Costume gallery

Here is a selection of pictures from Costume-Con. The event was dominated by science fiction, fantasy and historical costuming, but there was some anime cosplay on display as well.

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I hope you won't be offended when I say that one of the big problems with this particular hobby is that most of the people who participate in it, really should be doing so because they just don't look right doing so. The costumes are gorgeous and the people clearly have put a great deal of work into it, but ultimately this is modeling and that's a job for people who are physically good looking. Most of these people aren't.

It's like having tone-deaf people getting involved in filking. (um, wait a moment... why did I first write "tone-death" there?)

Steven, that's an ongoing problem particularly for people who do costume re-creations (from film, TV, anime, artwork); rarely does one's own face/figure match that of the character you want to wear. Even with historical costume (my own area), a style often looks wrong on a face/body from a gene pool other than that of the culture in which the style developed. Many costumers at CC and elsewhere get people of the appropriate type to model their masterpieces for competitions, but that's no help if you're making a costume because you want to wear it yourself, as is the case with many fan costumers and cosplayers. (Seems the vast bulk of anime characters are petite, nubile girls or pretty young men. Makes you wonder what today's cosplayers will be doing once they get older, greyer, and fatter.)
If you're not trying to make a replica costume, you have a lot more freedom to work with your figure type; I've seen a lot of good "theme" costumes at Costume-Con, and Don's pictures will probably show more of those soon.
But the point of a gathering like this isn't to "model" in the traditional sense so much as to show off one's expertise in achieving various effects with fabric, etc. and ingenious solutions to costume problems. This is, after all, a gathering for costumers, not the lay public, and when costumers get together they often focus on the details of workmanship and design. On the competition stage, the right face and figure (and dramatic skill and timing!) can make the difference that wins a presentation award, but design, workmanship, and documentation of the costume itself is judged and rewarded separately.

I'm ugly but I sill want to wear pretty costumes. So I do.

Sitting at home wenching about not being the top 1% of society that is universally considered beautiful can be somebody else's bag.

That's just the way it is.

Of course, one thing you can do is to deliberately subvert the stereotype, e.g. Sailor Bubba.

"but ultimately this is modeling and that's a job for people who are physically good looking."

Steven, you seem to be misunderstanding the whole point of Costume-Con. While some people think that cosplay is all about looking and acting just like an anime character, costuming as it is done at CC far predates that interpretation.

It's not a 'job', it's a hobby. We're not paid models who must look exactly like character/person X; if we were, then you would have a point. Costume-Con, however, is for people of all types who LOVE TO MAKE AND WEAR COSTUMES. Recreation, original, whatever. It's *not* a modeling convention.

People shouldn't have to give up a creative outlet they love just because they're not 17 and skinny anymore. Besides, at least 70% of the costumes you'll see at Costume-Con are original designs or historical recreations (which were, historically, worn by all sorts of people, attractive and otherwise).

I was a troll. Being ugly was a prerequisite. ^_~