No culture is free of trends, but if one comes close the cosplay community would be it. But before we get into that subject, what is cosplay? Cosplay is, in literal terms, costume play. It is the practice of making or buying a costume to look like a character from an anime, book, video game, Tv show or movie. Often time’s people will wear these costumes to a convention, where people of similar interests gather. When you attend a convention you tend to find “…a broad range of detail and attention given to each costume. Ranging from gorgeously designed costumes, to hulking behemoths to the sorts of things one might find at Party City around Halloween […]” (Johnson) Cosplay has no rules, and no trends. In this community, a cosplay worth ten dollars at a Halloween store is just as valued and just as fun as a thousand dollar homemade suit of armor. The equally valued nature of cosplay allows for many companies to compound on it. MAC is a wonderful example of this, as, “This celebration of uniqueness and individuality […] plays right into our core strengths: using makeup as a form of self-expression and individuality.” (Dawson) Makeup is, to many, a core part of cosplay. A simple style of makeup can take a wonderful costume and make it extraordinary. Seeing as cosplay itself is so free of trends and equally valued, it makes sense that the makeup involved would be the same. Cheap companies, (like L’Oréal with their Miss Manga) as well as more expensive ones (Like Ben Nye with their special effects lines) can coexist within the community because of the lack of trends. Each and every corporation that capitalizes on cosplay serves to increase the uniqueness and diversity of cosplay itself. Each makeup line, pattern company, or clothing store that seeks to appeal to the cosplay community brings more individuals in, and brings more forms of cosplay into existence.
When you dress as a character, it would be easy to assume that you would lose your individuality in the same way a teen does when they dress just like their friends. After all, you are simply coping the attire of another, right? This all too frequent assumption neglects many factors. First “Cosplay… provides still another way to experiment.” (Dawson) Cosplay allow the expression of the individual’s personality and creativity. Take, for example, the Disney fandom. So many Disney princesses have been cosplayed, and yet, more often than not, the princess is not just a princess. Throughout the history of Disney cosplay there have been armored princesses, Jedi princesses, Sailor Moon style princesses, hipster princesses, parody princesses, gender-bent princesses and so much more. Each individual cosplayer creates a new image of the same character, whether through one of the large aforementioned changes, or through something as simple as a different makeup design. Even through changing the costume many would still claim that this would affect loosing identity, and individuality, however cosplay by its very nature cannot cause a loss of individuality, as “… scholars have considered cosplay as a mode of identity performance…” (Scott) Cosplay is a performance. An actor portraying the part of that character. To argue that it constitutes a loss would be to argue that an actor is not themselves, but their character. Changing the character, through makeup, parodies or otherwise is the cosplayer weaving their own story, creating a new character to portray. How I ask you, can a cosplayer lose their individuality when they, in turn, create individuality for new characters as well as themselves? Cosplay is an expression of art, and art, by any other name, is unique.
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