"A Play in a Costume" - Rekindling the "play" in "performance/costume play"
Introduction of "A Play in a Costume"
This is going to be a series of my own journey to focus in the "Play" in my "Costume Play", often shortened to be "Cosplay". But the idea of cosplay has now watered down to be a costume only, with social media race. I'd even go as far as if the line between "Cosplay" and "Idol" culture is quite similar.
In the metrics of "social media", you cannot measure how much you are having fun. I mean, the idea of having fun is truly something personal to you, instead of the idea of someone else's.
"A Play in Costume" is an experimental side quest where the idea is to focus on play while being in a costume- with Wig/Full props or not
For long in the past, I focused so much on making a character as accurate as possible to get affirmation from others (guessing characters), but never ask myself: how do I feel when wearing this? That's why I deleted my cosplay Instagram account because I want to rekindle with my core: "if I were to play around while in my costume, what would I do/be?"
Forget about being an actual fictional character from a franchise! Why not have fun? I know my own body for realizing that a wig just made me feel extremely hot and it constricted my head so much! And also, just because I don't post on my social media, doesn't mean that I completely abandoned the hobby.
This is a beginning of "A Play in Costume", where I will focus on the play while I am in a fictional fantasy costume. A costume is still being worn by me, a person who will take others into another fantasy world, a belief. In my case, the wearer of the costume would have to believe in themselves first before the props and the wig. A prop and a wig is an extension of the wearer, an additional unique story that make the wearer of the costume. A prop and a wig does not dictate the wearer of the costume, but they are not less important as well.
I just simply do not imagine myself purchasing another wig and props because things are getting expensive here and I don't see myself purchasing a wig or props just to simply achieve the accuracy than "is my heart in it?". Like, not to chase the next cosplay trend.
I think the focus on the more DIY aspect, having fun first and foremost, as well as not seeking external validation is something that is slowly fading in the cosplay scene
Here are the thoughts and intentions for this experiment:
- Having photo in my own costume can be a good reference for me to draw figure/character in a costume, and unique design as I have
- Doing photoshoot myself, composition, and editing/photobashing with human touch only. I will not focus on how sharp/polished the final editing is, but keep it very 'rough concept art feel look'. Not an illustration
- I can focus on the story/mood I want to take! Also, if the lighting setting is not possible, I can treat it as a base for my base 'painting'! I can implement my concept at photobashing skill in this!
- No heavy editing on how my body/face look! i want to appreciate the beauty of my own body. There is so much fatphobia in the cosplay scene so much and I don't like it!
- Focus on the heart and what I wanted, not what I am supposed to look
Anyway, to celebrate the finished costume that I commissioned from a maker, here is how much I am happy in the finished costume! This was based on the Gareth FGO first ascension look, but I wanted to just keep the costume without the wig.
Okay so that's all for now! If you wanted to look for the tag of this kind of post, you can click on this tag #playinacostume