“There’s no point in being grown up if you can’t be childish sometimes.” – The Doctor
When Bitzy the Bard was a child, she loved to play dress-up, create elaborate costumes for Halloween, and put on plays. Even back in my youth, I used these opportunities to show off my love for science fiction and fantasy. Well just because I am an adult now does not mean I have to give up that fun!
Costume play (Cosplay) is a great opportunity for adults to have fun expressing what inspires them. Why limit yourself to Halloween when you can dress up anytime?!
Although most adults can relax and enjoy wearing a costume on Halloween, they think they would be too “embarrassed” to wear a costume on other days. In the past, people used to have elaborate mascarade balls. The key is to find times and places where other people are also dressed up, so it becomes a community experience.
Now we have conventions!
A lot of people dress up for conventions and it can be the highlight of your convention experience. On a most days at GenCon, thousands of people are dressed in costumes ranging from comic book characters to steam punk outfits to wizards.
Some conventions have a narrow focus such as Doctor Who or comic books. At these conventions, you can share your common love of a particular fandom with others. You can dress as your favorite character, and be assured that many of those you meet will recognize your character and appreciate the time and effort you put into it.
Take advantage of that long-awaited movie sequel coming out and make it an event. If you go to a premier showing you will usually find others who are also dressed up in the theme of the movie.
If you enjoy medieval costumes, consider a local Renaissance Faire or a restaurant featuring a knight’s tournament. You can have good fun, eat period food, and buy cool fake weapons or jewelry (Bitzy’s favorite part).
Costumes can be as simple or elaborate as you like. Many people opt for costumes they buy online. This is a great option if you have the money and you find something just right online. You can often customize these costumes with accessories from Etsy or ebay.
Bitzy learned to sew as a young child so my costumes tend to involve a bit of sewing. In the last few years, major pattern makers have offered a huge selection of cosplay patterns and materials for popular characters. If I don’t find one that matches what I want to play, I can usually find something similar to customize.
Some people opt to do a homage to a character they like without trying to actually match the character. You can sew a dress or sweatshirt with just a nod to the fandom you like. My daughter Rose the Ranger wore a Dalek dress I made to a convention by customizing a simple dress pattern. I used fusible web to iron satin circles onto a dress.
Another way to enjoy the experience without spending a lot of time or money is to make comfy sweatshirts that reflect a favorite animal character. Here I used two sweatshirts for each outfit. I cut one up to make accents such as horns and tails which were then sewn to the main sweatshirt.
If this seems too much for the introverts out there, you can start out small by wearing clothes with logos or a style from shows you enjoy.
So next time you go to a con, let yourself enjoy Cosplay with the rest of us. Because once you play dress-up again as an adult, you will never want to quit!
Bitzy the Bard
“Life is an adventure story and you are the star. Choose to play a hero!”
