Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/759126
Fall 2016 The Costume Designer 19 BY CHRISTINE COVER FERRO O f all the arts related to television and cinema, Costume Design carries the deepest personal con- nection with the audience. There are few people in the world that can't recall the wonder of the first time they became someone else through borrowed robes—whether it was a sparkly dance costume for a recital, the traditional garb of their ancestors, or an uncomfortable Halloween mask. In countless interviews, actors have echoed that same sense of wonder when they talk about costume fit- tings where they discover their character. It's little wonder that cosplayers find the thrill of transforming into a beloved character worth the time and painstaking work they put into creating their costumes. The first recorded incident of people costuming them- selves as characters from popular culture took place in Shaoxing, China, in the early 17th century. In a last-ditch effort to end the long drought that had struck the region and threatened famine, the writer Zhang Dai and his friends worked with villagers over weeks to meticulously re-create the central characters of the popular contemporary novel The Outlaws of the Marsh to stage a pageant that might persuade the gods to send rain. Another major milestone for modern cosplay came in 1908, when a gentleman named William Fell attended a masquerade carnival at a Cincinnati skating rink dressed as Mr. Skygack from Mars, a satirical comic strip character in the Chicago newspaper The Day Book, created a local sensation, and forged the now indel- ible link between cosplay and science fiction. By the late 1930s, attendees at sci-fi conventions started showing up in futuristic costumes, although they were more thematic than modeled after specific characters. The late 1970s wave of manga and animated television series in Japan inspired college students to revive the tra- dition of costumed reenactment, à la The Outlaws of the Marsh. The term "cosplay" was coined in 1984 by Nobuyuki Takahashi, Japanese reporter, to describe the scene at Worldcon Los Angeles, as he felt that to simply call it a mas- querade connoted something too old-fashioned. Long dormant in the West as a niche pastime, cosplay has soared as one of the more visible parts of the geek cul- ture zeitgeist. This, along with Costume Design's own grow- ing prominence, and designers' accessibility via social media have converged, bringing Costume Design and cosplay together with some thrilling outcomes. CDG members are now regularly celebrity judges at major convention costume contests, cosplay blogs are at times doing a better job writing Cosplayers: Our Biggest Fans 705 member Kelly Cercone cosplaying in her own design/constructions as Lady Loki (left) and Art Nouveau Sailor Moon (far right) E2C2 Crown Championship of Cosplay runner-up Andres Bauer as Wheeljack (center).