday party, and I wore my Studio Art costume to my Year 12 graduation. But when I found out about cosplay in about 2008 I lost my mind. My first "proper" cosplay effort was Silk Spectre I from the 'Watchmen' film, which I wore to last year's Supanova Melbourne. From there I was hooked!
How long does it usually take for you to make a costume?
It depends on the amount of sewing or modelling the piece requires. Wikus from District 9 was reasonably easy as I just assembled the costume from second hand men's clothes, so the bulk of time was spent making the "prawn" arm (which took about a week). The most labour intensive is my 'Avatar' Na'vi costume, as - despite the relative ease of wearing the bodysuit - doing the SFX makeup takes about an hour.
What has been your favourite costume so far and why?
My favourite is one I'm currently working on, a female Tusken Raider from 'Star Wars Episode II'. I'm making it entirely from scratch and I'm so proud of what I've managed to achieve so far with minimal previous experience in things like mask-making or pattern drafting (despite having studied fashion at uni for two years, haha). Hopefully it'll end up "screen accurate" enough to secure me membership in the 501st, the Star Wars 'bad guys' costuming guild!
The theme for issue one is 'modify', in what way do you think the idea of modification best applies to cosplay?
Essentially you're modifying yourself - your haircolour, eye colour, height, dress sense, persona, gender - to turn yourself temporarily into a favoured character of fiction.
Officially it's short for "costumed play" or "costume roleplay" (depending on who you ask), and the short of it is that it involves dressing up as a particular character from fiction - generally manga, anime, sci-fi, comic books or video games, though the scope is very broad. In the traditional sense that also involves doing a 'skit' - a short performance, with audio-visual elements, at cosplay events - but a lot of the time just the costume (and a photoshoot) will suffice. I have been known to wear mine around the house!
How popular is cosplay in Australia? And why/why not?
There are pockets of devoted cosplayers and I think it's certainly catching on. I know plenty of people who cosplay outside of the convention/event circuit. If you include things like steampunk and historical costuming groups then it's probably even more popular than initially thought. Having been to Comic-Con International in San Diego, I'd say that cosplay based on anime and manga is a big deal in Australia; in the States most of the cosplayers I met were more geared towards comics and sci-fi TV and movies.
What kind of major cosplay event are there? Are there many in Australia?
In terms of major "pop culture expos", there is Supanova, Manifest and Armageddon. Sadly, Gen Con in Brisbane just cancelled due to an unstable financial climate. Elsewhere there are lots of smaller cosplay events, photo meetups and the like.
What's the atmosphere like at the events?
Amazing! If you're in costume, you can expect to spend most of your day standing in the one spot while people take photos of you. The mood among cosplayers is ebullient; everyone discusses costuming techniques, wig suppliers, the best shade of contact lenses, and so on. Excited hugging abounds.
How would you describe the 'culture' of cosplayers?
Close-knit. Cosplaying is an entrance card to a club - I've made some great friends at events and everyone helps each other out with advice and feedback and moral support at 3am when trying to finish a costume the night before a con.
How long have you been doing it, and why did you start?
I've been costuming long before I heard of cosplay. I was always the kid with a dress-up themed birthday party, and I wore my Studio Art costume to my Year 12 graduation. But when I found out about cosplay in about 2008 I lost my mind. My first "proper" cosplay effort was Silk Spectre I from the 'Watchmen' film, which I wore to last year's Supanova Melbourne. From there I was hooked!
How long does it usually take for you to make a costume?
It depends on the amount of sewing or modelling the piece requires. Wikus from District 9 was reasonably easy as I just assembled the costume from second hand men's clothes, so the bulk of time was spent making the "prawn" arm (which took about a week). The most labour intensive is my 'Avatar' Na'vi costume, as - despite the relative ease of wearing the bodysuit - doing the SFX makeup takes about an hour.
What has been your favourite costume so far and why?
My favourite is one I'm currently working on, a female Tusken Raider from 'Star Wars Episode II'. I'm making it entirely from scratch and I'm so proud of what I've managed to achieve so far with minimal previous experience in things like mask-making or pattern drafting (despite having studied fashion at uni for two years, haha). Hopefully it'll end up "screen accurate" enough to secure me membership in the 501st, the Star Wars 'bad guys' costuming guild!
The theme for issue one is 'modify', in what way do you think the idea of modification best applies to cosplay?
Essentially you're modifying yourself - your haircolour, eye colour, height, dress sense, persona, gender - to turn yourself temporarily into a favoured character of fiction.
